Simply put, the recommendation bar will allow Facebook users to click on different articles based on what their friends are reading and liking. For example, if a user likes a specific article through the recommendation bar, it will publish as a story on their timeline, and thus, the news feeds of their friends.  Basically, when a user is reading an article, a small pop-up window will expand on the bottom of their screen when they are nearing the end of the article. It will recommend other articles on the site, and will prompt them to like these articles as well. 

 

This plug-in can help brand pages keep audiences on their site longer as well as keep audiences moving along their site and exploring different content.  In tests, articles received 3X the traffic on the stories that it recommends through the recommendations bar than through the previous recommendations box, who's more passive nature left it mostly ignored by Facebook users. Unlike the recommendation box, the recommendations bar has the "like" capability built right into the pop-up, allowing users to more easily interact with the content. The expandable bar looks like this:

 

To gather the code for the social plug-in, go to the Recommendations Bar section of the Facebook Developers page.  You will need to include open graph markup on your articles in order to effectively translate to Facebook exactly how to display them on the site.  The directions for obtaining a Recommendations bar for your own Facebook brand page are clearly and simply stated within the Facebook Developers page. 

 

To further your brand's social media reach and overall website effectiveness, contact a professional at Blue Archer today to see how search engine marketing can help your business profit today!

Carla Rosemarino

Internet Marketing Analyst

Take a look at Blue Archer's Facebook page here

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