Hero Tower [review]
POS:
Automatically post high quality content to your fan pages. Thats just cool!NEG:
At time of writing there was no in members are help links: But I have been told these will be inserted prior to release.Tonight Im reviewing a product that I can across because of Mike Thomas. It launches tomorrow and I’m sure that it is going to have a lot of buzz so I hit up the product creator for review access and set about putting it to the test. The product Im reviewing is Hero Tower by […]
Tonight Im reviewing a product that I can across because of Mike Thomas. It launches tomorrow and I’m sure that it is going to have a lot of buzz so I hit up the product creator for review access and set about putting it to the test.
The product Im reviewing is Hero Tower by Ross Carrell
One thing we all should know by now is that engagement is king in with Facebook. By getting posts that get better engagement you are creating affinity with your fans and helping to ensure that they will continue to see your posts. The quality of the post is key to the engagement you get. You must post high quality, content that sparks likes, comments and shares. Honestly the difference between a dead page and one that is getting tons of engagement is the posts.
The problem is that you have to spend a ton of time trying to find cool pictures or articles to post to your page. In fact you have to spend so much time that it sparked a new job description in many business’s the “social media manager” which more often than not is just a professional sounding way to say “the guy who finds good things to post to Facebook”. Seriously just finding things to post to your page can be a full time job. If you have multiple pages in multiple niches it becomes almost impossible to keep up with them all. So our engagement suffers, our pages end up ghost towns, and in the end we conclude that fan pages ‘just dont work’.
Well nothing can be further from the truth. With high engagement levels Facebook fan pages can be an awesome marketing and business tool. However what most of us just dont have the time to spend on finding and posting quality content. We also dont have the budget to pay someone else to do it for us. Its this dilemma that Hero Tower seeks to solve and after using it for the last couple of hours I have just one thing to say. This thing is awesome!
Yea awesome is a very good word to describe Hero Tower. It totally automates the process of posting to your fan pages. Basically it does the job of a full time social media manager for you. The way it works is it lets you search for ‘topics’ of interest that are related to your fan page niche. It will then search through related Facebook fan pages and find posts that got high engagement and let you re-post this high engagement content to your own fan page. But it does not stop there. It also lets you totally automate the process. Simply click the times you want content to post and the software takes over making sure that you have high quality, relevant content posting totally on auto pilot.
The only thing I didn’t like about this is that the help and support links are on the log in screen to the software and there are no in members area links for support. This is kind of a pain because if you have a support question or want to watch a tutorial you have to go back to the log in screen. However this software was easy enough to use that I didn’t have to use any tutorials at all. Also I spoke to Ross and he told me he would add links into the members area. I think its very cool that Ross would take my feedback (which tends to be quite blunt) even on such a small thing as this. Accepting feedback without getting angry or defensive is a great sign of character and really builds up my trust in Ross as a product creator. Good for you Ross.
Posting high quality content regularly and consistently on your page is the key to success with Facebook fan pages and Facebook marketing. This software totally automates the process saving you a ton of time , money, and ensuring that only the best possible posts make it to your fan page.
Whats really cool about this is because the ‘work’ of owning an engaging fan page can now be automated you can now have dozens of niche fan pages that get high engagement. Then every once in a while you can throw in a affiliate or marketing offer in your posts to earn money from these pages. By having many pages, in different niches, all on virtual auto pilot someone could make a nice bit of cash with this software. I’m 100% sure there is money to be made with fan pages that get good engagement and this software will do all the ‘heavy work’ for you. Nice!
I can honestly say that this is a must have for anyone interested in Facebook marketing or managing pages for their clients. I tend to be extra picky with Facebook software because I have done so much Facebook development myself but I can honestly say that this one is a big winner!
Click the link below to watch the demo video of Hero Tower and find out more:
**Just a quick update. I wanted to point out that Ross was 100% true to his word and added in an members area link to support just like he told me he would. Its great to find a vendor that does exactly what he says he will. Thanks Ross!
A quick note about the reviews I do on this site. The product vendors give me access to their products for free in order for me to do my review. However I make no promises to them regarding the results of my tests or what I will write in my review. Should you click a link that takes you to a sales page for a paid product for sale this link will be an affiliate link and I will be paid a percentage of the sales price should you decide to invest in it.
About the Author
Brett,
I just purchased the lowest level of the product to test it out, as I has a suspicion it would not do anything for me. Well, I was correct (sorry to say). I have a fan page that is based on a product that generates a billion dollar sales each year, and I cannot find any content relating to my fan page. I have tried several different ways of accessing the different keywords, etc. and it still comes back blank. I know there is content out there because I have found it with other sources. It is quite amazing to me it did not come back with any information at all. Some softwares I have tried at least come back with some information, but never blank. If you are wondering, my subject matter I am speaking about is cigars. I doubt that anyone reading this comment has never heard of cigars. There are all kinds of cigar fan pages, as well as open groups that info can be scraped from but Herotower did not come back with even one piece of content. Just thought you might be interested to know.
Im going to guess that Hero Tower did not come back with Cigar related content because there is actually NO open groups or fan pages related to cigars. Now you think they are open because you have seen them. However what you dont realize is that they actually are not open because Facebook limits these kinds of pages / groups by the age of the user. Your just above the age so you can see the content. But really its not open content. Its restricted content. While Im not privy to the code for Hero Tower I have a lot of Facebook development experience and I know for sure that Facebook apps often can only read fully open content. This includes content that is age restricted (such as tobacco related). The reason it includes age restricted is because Facebook has no way of knowing how old a user of a third party app (like Hero Tower) is. So they only allow third party apps to read the totally unrestricted, open content. Hope that helps.
Brett,
Are you saying FB knows our age and automatically allows us to have access to age related content? Is it the same for Fan Pages?
I regularly follow several Fan Pages in the cigar niche that are full of content that could be repurposed.
As a test after reading your comment above, I asked one of my good friends who has a 10 year old son, to ask him to go to a Fan Page in the cigar niche and he was able to do so without any problems.
I should also point out I did mention above I have found cigar related content with other programs that go out and find content in FB through keywords.
The setup of Hero Tower is a great setup and how the information is used is quite nice, the product design seems to be a very good design. I just wished their search engine would also find info related to the cigar niche.
Of course Facebook knows your age. You entered it when you signed up. And yes Facebook restricts things in the open graph by age. I know this for sure. Also Facebook does not put restricted content in the open graph so it is available to apps. Now I dont know for sure why this does not find content related for ‘cigars’ as I said Im not privy to the code for this software. I was simply making an educated guess based on my own development experience. Im sorry if my guess was wrong. I was trying to give you the best answer I could based on my own experience.
Joe, you stated ” I cannot find any content relating to my fan page. I have tried several different ways of accessing the different keywords, etc. and it still comes back blank”
Did you also use the “Connect to Facebook Source” to actually use those custom selected fb pages as the source?
Yah, I experienced the same think UNTIL I search for related pages and added them manually as the “search engine” appears to be somewhat limited!
Rob and Brett,
Thanks for the info. I did send a support ticket and asked the same questions I have above and the answer that came back was to do as you suggested. My lat question to them was in reference to using the keyword search to find images. I have not heard back yet, but I do suspect the answer will be the same.
Brett, thanks for reminding me about the age thing, it has been so long since I signed up I just plain forgot I gave my age. My bad.
There is no answer for this, but on other programs I have that go out and get content to post to a Fan Page, I have not had a problem when I put in the keyword cigars. I have been able to get content that I could use to post to my Fan Page. Needless to say, I don’t have a clue what it works in some programs and not in others. Since I only bought the $37.00 version with 7 boards, I will either learn to live with it or ask for a refund. Most likely I will learn to live with it.
In any event, thanks for straightening me out Brett and Rob, I do appreciate it!
Joe .. if your not happy or if this just is not suited to your specific needs then I say dont ‘live with it’. Get that refund, there is nothing wrong with asking for a refund on a product that is not suited you.
Hi Brett, so let’s be clear – fanpages/tabs are dead, but fanpage *content* posts, which appear in newsfeeds, aren’t? Want to be sure I’m seeing this right. My question to you now is, how best to get them as fans to begin with so that you end UP in their newsfeeds?
These unflinchingly honest reviews are much appreciated, thanks! Keep it up!
Use Facebook ads to get fans to start with. Run a like campaign. Also you can get fans by posting content that people are likely to share. If people like your content they may elect to like your page. But for a totally dead page just starting. Use Facebook ads.
Hi Brett….
Hero Tower does indeed seem impressive….love its functionality, but not the fact that it is a hosted solution. (that’s just me…)
His Social Accelerator was great by all accounts…until it stopped working! (as most automated solutions do, (hosted or not), when the “target” (usually FB or Google) make changes)
Anyway….I’m an avid reader of your reviews. and do appreciate the fact that you are a hard guy to please!
Mike
Being a hosted solution is a good thing Michael. It allows the creator to update the software to keep it working with Facebooks API very easily. With a downloaded software your on your own. This is actually the reason I do hosted solutions. To provide a better service.
Actually, Hero Tower is the result of the the former version 1 (Social Accelerator) being a wp plugin and getting the FB App Slap. Those who got apps approved before May 1 can still use the non-hosted solution (plugin).
Many such developers have either gotten “out-of-the-game” or moved their apps to a hosted solution.
I agree with Brett, hosted makes sense with FB related app like Hero Tower!
Hi Brett,
I use the plugins Gorilla FB and FB in combination for my content. I also have your plugins “Post Promotions” and “Notifications Pro”. So: Do you think it makes sense, if I invest in this tool? Would be great to get your feedback, before I invest in a tool I might not need …
Im not sure what Gorilla FB is. However if you spend more than say 1 hour a day posting your content then yes I would say this could be a good investment. 1 hour a day is 5-7 hours a week. Given that this is a one time price system that saves you that time, you would quickly make up the cost in time savings.
It looks very good. I’ve found by searching Google images for “funny (keyword) meme” I can find some great content that gets shared a lot and attracts more followers/likes. However it does take time to find good ones. My concern with this software is does it really find good content, because there is a lot of bad content out there.
Hi,
I’m just wondering what we’re allowed to do with other people’s content we find using this tool. If I find some really good images/posts, am I allowed to post them on my own timeline? Do I need to give credit/etc?
I’m a bit concerned about using this and then it coming back to bite me on the ass!
Honestly Im not a lawyer so Im not the best person to give advice about giving credit etc. However I believe you are fine. If not just ‘sharing’ a image would be a copyright issue. Since your reposting to Facebook using this software is little different from sharing it, which in essence is just reposting it to Facebook. Again though just to be clear this is only my (non legal professional) understanding.
Hi. What I do with Hero Tower is first look for fb pages related to my niche in {link removed} or search directly in facebook graph search. Then add it into Hero Tower.
I’m very happy with this tool because I’ve been able to enter in differents niches quickly.
Brett,
I took your advice and bought Hero Tower a couple of months back. I have to say it has been one of the best purchases I have made in quite some time,,,so thank you very much for recommending it in the first place.
I do however have a concern, and as someone with much more clout than I – I was hoping you wouldn’t mind investigating what has happen to the {link removed} domain that Hero Tower utilizes as it has been down now for 3 days (Well at least for me) and no longer posting any working links to Facebook and support will only say “we should be up soon”
Im sorry but I have no idea, Im not involved with the running or maintenance of Hero Tower in any way. When you purchased you where provided with a support URL. I would suggest you send in a support email.