Here’s a trend you’ve probably participated in: you “like” a company’s page on Facebook, then you never return to that company page again. Unfortunately, it’s a common trend that likely happens on your own company page. If these users never visit your page again, how can you interact with them?

The answer is to increase your EdgeRank. Facebook users rely on their newsfeed to supply them with new content. EdgeRank is the algorithm that Facebook uses to prioritize posts in a user’s newsfeed.

Every piece of content you produce on your company page is assigned a score in EdgeRank. The higher the score, the more likely you are to appear in users’ newsfeeds, which in turn increases the chance that users will interact with your company’s page. EdgeRank scores are determined by three factors:

Affinity – measures how often a user and his/her friends interact with the content your company’s Facebook page produces. Your Affinity score will naturally increase as your page collects more likes and users interact with your content. To increase Affinty faster, post updates to your company pages that request comments or interaction from your users.

Time – measures the age of your posted content. The freshest content receives the highest time score.

Weight – measures the type of content you’ve posted. Different content types each receive different Weight scores – which are even further narrowed based on user behavior (e.g. for a user who interacts with a lot of pictures, EdgeRank assigns higher Weight scores to picture posts, which in turn appear more frequently in said user’s news feed). In light of that, Weight score will always vary, so it’s a good idea to produce a variety of different types of content.

Knowing how Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm works is fundamental for getting your content in front of users, and in turn, getting them to interact with it.

Top 5 Things You Should Know About Google+ for Businesses
Thursday November 17, 2011

MoreVisibility’s Twitterchat (#MVCHAT) took place today, November 17 sharing recommendations about what you should be thinking about or doing for your Google+ Page for your business. The topics discussed included:

• Using Circles to manage your followers
• Determining and managing content for your page
• Choosing the right Admin since the function currently cant be shared or transferred

MVCHAT is a weekly 30 minute discussion starting at 3:30 pm (EST) covering a variety of online marketing topics. Clients, advertisers, and online marketing enthusiasts are invited to participate in this rapid-fire conversation by following and including #MVCHAT in tweets. Read more about #MVCHAT in the news here.

Thanks to Google+ Pages, engaging a targeted audience is now easier and more effective than ever. Whether your business aims to promote upcoming products or share exciting news with its customers, Google+ Pages gives your business a platform in the ever-evolving social media world. 

Google + Pages is more than just another website for your business to add to its collection, it is the perfect place where interaction with your customers can be taken to another level.  As a business, you now have the opportunity to start a dialogue with your customers and receive the most valuable information available: their feedback. Customers will have the opportunity to ask you questions with real time video chats through the “Hangout” feature on your Google+ Page and receive your answers in the forum. 

And the conversation does not have to end there. In fact, your business can maintain the conversation; strengthening your relationship with consumers by asking questions in discussions and posting blogs. Google+ Pages also takes your information out to an even larger audience by allowing you to make your posts public where they can be found through searches. In the coming weeks, Google will make tools available to businesses which will access data about their Google+ Page users’ demographics adding to the appeal of Google + Pages as an instrument for businesses.

Other features available on your Google+ Page include: Circles, Messenger, Stream, What’s Hot and Ripples. Each feature, at its core, makes it easier to share your information with your users while at the same time making the experience fun for them.  Your business has the opportunity to tap into your customers in a medium which is not only cutting-edge, but also exciting.

A quick look at several of the corporate pages on Facebook can reveal a number of sparse, even abandoned looking pages. Maintaining your corporate Facebook page with interesting content can be tough. But if you have good ideas, content will flow naturally. Here are a few tips you can use to liven up your Facebook page and connect with your users.

Giveaways: These are perhaps one of the most common types of consumer engagement for companies on Facebook. However, there are all sorts of twists you can add to them to stand out in people’s news feeds. Invite users to try and come up with creative captions to pictures you post, or have them submit a story about using your products. By asking your users to answer a call to action to be eligible for the giveaway, you have the opportunity to learn more about them and how to market to them.

A Company Exposé: Loyal customers will be keen to learn more about your company. Post “behind-the-scenes” photos and videos, share comments from employees, or talk about the founding of the company. Use your posts to tell a story. This will humanize your brand – making your company trustworthy, authentic, and relatable.

Industry Specific Updates: Being able to comment on developments in your industry helps establish you as a trustworthy authority. You can post:

• How-to guides
• Trivia about your company/industry
• Breaking news
• Third-party content (when relevant)
• Guest experts to speak about your company/industry
• Industry specific advice

Keeping a lively Facebook page is all about posting content that gets your fans to interact with you. By maintaining this type of engagement, you’ll have your finger on the pulse of what your target audience thinks of your brand and its products.