Greetings and Salutations -
Facebook is a land of fun, easy conversations. People pop in to see what's going on and to take a break from their busy, stressful world. They often have Facebook running continually in the background and poke at it occasionally. So by having your message in Facebook you reach them "where they are". You are there right in their daily life.
Definitely post promos of your articles when you feature them. That's important. In addition, it's good to pop in a note every day or so to stay in the reader's mind. That way when they see your article they think, "hey, stuff from that person I like!" - and they're likely to click through. Facebook is generally about reading quick blurbs, not about clicking, so the more you can build the relationship with the person, the more likely they are to click when something click-necessary is there.
Take a look at the BellaOnline feed, on two tests I did in the past few days about short, quick questions. One is on neti pots and the other is on drinking milk -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BellaOnline/323931250391
You can see how people chimed in on those.
A key is to keep it light. If you ask something serious or personal like "have you ever had an abortion?" people might not want to share that on a public forum. So think, at least in the beginning, about easy things that everyone can answer. I admit my neti pot question is probably not an everybody-answer question ;). I just got one myself today so that was more personal curiosity. But the milk one fits the bill more :).
Post in our blogs forum about what works and doesn't work, so we can all share from each others' knowledge! Here's the link -
http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/389/
If you need brainstorming ideas for fun questions, post there and we'll help out with lists of ideas!
Let me know if you have any questions, either directly or in that forum thread!
Lisa Shea, owner
BellaOnline.com
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