How To Use Facebook “Notes” To Get More Traffic

Small businesses and non-profits that have a Facebook page can leverage the Notes application to drive web traffic to their sites. Facebook currently lets Profile users import one RSS feed from a blog into their Facebook wall using the Notes application.

Here’s why this is powerful:

If you have 30 fans who each have 100 friends, your blog post will be seen by as many as 3,000 people. These blog posts appear both on profile walls and on the Home Page news feed.
The folks who have added your RSS to their notes have essentially endorsed you to their friends. This type social proof is a big part of what influences consumer buying decisions and which non-profits get support.

Three requirements for this to work:

You must have a blog with an RSS feed (most blogs have this).
Your content must be highly valuable. Again, the Notes application only allows for 1 RSS feed. Why should they choose yours?
You must have at least a small group of raving fans on Facebook. Do you know who these folks are? If not, get to know them.

If you’ve met these three requirements, then you’re good to go.

Simply ask your raving fans to add your blog’s RSS feed to their Notes app on their profile. Easy, huh? If you have blog with kick-ass content and fans who rave about you, then it’s that easy. They love you and will do anything to support your cause.

How to make this easy request

Assuming that you already know who these raving fans are, and assuming that they are already a “Fan” on your Facebook page, simply send an “update” to your fans with the following instructions.

You have my permission to copy and paste.
1. After adding the Notes Application to your profile, click on “Import a blog” under “Notes Settings”.

2. Enter the feed URL of our blog.

3. Click continue.

4. Within your profile’s Applications setting page, click “Edit settings” next to the Notes application. Configure how you’d like the feed to appear on your wall.

5. Click “Okay” and navigate back to your wall to see the latest blog post.

Finally, do not take the efforts of your fans for granted. Send a thoughtful and personal (not via page update, for goodness sake) message of thanks. Heck – send a postcard!

Posted February 26, 2009

semi trucks

what an example.. surely the traffic diverted towards the blog will be in the same passion as that of the snap shown here.
John Haydon

Huh?
Anarchy Andy

This technique rubs me the wrong way. It's kind of like asking readers of your blog to go to Blogger.com and set up other, identical blogs. The Notes feature is essentially a blogging app that allows Facebook users to compose articles longer than a wall post. It's generally assumed that you are posting your own work. Getting customers to RSS your work into their own blogs might work to spread your name, but as a Facebook user I'd have negative feelings toward any brand I saw coopting the system in this spammy way. If people want to share your blog posts they can post them as links, not sneak them in front of their friends through an inappropriate channel. It's not a huge offense, but it degrades the quality of Facebook for everyone and not something I would associate my brand with.
John Haydon

Andy,

It would rub me the same way if I was stating that this tactic should be done as you describe ("Getting customers to RSS your work into their own blogs might work to spread your name, but as a Facebook user I'd have negative feelings toward any brand I saw coopting the system in this spammy way")

However, I'm not recommending asking blog readers to RSS anything on their profiles - only the few select raving fans. And even then, only the ones that you know and trust.
brucedietzen

Just started importing my new blog into Facebook Notes and no matter what I try, Notes only displays half of the graphics images in the article... even if I shrink them down to thumbnail sizes... two our of fouor of the JPGs that show up fine in Wordpress dont show up at all in Notes. ?????? Any ideas?
John Haydon

No clue - I know some people have had that issue. What did the Facebook
forum say?
brucedietzen

Hi John. I only found one post at Facbook forum on the topic. It was someone with the same question snd nobody replied to him. He thought it might be related to IE8, which I use. My developers use Apples, and I use windows IE8. They said they could see the graphics, and could only see some of them. I eliminated the import, then changed the graphics on the Wordpress blog, updated it, refreshed browsers, reinstated the import blog link in notes, and again had the same problem of only some of the graphics images displaying. I finally gave up and recreated the document directly in Notes, adding the HTML as needed. I had high hopes for using Wordpress along with Notes... but alas. If this happens with IE8, thats a pretty big bug I'm guessing.
John Haydon

I wish I could help. Another option is to use the NetworkedBlogs app.
golondon

Still can't find step 4 so think it's changed since 2009. Anyone know anything different? Can import a blog feed to the Notes tab but can't get it to appear on the Wall as that option (step 4) isn't available. (Aagh!) Can anyone help?
Web Design Kent

Hmm. I’ve certainly found that Facebook is a good marketing tool. I’d be a little hesitant to target LSAT takers, though… once they’ve gotten a decent score on the LSAT, there’s no need for them to return… unless, of course, Steve launches a series of “surviving law school” courses. Having been through law school, I know that passing the LSAT is ultimately the least of a law student’s worries…
Widgia

Great way to let my fans on FB stay up 2 date. Thanks Jonh for this tut.
John Haydon

Anytime!
rafael

Hi there John, I need your help.
I can't make to the stage 4, can't find this option and my notes are staying underneath.
best
John Haydon

What did the Facebook help forumhave to say on this?
Facebook Applications

Awesome idea! Very creative and I never thought about this. I don’t do a large amount of social media marketing, however I love your tips and ideas to help myself and my clients benefit from additional traffic sources.
kris

Hi there,

I am importing my blog to my Fan Page but the links are not live. There is nothing to click on and nothing to click on to even get to the blog post itself. Any advice?
John Haydon

Make sure you're using the RSS feed and not the URL to your blog.
Name

My feed is showing up in the Notes section of the Facebook page but not on the Wall. Any suggestions?
John Haydon

Go into the app and edit settings.
Name

seriously, this is driving me nuts, how do you reach step 4 application settings. When i get there it allows me to edit the settings of he notes application setup on my personal profile, not the one on the page... How do you get there? I hate FB navigation
John Haydon

Make sure you're using the right search box for apps...
alandmei

Okay- I am an idiot and did this for my PERSONAL page, not the FAN page- I don't want my NPO's blog running through my page (honestly can only give so much!). How do I undo this for my Personal Page? Got it to work on the Fan Page (great post, thank you!)
John Haydon

Just remove the app in settings. ;-)
Andy Giesler

Great post, thanks. I found it just in time for a Nonprofit Social Media presentation I gave last week to a group of volunteer coordinators. I shared the link with them since it's applicable to both Facebook and blogging questions.

In case it would be helpful to others, in August I posted a step-by-step guide to setting up a nonprofit Facebook page: http://www.blazingmoon.org/news/2009/08/create-.... I've updated it with reference to your post.
John Haydon

Tanks, Andy. I'm sure people will find your post useful!
James

Great way to expose your feeds on Facebook, thank you John:)
John Haydon

Thanks, James. Glad you found it helpful!
Ray

Thanks for the detailed instructions on how to make this work. I'll try this out for sure. Many thanks.
John Haydon

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John Haydon

You're welcome, Ray!
vinni

nice man! but i think notes no longer has the option to show only a preview. it shows the whole thing now ~
John Haydon

Vinni - I'm confused. Did I say that notes only shows a preview?
txlegz

I found everything except the WALL tab on Edit Notes Settings ... They must have deleted it ... Is there any other way to shorten the blog and add the url so that viewers click on the link? p l e a s e advise... thanks!
John Haydon

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "shorten the blog"?
txlegz

Thanks for following up.

I found out how to do it in wordpress because I found in fb the
removed that option.

I meant .... only send in the feed 2 sentences of the blog with a link
so that readers would click and go back to the blog site. I was
having comments on my blog ... but it was on facebook instead of my
blog site.

There is a feature in WP where you write an exerpt or short summary
teaser and then under admin you can choose to send the entire blog or
the expert with link.

YAY figured it all out ... but I do really appreciate your follow up!
Thank YOU!
txlegz

Thanks for following up.

I found out how to do it in wordpress because I found in fb the
removed that option.

I meant .... only send in the feed 2 sentences of the blog with a link
so that readers would click and go back to the blog site. I was
having comments on my blog ... but it was on facebook instead of my
blog site.

There is a feature in WP where you write an exerpt or short summary
teaser and then under admin you can choose to send the entire blog or
the expert with link.

YAY figured it all out ... but I do really appreciate your follow up!
Thank YOU!
MeepMeep

I have Notes setup on a page, the issue I am having is not all my notes are being displayed onto the wall. The Notes Box picked up the initial posts upon submitting my RSS feed, as well as any new posts I added into my feed (within and hour).

The wall on the other hand only picked up four Notes upon initial submission of my feed, and one of the Notes was actually replicated, so technically it only picked up three. The wall hasn't updated with any new notes within a 24 hour period. I was under the impression that Notes would be posted on the wall as well, or was I wrong in this?

Thanks for any input.
John Haydon

Good question. What did the folks say in the Facebook forum?
GGuy

I have the same issue as Ashley and Green -- I use Blogger and my pictures do not come through to my Wall. I also don't have a Wall tab on Notes Edit page. For me, some of the pictures are critical to the story. I will keep reading to see if there is another solution...
John Haydon

Switch over to WordPress. :-)
green

In Step 4, how come I dont see any Wall tab in my Edit Note Settings?
bfholmes (Brenna Holmes)

How To Use Facebook “Notes” To Get More Traffic: http://bit.ly/iVBGf
JudeStepaniak (Jude Stepaniak)

How to use Facebook "Notes" to get more traffic... http://www.corporatedollar.org/2009/02/leverage...
John Haydon

@Ashley - My notes published pics to Facebook through my RSS feed just fine. It could be Blogger.
Ashley @ Domestic Fashionista

Thanks! I was looking for how to do this...

From how it appears to me on facebook, I am able to see my blog feed but none of the pictures. Is that because I upload my pictures through blogger? Or does it have to do with my type of rss feed? I am using feedburner. Or is there something I can do within facebook to have the pictures appear?

Thanks!

<abbr>Ashley @ Domestic Fashionista’s last blog post..Pillowcase Apron</abbr>
Matt

Hmmm... use that for my blog

<abbr>Matt’s last blog post..Dr. Joe's Tips on How to Attract a Mate</abbr>
barbnoad (barbnoad)

Awesome. Just added my family blog rss feed to my facebook notes. No more double entry. Got the idea from here: http://tinyurl.com/dzvah3
John Haydon

@Lisa - Notes can be used on Pages and Profiles. You have to add the application first, then add the RSS feed.
Lisa Kaneff

We are trying to add our blog to our Facebook page and apparently networkedblogs can't be used on "pages" and the notes feature can't either! Do you have any insight on getting our blog feed... feeding facebook?

Thanks!

<abbr>Lisa Kaneff’s last blog post..Independent Consultant, or Unemployed Poser?</abbr>
John Haydon

@Kathy - Glad it was helpful. Feel free to post the link on your Facebook profile. ;-)
passonmedia (passonmedia)

How To Use Facebook “Notes” To Get More Traffic: http://tinyurl.com/dzvah3
Kathy

John,
Thanks so much for the information. By far, this is the most useful thing I've found all day!

<abbr>Kathy’s last blog post..Curious One - Only $30.00</abbr>
modeling22 (modeling22)

[Article] How To Use Facebook “Notes” To Get More Traffic #seo : http://is.gd/kWNk
John Haydon

@Sue - Thanks. Here's the post called "How To Link Your Twitter and Facebook Pages For Social Media Sanity"
Sue Adams @ Candles Off Main

Thanks so much. Very helpful and concise. I like the graphics also. Takes the guesswork out of it. I'll search your blog for the Twitter/Facebook connection info as well.
John Haydon

@Steve - Excellent point - thanks you! Any feed can be used in Notes. It all depends upon where you want people to go - directly to the blog, or a choice of social sites.
steve

To get around the limitation of being able to only import one RSS feed into the Notes app, you could try setting up an aggregated feed using FriendFeed or SocialThing that tied together feeds from multiple nonprofits or business blogs and importing that feed into your Notes app.
John Haydon

@Celina - I have a post on linking Facebook & Twitter. Just search my blog.
Celina

This was great! Super helpful! If I can only figure out how to link Twitter to our Museum Facebook. It keeps linking to my personal profile.
Lucy

Awesome! I was asked about this just yesterday and didn't have a decent answer but this is perfect- thank you!