Facebook is by far the most popular social network and one of the
most visited Web sites in the world. Here is a little bit of statistics about Facebook;
·
Facebook has more
than 500 million active users.
·
50 percent of
active users log on to Facebook in any given day.
·
The average user
has 130 friends and is connected to 60 pages, groups, and events.
·
People spend more
than 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
·
The average user
creates 70 pieces of content each month.
·
About 70 percent
of Facebook users are outside the United States.
Now from such statistics, surely every business should aspire to
make use of Facebook as an online social media tool. Here are few tips that
businesses can tap into to exploit Facebook’s capabilities;
Establish the company page—and the real people behind it
The creator and administrators of a fan page are somewhat
behind-the scenes initially, but when they start responding to questions and
replying to wall posts, their identities come to the fore. This can be a great opportunity
for companies with well-known or visionary founders associated with their
brands. And it’s also a good thing to humanize the company by putting your
social-media guru out there, front and center. But you may want to establish
new Facebook accounts for the people managing your fan page, separate from
their existing personal accounts.
Post regularly
Establish a publishing plan and stick to it—perhaps you’ll post
seven times a week, with one special promotion per week and the rest
informative, newsy, or entertaining posts. You’ll need to be flexible to post
about relevant events at your company or in your market as they occur, but it ’
s a good idea to sketch a rough plan.
Invite your friends
Individuals can suggest their company page to your friends. There
are some cool JavaScript hacks out there that make it easier to invite all your
friends in one fell swoop. But be careful. Nobody wants to be spammed, least of
all by their friends, family, or peripheral colleagues. So do two things: First,
make sure the site is an active, interesting place you ’ re proud of, and
second, invite only those friends you know well and feel comfortable suggesting
the page for their benefit, not yours.
Promote your Facebook page to existing customers
You need to kick-start your fan base, and the best way is to tell
your core customers about it. Add the Facebook logo to your Web site’s
navigation. Announce the fan page in an e-mail to your customers—maybe offer a
discount to everyone who “likes” you.
Set up a custom URL
When you have at least 25 fans, you can reserve a good,
recognizable URL, like http://www.Facebook.com/your company . You can establish the new URL by visiting http://www.Facebook.com/username/
.
Add a Facebook status widget to your home page and a Facebook logo
link to your navigation
These elements show your Web site visitors what ’ s going on at
your fan page and encourage them to join in—and it also makes it more fun for
active participants when they see themselves on your site. I recommend making
explicit calls to action: “Join Us on Facebook!” and “Follow Us on Twitter!”
Add Facebook share and/or Facebook connect features to your site,
and also display the “AddThis” widget on your pages
A little bit of JavaScript added strategically to your Web site ’
s page templates can add Facebook ’ s “like,” “share,” and other features to
your Web site, making it easy for Facebook users to promote your content or products
to their friends. The “add this” widget does the same thing, but also for Digg,
Twitter, MySpace, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, and other social-media sites. When
you launch a cool product or publish a noteworthy post, make it easy for your audience
to share it with their friends. It’s a fairly subtle way to show you’re hip to
social media and put the “network effect” to work. You’ll attract more fans to
your Web site and to your company Facebook page.
Use Facebook’s richness to your advantage
Unlike Twitter, Facebook welcomes photos, videos, events, and
limited HTML (or FBML, its unique Facebook Markup Language). Your Facebook page
can be a rich and entertaining place. Make a point to upload a lot of the
various content types—such as photos from a recent company picnic. Create contest
entry forms or e-mail signups so your fans don’t have to leave the comfort of
Facebook in order to connect with your company. See what people like and what
they respond to.
Staff for customer service
Increasingly, fans of your brand will turn to Facebook—not your
1-800 numbers or your customer-support e-mail address—when they have questions
they need answered.
Ask questions
Some of your posts should pose a question to your audience. Asking
your fans what they think, or asking for their own stories or experiences, is
an easy and effective way to encourage more engagement.
Have a contest or host an event or meetup
It’s so satisfying when your Facebook program helps you deepen the
relationship with some members of your audience, from the passive (lurking and
reading), to the casual (liking, commenting, and posting), to the active
(participating in an event, entering a contest, or buying something from you).
Be active in the community
This is where the identity of your administrator and the identity
of your company intertwine. A company can’t “friend” people on Facebook—only a
person can. As your administrators get to know your fans, it is natural—and
very good for the continued growth and popularity of your fan page—for them to
be actively friending your fans, joining relevant groups, and endorsing
relevant causes. When they do these things, status updates percolate through their
entire network, raising their visibility and that of your company.
Monitor your quality scores.
Facebook displays a “post quality” and an “interaction” score for
your fan page based on how many fans “liked” your posts or commented on them.
It ’ s a dead-simple approach to quality measurement, and it ’ s really
important. Challenge yourself to write good, compelling posts that your fans
respond to!
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