“Toastmasters”, you might want to add it here to aid in search engine indexing and posting.
Facebook Web Address: This seems a little redundant to me as the url of your Facebook Page would be displaying in your browser, however it provides an additional mentioning of your Toastmaster’s club Facebook Page web address.
Start Date: This would be the start date of your Toastmaster’s club, not the date you started the Facebook Page. If your club has been around for a while it gives you some bragging rights.
Address: You have at least two choices as to what you can add here, either the address of where your club meets or the designated mailing address of your club. I’m in favour of the meeting place address as it provides extra promotional value. I don’t think very many people nowadays would actually send snail mail to a club anymore in favour of e-mail or a phone call.
Hours: Insert the start and end time for your club meeting.
Short Description: You can show a brief description of approximately 155 characters that displays below the Cover Image and the Profile Image at the top of your Page. This is great space to outline a concise statement about your business and list your website URL. Towards the end of this section we focus on search engine optimization to raise awareness of your Facebook Page and there will be some tips offered there as to how you should create your promotional copy for this and some of the following fields.
Tip: Keep it short and sweet, and add your website URL, hyperlinked. Otherwise, visitors have to click on “about”, and hunt for your website URL there. The short description is the best way to add an up front and clearly visible path to your website.
Impressum: Short version, you don’t need to worry about this section. Slightly longer version … this is an optional field. In certain countries such as Austria, Germany & Switzerland businesses may be required by law to include a statement of ownership on their web presence. There is a limitation of 2000 characters.
Company Overview: As a Toastmasters club you aren’t a company so it isn’t crucial that you complete the box, however it is another opportunity for you to add some promotional content that isn’t covered in your Short or Long Description.
Long Description: This area gives you lots of room for promotional copy or a longer version of what your club is all about. You can add over 30000 characters in this section. If you have a dedicated website for your Toastmaster’s club you may want to create promotional copy designed to lure the visitor to your website. The intent would be that the copy on the website would be crafted to encourage a visitor to your site to come out as a guest to your club. Conversely, if you don’t have a club webpage, you may want to take advantage of this space to add promotional copy with the same aim in mind i.e. encouraging them to visit your club. It’s a fact of life that some visitors to your Facebook Page won’t take the extra step to visiting your website. Don’t be afraid to duplicate the promotional copy from your website in this area.
One benefit of utilizing this category is that Google indexes all of the information posted. This can help with visibility in search engine results. We discuss SEO (search engine optimization) later in this manual.
If your club has had a successful history in the DCP (Distinguished Club Program) you may want to highlight it here as Milestones. A brief explanation of the DCP might be helpful for non-Toastmasters visiting your Facebook page.
A valuable promotional tool is to have your members create “toastimonials” aka testimonials. This can be a great place to include them. Once again, if you have a club website, you may want to use different toastimonials here than you would on your website.
How to Promote Your Toastmaster’s Club Facebook Page
You can have the best Facebook Page in the world, but if nobody knows about it, what good is it? Your Facebook Page needs to entertain, inform, challenge, motivate etc. and grab people’s attention, similar to delivering a speech.
Here are some ideas to promote your Facebook Page and increase your Likes & Shares. The more Likes you have the more likely people are going to share your content, and in turn, they too will Like & Share with others.
•Let all your club members know that your club has a Facebook Page and how they can access it.
•Create and present a speech at your club on how your fellow club members can contribute to your club growth by sharing the club Facebook posts on their timeline. Explain how reach works.
•Show your fellow members how they can contribute content to the club Facebook Page and the benefits for both them and the club.
•Create promotional copy to add to your About section. Complete a short version & long version description of your club. Be sure to add contact info a link to your website or other social media. You need to convince the reader that your club is different than the other local clubs if there are any and that they should join yours.
•Add your club Facebook address to all promotional material that your produce e.g., agendas, brochures etc.
•As the Administrator, you personally, make friends on Facebook with all of your fellow members. Then invite them to Like your Toastmasters Club Facebook Page.
•Share club Facebook posts on your own personal Timeline. You want your friends to know that you are a Toastmaster and proud of it!
•Encourage visitors to your webpage to visit your Club Facebook Page. Make it easy for them to do so. A Facebook icon should be clearly visible on your website.
•Add “Please Share” to the bottom of each post.
•Search for and Like other Toastmaster’s Facebook Pages. They are a great source of content. Collate their info and share on your Timeline.
•If your club has a website and collects and posts “useful” information, create links to the content both ways i.e. your content on your website should say something to the effect of “visit us on Facebook.” Your Facebook posting of your content should mention “for more interesting information … visit our website.” The same applies to a blog if you have one.
•Check out software to add to your website, depending on its particular content management system, that allows the reader to share the content easily, by clicking and forwarding a link to their social media accounts.
•Create a YouTube channel for your club. Record presentations and post them to your YouTube channel. Share the links to your video in your posts. We explore YouTube and adding video, later in this manual
•Connect with past members. They may not want to rejoin your club but might Like your page and share your posts on their timeline. Go ahead, ask them!
•As part of a public relations program have members create a testimonial of why they are a member of your club, encouraging others to join. Post them periodically. Include a photo of the member. It would also be fun to video a testimonial and post it to your Facebook Page as well as your YouTube channel.
•Encourage members to have a professional Linkedin profile listing Toastmasters as an interest and highlight their TM experience. Have them link back to the club webpage & Facebook Page.
•Encourage
