5 Steps to Adjusting Your Facebook Thumbnail Picture!

Are you frustrated that your Facebook Thumbnail Picture is imbalanced, askew, and not displaying what you really want it to display? Making the most of the thumbnail version of your Profile Picture isn’t hard. Follow the five steps below to adjust what is visible:

1) At the top right-hand side of the screen under ACCOUNT, click on EDIT PAGE.

2) In the left-hand column, click on PROFILE PICTURE.

3) Click on EDIT THUMBNAIL underneath the profile picture shown.

4) At the EDIT THUMBNAIL pop-up box, move your cursor over the THUMBNAIL PICTURE, then click and hold the left mouse button down as you move what is shown in the THUMBNAIL BOX until the portion you prefer to see is visible. See the before and after example below.

5) Click on SAVE!

5 Simple Steps to a Snapshot of Your Computer Screen

Have you ever wanted to get a snapshot of your computer screen?
It’s not difficult to do at all!

Follow the 5 Simple Steps Below:

1) Display what you want a snapshot of on your computer screen. For example, for my article called What Is a Facebook Welcome Page? I wanted a snapshot of the my Facebook Welcome Page.  I needed to display that on my computer screen first.

2) Next, press the PRINT SCREEN button on your computer keyboard. It will probably be marked as PrtScn. This will effectively take a “snapshot” of the your screen, pasting it to the Clipboard.

3) Open up the desired program Microsoft Paint (or another graphics program) and then open a New File within that program. If you don’t need a graphic/picture format for the intended use of the snapshot, you can use Microsoft Word, or another word processing program.

4) Paste (Ctrl+V) the snapshot of your screen from the Clipboard into your opened New File.

5) Name and save the file. Depending on the capabilities of your software, you should be able to edit, re-size or modify the screen snapshot. The example below shows the Welcome Page of my Facebook Page, excluding the web browser information.

Customized Facebook Profile Picture

Example A (180 x 540 pixels)

Which one appeals to you most? If you were looking at someone’s Facebook Page, would you be satisfied with a thumbnail picture as shown in Example C—or would you prefer a Profile Picture that looked like Example A or B?

Example B (180 x 385 pixels)

 

Your Facebook Profile picture does NOT have to be the standard thumbnail size photo as shown in Example C. Facebook gives you a lot more to work with than that! Any picture or design saved as a GIF, JPG or PNG file and measuring at least 180 pixels wide and up to 540 pixels in height can be saved and uploaded. You can design your customized Facebook Profile Picture in any program that will allow you to save it in the formats given above.

Example C

 

It’s amazing how many businesses have not utilized the great eye-catching possibilities of a customized Facebook Profile Picture. If you haven’t already made yours, design one today!

What Is a Facebook Welcome Page?

First impressions are important. We all know that. A Welcome Page for your Facebook Page can give that first good impression. It takes your Facebook Page to the next level. It distinguishes your Facebook Page as, just that, a Facebook PAGE over a Profile Page. Rather than the look of the Wall, a Facebook Welcome Page gives a unique page view for the first time visitor—and all visitors who have not yet LIKED your page.

Are you a visual person? In order to see what I am talking about, look below or click on Rosie Cochran, Writer to see my Welcome Page. Do you see the difference compared to the regular profile page look?

Of course, if perchance you have already LIKED my page, you are currently staring at my Wall and wondering what I am talking about. By Facebook defaults, the Welcome Page is the first page shown until someone LIKES your page. Once they LIKE your page, your Wall becomes the opening page to them. Therefore, if you find yourself staring at my Wall, click on WELCOME below the Profile Picture in the left-hand column. This will take you too my Welcome Page. That being said, we should design our Welcome Page for the first time visitor.

Three Points to Include in Your Facebook Welcome Page:

1) Give a clear, concise message of who/what your business is. Don’t leave them guessing. Since I write, I have links to my books on my Welcome Page. Click HERE to see a great Welcome Page for the social media company Publicity Hound.

2) Encourage them to LIKE your page. Sometimes people just need to be asked!

3) Encourage them to come on in and visit for a while.

There are many paths to making a Facebook Page. After a bit of research, I chose to use the free version of Pagemodo. It includes various templates and was easy to use. Click on Pagemodo to read more. When you are ready to make your Welcome Page, click on the link called Get Started Now – Connect with Facebook located on the opening page of Pagemodo. When you’re done, send me the link to your Facebook Page so I can see your new creation!

Create a Facebook Business Page

Sometimes seeing how easy it is can inspire you to go for it! Watch this short YouTube video showing you how to create a Facebook Business Page. Once you are inspired, click HERE to create your own Facebook Business Page.

4 Tips to Naming Your Facebook Page

Image via Wikipedia (Public Domain)

Are you ready to name your Facebook Page? The following four tips should speed you on your way!

1) Get the Name Right While You Can!

Unlike naming my children, where I had but one chance to pull it off right, there was a bit more wiggle room in naming my Facebook Page. Facebook gives us the option of changing our Facebook Page Name until we have 25 people who have Liked our page. (At least that’s the cut-off number Facebook is using at the time I’m writing this. Check Facebook’s current policy to be sure!) Therefore, I recommend not marketing your Facebook Page extensively until you have it set up, running, and are comfortable with your name of choice. Dare I admit that Rosie Cochran, Writer was the third naming of my Facebook Page?

2) Your Name Is Your Brand VS. Facebook Page by Book Name

Speaking specifically to authors, the overwhelming consensus is that our names are our brands. Your name is your brand. My name is my brand. Forget cutesy company names. Our names are our brands.

I listened to the overwhelming consensus. I followed their advice. I created my Facebook Page as Rosie Cochran—and in blew the contradiction. Suddenly, some within the consensus group that agreed that my name is my brand were telling me that they made a Facebook Page for each book they wrote.  Under this new concept, instead of a Facebook Page called Rosie Cochran, I should have multiple Facebook Pages named after each of my books: Betrayed, Identity Revealed, and soon, A Murder Unseen.

What was I do to? I had but a few Likes left before I was cemented in forever as Rosie Cochran. The argument behind a page per book made a lot of sense. Their book titles were better known than their names. Good marketing said they should use what was best known, what could be the most easily found. If your book title is better known than your name, I would definitely advise using a Facebook Page per book.

Looking over the pros and cons, I chose to keep a Facebook Page using my name. Due to my personal situation, I have a larger audience that know my name than that know the names of my books. Your situation may be reversed. The other pro with using your name for your Facebook Page is only having one Facebook Page to maintain—and one for people to like and visit. You’ll have to decide for yourself.

3) Clearing the Confusion of Identical Names

With a Facebook Profile of Rosie Cochran and a Facebook Page called Rosie Cochran, confusion began to reign. And really, who likes confusion?

Here is an example of the confusion created:

When I was on my Facebook Page, I clicked on Edit Page, then Your Settings, and the instructions under Posting Preferences gave the following perplexing message: “Always comment and post on your page as Rosie Cochran, even when using Facebook as Rosie Cochran.”

Right. As clear as mud. As thick, murky mud. Which Rosie Cochran were they referring to? I found a solution that still allowed my name to be my brand, but that also cleared the murky waters, removing all confusion. I changed it to Rosie Cochran, Writer. This works perfect for me.

4) Customized Facebook Page URL

Earlier I mentioned that you can change the name of your Facebook Page until 25 people Liked your page. After you have 25 people who Like your page, you can get a customized URL. Your URL username does not have to match your Facebook Page Name. The new URL username cannot have spaces and can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) or a period (“.”).

My plan was to keep mine simple by just using my name—until I found out that I’m not one-of-a-kind, that RosieCochran was already taken. In the end, my Facebook Page is Rosie Cochran, Writer, my username is RosieCochranWriter and my Facebook Page URL is: http://www.facebook.com/RosieCochranWriter

Do you already have 25 people who have Liked your Facebook Page? Then it’s time to get yourself a personalized URL by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/username

WARNINGS:

(i) Once you have created your URL username you cannot change it! Be very careful in choosing your username and double-check that the spelling is correct.

(ii) The Username dialogue box has two parts:

1. The TOP BOX is for your regular personal Facebook Profile, the one with your name it—NOT your business name!

2. The BOTTOM BOX that reads, “Each Page can have a username,” is the one you’re after. This is where you name your Facebook Business Page. By clicking on the arrow on the drop down box next to PAGE NAME, you will be able to view and choose the page you want to name. As long as you have 25 LIKES accumulated, you will be given the option to check for availability of the name you desire to use. Remember Warning #1 though! Once you save it, it is yours forever!

Have fun making and naming your Facebook Page!