[On September 23rd, PRNewsOnline hosted an online webinar where I and two other panelists talked about Facebook strategy. At the end of that webinar many of the questions went unanswered. I downloaded them, anonymized them, and wrote up answers to them here.
I admit that when I got past question number 25, I started to get a little punchy. But I hope it's useful to you.
If you want to discuss your own online strategy in a little greater detail, please contact me. -Shabbir]
We are a professional association. How do we get our members to join our FB page? We sent out an email to some, but don't yet have the level of involvement we want.
I suggest a few techniques:
- Audit all your outbound communications to ensure you're promoting your fan page;
- Use a facebook Fan Box that gives visitors to your website a one-click technique for joining; and
- Create unique content for your facebook fan page that will make it attractive to your audience. "Come here for the same content you can get elsewhere" just doesn't ring as persuasive.
Could you offer your comments on using LinkedIn and Twitter as well as Facebook?
Your followers on Twitter probably have a higher tolerance for more updates than on Facebook. Also, at LinkedIn the conduits for getting "into the face" of your supporters are fewer, so you may have more trouble keeping them engaged.
What's the threshold/number of fans to know when they can carry a campaign?
Is there a point at which a campaign reaches "critical mass," where an increase in web traffic occurs?
It depends on the campaign. Because of their 300 million users, you can find a sizable niche audience on facebook. I recommend you check out Kevin Kelly's Theory of 1,000 True Fans, it describes how with as few as 1,000 fans, you can bootstrap a small business.
How do you measure the traffic on your social media site?
Facebook's Fan Page Insights tools will help you understand how people are interacting with your fan page. Other tools like Google Analytics will tell you how that traffic is contributing to your website's goals.
What if you are a wholesaler in a specific industry? Is this the social media appropriate?
Wholesalers have audiences of customers on Facebook too. Check out Greenleaf Wholesale Florist, which is on Facebook with 62 fans out of Tupelo Mississippi. You may think, "they only have 62 fans". But what if that represents 15% of their customers? Wouldn't it be worth it to have such an intimate and daily connection to them?
Could you comment on the use of these tools for B2B vs B2Consumer vs Consumer2Consumer
I reviewed a number of examples during the presentation, including B2B companies like Razorfish as well as B2C companies like Gillette and The North Face. I recommend reviewing these Fan pages to check out how they're interacting with their fans.
Should we use same messages on all social media tools? (i.e. twitter, fb, etc)
No. You need to tailor your messages to both the audience as well as the unique nature of the medium.
Do you see benefits to having personal pages, i.e. staff members, in addition to fan/group page?
I don't recommend it. Use a fan page, and if a staffer wants to write something for it, ask them to post it on your fan page wall.
We are in the wedding business, should we only promote our company info or wedding news in general?
Your audience is engaged couples, and probably in a constant state of turnover. If you want to keep their attention, you need to become a portal of useful information to a couple planning their big day. If you can do this while only focusing on weddings you've planned, that's great. If you don't have enough volume to keep fans entertained while they're clients of yours, then you may have to include material from other sources.
Most of all, remember the social media "dinner party" analogy. Don't be the dinner party guest that only talks about themselves.
How common is it to use Facebook ads to drive users to your fan page?
With 300 million registered users, it's entirely reasonable to put up a Facebook fan page purely so you can use it as a conversion landing page for Facebook ads. Get your page up and your conversation going, and start looking at ads within 60 days.
What are your views on the value of Facebook pages for health professions associations, such as generating traffic and interest?
If you take a quick look at the nursing profession on Facebook, you'll see that associations are already organizing there.
For corporate employee communications, what are the differences in using the corp Intranet like Sharepoint for employee blogging and postings versus Facebook or other social media?
The difference is that Facebook has already aggregated 300 million pairs of eyeballs as a potential audience who could quickly be exposed to your message if you put it on a Fan page. Getting that traffic to come to your website is going to be even more costly.
Can you please tell us when it's best to use a Fan Page versus a Group Page (we are a charity)?
We are a charity - could you please tell us when to use a Fan page and when to use a Group page? Thank you.
I really think that most organizations looking to present themselves on Facebook should use a Fan page. Group pages are for more ad hoc organizations, like running clubs.
What do you think about joining other Facebook groups to leave useful content or links in order to drive traffic to your page?
If done poorly, that would cross the line into spamming. Abide by the customs of the fan page you're on.
We support numerous business segments - would you suggest setting up 1 company wide FB account or various ones (by segment)?
Do you believe too many "fan" pages dilute the brand?
I would start with one, but look to Dell for an example. They host multiple outposts on Facebook, and even more on Twitter, and more blogs than all of Britney's fan base combined. (I made up that last statistic)
What is the best way to approach negative feedback or customer complaints on a Facebook Fan Page?
If it's a customer service issue, resolve the issue and post as much information as is appropriate. The fact that you are responsive to the needs of the person, and that you show that in public, will show a good side of your organization.
If someone is levelling a criticism at you that is shared by many, and is a real PR vulnerability, use that as an excuse to respond to it, though you may want to respond not directly in the comments of that user.
Finally, if someone is being unreasonably critical, as judged by a third party, then you could remove them, but this is a last resort.
What are the best ways to utilize video in the social media realm? My question specifically refers to internet media tours, but can also apply to corporate video, etc., etc.
I would share it on your fan page, but be sensitive to the question, "Is it actually good, or is it the video equivalent of publicity drivel?"
The Will It Blend? series is an awesome presentation of a product's capabilities without boring an audience. That corporate video you did that feels "professional"? Probably not interesting to anyone but your CEO.
For company Facebook - business account or personal account with business page - advantages, limitations of each option
Setup a Fan page for the business and authorize specific administrators.
Are there resources we can look to for guidance in writing employee guidelines for social media?
Is there a benefit to having staff comment, interact on fan pages?
I would start with Intel's social media guidelines, available online. Above all, make sure they are transparent in who they are, especially when commenting on your own fan page.
How do you avoid that this page would turn into a collection of complaints or requests for service support?
Resolve them. Seriously, if those complaints are out there, they're going to show up on Twitter, on blogs, or on YouTube complaint videos. Tell your customer service department that Facebook is like the new customer service toll free number and that they have to start taking inbound requests from there.
What possibilties do I have to find out if especially MY customers are using facebook frequently?
People are pretty easy to find on Facebook, just ask your high school ex-boy/girl friend now that they've found you and friended you. Try typing in their names on Facebook and searching.
You suggested friending journalists, but we have a FB Fan page and I don't think we can friend others, right?
We have a fan page. How do we friend request a journalis?
I think that suggestion was for individuals, with individual accounts to friend journalists.
So you recommend that we post our press releases on our FB page? Is it better to link to the release rather than post entire release?
From a PR agency standpoint, is it appropriate to post client news/press releases on the agency's page?
Press releases are boring to read. Try summing up the actual news behind the press release with a sentence or two of conversational talk. Link to the release elsewhere if you must.
how do you contact FB? i haven't seen a phone number to call as she said
You can probably only call up Facebook and have them do that kind of demographic research for you if you're an agency that grosses tens of millions of dollars a year and name drops Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's name in webinars. The rest of us can use information from the Facebook Blog.
Where do you post a press release on FB? Is it in the Notes?
If you want to post any sizable block of text, a Note is a useful tool.
How do you get trending information on FaceBook
The Facebook blog, as well as media outlets like Mashable and TechCrunch cover it. For Facebook conversation trending, Facebook Lexicon is very useful, much like Google's Insights for Search tool.
What tools or approach are you using to get insights and analytics on FaceBook?
Under "Edit Page" you'll see a link to "All Page Insights" which will tell you plenty about how people are interacting with your page and the content.
What is the best way to approach a fan page that uses your brand name in a negative way?
Like all crisis PR, it depends. Is the critic gaining attention? Is it a clear trademark violation? If it's getting no attention you can ignore it or ask Facebook to remove it for trademark infringement, though if it's the symptom of an active criticism of your company, it's going to come back again.
What is FB Insights and how do we use it?
Insights is the analytics tool for Facebook Fan pages, what Google Analytics is for websites. As far as how to use it, let me Google that for you.
How does Facebook help to direct fans from "renegade" fan pages to the corporate, official fan page?
I'm told that Facebook has done that sort of migration for high profile brands. If you're not a high profile brand, you'll need to work with the renegade fan admin, lure people away, or try and shut them down.
How can nonprofits best use Facebook / Twitter?
How would you recommend nonprofits use FB?
You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a social media expert these days. Besides myself (hey, I'm pretty smart) here's a few I follow:
How can FB help an association communicate with and recruit new members?
One surefire strategy would be to become an indispensible resource to people who work in your sector, which ought to include:
- job postings;
- training;
- industry news and innovation; and
- networking.
If you haven't already got that strategy working in your other online and offline endeavors, setting up an outpost on Facebook will either be a depressing experience, or the spark that really starts you on a valuable prospective member communications program.
can you point to a specific B2B case study which has resulted in increased sales & profits?
No.
Have your clients had success with Facebook polls?
I've never seen a Facebook poll or a quiz I found compelling, except when my friends made a Facebook quiz entitled, "What Facebook quiz annoys Shabbir the most?"
People seem to keep trying, though.
are metrics tool available in facebook or do you need Google analytics
I think it's absolutely crucial that you are measuring the impact of your work on Facebook to your website (where you presumably close transactions) with Google Analytics on your website.
