How to Set a Vanity URL on Facebook

I've noticed for a while now that many people do not know they can set a vanity url for their Facebook Profile Page. Facebook calls it a username. Let's first explain what a Facebook Profile is. A Facebook Profile Page is a personal account on Facebook where you can connect personally with your friends and family. You can see each others status updates, see what your connections are posting on other people's pages, share photos and videos, etc. This is really how friends can share what's going on in their lives.

This is not to be confused with a Fan Page, or what they are now calling a "Like" Page. Fan Pages were created for business entities, places, public figures, etc that could potentially have thousands and thousands of fans or customers. A Fan Page is a way for brands and public figures to communicate with their customers or fans without connecting personally.

A vanity url is where the string of numbers for the Profile or Page is replaced with something you choose. For example, my Fan Page is http://www.facebook.com/charlieprofit (be sure to click the "Like" button) and my Profile is http://www.facebook.com/charlieprofitreport. (You can also "Like" CAB Radio on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cabradio). Using vanity urls is useful for branding purposes, or just to make it easy to give out to friends and family. It's much easier to tell someone to find you on Facebook with a vanity url, than to give out a long string of numbers.

How do you set up your vanity url? This is very easy. First make sure you have logged into your Facebook account. Then go to http://www.facebook.com/username. From there the instructions will prompt you to choose your username. It is permanent, so choose wisely. Make sure you do not misspell or make a typo. The process to correct a mistake like that is almost impossible. It would probably be easier to set up a new account, but then your history is not connected with the new account. If you manage any Facebook Pages with more than 25 fans, then you can also set the url for your Fan Page here.

I hope you found this information useful. If you'd like more information on what a username is you can click here: http://www.facebook.com/help/new/?page=897.

Social Media 101

Let's get one thing straight. If your station does not have a FaceBook (FB) presence, you need to get on it now. And I'll do what I can to help you figure FB and every other Social Media website out, if you stick around and subscribe. But I have to tell you, some stations that are signing up for FB are going about it the wrong way. They have signed up with a regular user account! Why is this bad? For a several reasons...

• FB frowns on users having multiple accounts
• FB intentionally created Fan Pages for businesses
• Advertising your Fan Page is more professional than advertising your Personal Profile page
• Fan Pages have analytics! Helloooo! Don't you want to know the demographics visiting your page?
• You can manage multiple Fan Pages with one account
• You can import your Announcer Blogs into a Fan Page through RSS feeds
  
• You can send a message to all your Fans with one click

Let's take these one by one. FB has strict Terms of Service and will shut down anyone with multiple accounts. So, if you have assigned the FB account to an intern, and they get caught, you lose your FB presence. Then you have to go through a bunch of rigamoro with FB to get it reinstated. So, best to play by the rules and limit the surprizes.

Face Book anticipated people creating multiple accounts; one for personal, one for business, one for hobby, etc. So FB came up with an alternative solution: Fan Pages. Fan Pages are for businesses, public figures and anything people can be a fan of, like radio! They are similar to a regular profile account, but there are differences.

When you advertise your FB page anywhere, it is more professional for a business to have a Fan Page, rather than a regular account. It's similar to the ideology that it is better to have a Top Level Domain name for your website, rather than using a Geocities website. Also, on FB you can target your ads to members in your listening area! By having a Fan Page, you can then analyze the demographics of people visiting. If you are a station that targets 18-24 females in Scranton, PA, you can target your FB ads to reach that demo! The analytics is one reason to have a Fan Page over a Group too.

If you have a cluster of stations, it is easier to manage all the Fan Pages with one log in, rather than having multiple log ins for multiple accounts. This saves time and effort. All analytics are measured from one log in, for each fan Page you have. And it is easier to remove people you have given admin privileges to.

Since the Fan Page is similar to a regular user profile, you can add applications such as an RSS reader that allows you to pull in your Announcer's blogs. You are probably already doing this on your station's website (or you should be), but the advantage here is that when a blog is updated, it can post to the Fan Page status, which in turn will show up on your fan's profile page. And, should a fan decide to leave a comment to that status, your fan's friends will get a link in reference to that comment, which will entice them to also see your station's Fan Page. This is set up in your favor! It is made to help you get more "followers" which will in turn create more loyal listeners.

And finally, you can send a message to your fans with a simple click. So, you can send out contest remonders, sever weather alerts, and special offers from your advertisers to your Fans. And that can be appealing to your advertisers. You can also use FB Connect on your website to connect your listeners to your Fan Page. At a minimum you should include a standardized FB logo and link to your Fan Page to make it easy for your listeners to connect with you on FB.

One final word on setting up your Fan Page, which actually applies to all Social Media sites you set up: Make sure there are multiple "administrators" for your communities. Seriously, your business manager should have access, just in case you need to change the personelle in your programming and/or promotions department. But, you probably knew that already.

Stick around and subscribe! Next we'll talk about Twitter!

Follow me and if you need any help with your Social Media integration, fee free to conact me at 860-506-3768.