Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter all have hidden features that can make a marketer's job a little easier.
For example, did you know that YouTube's Fan Finder program provides free pre-roll ad space?
Or that you can text tweets?
Or that LinkedIn has a secret place for you to write helpful notes about your relationships with connections?
Learn how to take advantage of the above features and much more below.
Add A Call-To-Action Button to Your Facebook Page
This feature was rolled out in December 2014. Page owners can choose from seven CTA buttons to be displayed over the page's cover image (beside the Like button). The buttons include: Shop Now, Sign Up, Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game and Watch Video.
Change the Order of How Sections Appear on Your Business Page
You have a lot more control of your business page then you might think, and can reorder the About, Photos and other sections in the left sidebar. Hover your mouse over a section's header, click on the little pencil icon that appears and select "Manage Sections." In the pop-up that appears, simply drag and drop to re-order.
Pin Posts to the Top of Your Page
Find the post that you want to pin to the top of your page, and click on the the drop-down arrow in the top right corner. Choose the "Pin to Top" option.
Download Your Entire Facebook History
If you ever want to have record of this for your files, navigate to Settings and hit the "Download Facebook Data" link at the bottom of the page.
YouTube
Use YouTube's Free Audio Library
YouTube's Audio Library is a great resource to find and use free music and sound effects to score and enhance your videos. It houses hundreds of royalty-free instrumental tracks to choose from.
You can access it by navigating to the "Creation Tools" menu within YouTube's "Video Manager" section. You can filter the selection by genre, duration and more.
Upload Transcripts Along With Your Videos
YouTube provides the option to upload a transcription of your videos. There is big SEO benefit in doing this when employing targeted keywords within your video.
You can type the transcription straight into YouTube under the "Subtitles & CC" tab in "Video Manager." You can also upload a plain text file of the transcript and upload it along with the video.
Take Advantage of Free Ad Space
YouTube's Fan Finder program allows users to submit ads to promote their channels. "Channel Ads" are short video ads that promote and sell your YouTube brand. Once YouTube approves the submitted ads, they will be used to target people that the site believes are likely to be interested in your content. Learn more about Fan Finder from YouTube.
Make Notes About Your Relationship with Connections
Under a connection's profile picture, there's a "Relationship" link. Here, you can add notes about how you met, what you know about them, common interests, reminders and more. You will be the only one who can see and access what you write.
Create Showcase Pages
Showcase Pages are essentially dedicated product/service pages that you can create as an extension of your main company page. They're "showcased" in the right side bar of your page. Check out Microsoft's Showcase Page for Office as an example.
To set up a Showcase Page, click the "Edit" menu that appears on your company page and choose "Create A Showcase Page."
Embed SlideShare Presentations Into Tweets
By embedding a SlideShare presentation into a tweet, followers can click-through the entire set without leaving Twitter. To do this, just copy and paste the link to the presentation in to Twitter's tweet editor. The presentation will be embedded automatically.
Make GIFs Autoplay in Follower's Feeds
GIFs that you link in Tweets don't automatically play in your follower's feeds, but there's hack. If you pin a Tweet that includes a GIF to the top of your own Twitter feed, it will automatically play in other people's feeds.
Pinning a Tweet is easy. Click on the ellipsis that appears at the bottom of each tweet and select "Pin Tweet."
Control Twitter Via Text Message
Under your Twitter settings, navigate to mobile and turn on the setting that allows you to manage your account via SMS. By activating this functionality, you'll be able to tweet, reply, re-tweet and more by texting commands to a custom number provided by Twitter. See more here.
