360DigitalInfluence

Facebook has undoubtedly become one of the most influential social media platforms a brand can leverage. It can be a powerful tool when used effectively and with corporations, non-profits, celebrities joining in on the fun, it is paramount that you find a way to stand out and be noticed. Setting up a Facebook page is a given, what matters now is your commitment to the value-exchange between you and your target audience. Taking the time to figure out how you can raise the bar and deliver a unique experience will set you apart from the rest. This post will tell you how to do it…

Once a brand has established a Facebook Fan Page or Group (for a refresh on the difference read here) the next step is to recruit/invite people to join you. There are a couple ways to do this: some brands have used contests and giveaways to drive traffic (more detail below) while another option is to purchase Facebook Ads to raise awareness about your page. Most importantly it’s necessary to give Facebook members a compelling reason to go and then keep them coming back. 

Let’s review some best practices for engaging your fans. The following examples come from brands featured on The Big Money Facebook 50[i]  as the most popular brands in 2009.

Functionality: Providing useful information that will enhance the experience of the product is a great way to keep fans coming back. The  Apple iTunes fan page( 2.5+ million fans), provides a Featured tab where fans can access exclusive iTunes tutorials, iTunes top hits and use the search and share function to find favorite songs, movies and shows. Best Buy  (1+ million fans) provides a shop and share tab where members can browse and discuss products without leaving Facebook.

Time Bound Contest/Challenges: Engaging members through friendly contests that have a simple call-to-action can drive traffic to a page and increase buzz about the brand. TGI Fridays ran a promotion (including broadcast TV) inviting you to become a friend of super fan, Woody and in return receive a free Jack Daniels Burger. Participants would receive a free burger if the fan page reached half a million fans by October. The goal was reached by September 13 and the fan page currently has 943,542 fans. YouTube (3+ million fans) posted a celebrity challenge to its readers with the mission to outrank Will Smith, Megan Fox, Lady Gaga, Adam Sandler and Vin Diesel by surpassing the number of fans each of the celebrities had on their individual fan pages. YouTube simply asked readers to become a fan on Facebook, YouTube did not reach its goal but it did gain an additional 600,000 fans during the challenge. If you plan to run a contest on Facebook be sure to review the Facebook Promotion Guidelines, these new rules will certainly impact your strategy.

Recognition: Acknowledging fans on the page is an opportunity to reward the individual for participation and publicly thank them for being a fan. The official Dunkin Donuts fan page (1+ million fans) runs a weekly Facebook Fan of the Week contest. To enter, fans simply post their photo to the wall and each week Dunkin Donuts will select one fan’s photo and post it as the profile picture.

Sophisticated Apps: Brands can take engagement to the next level by using Facebook apps that allow members to participate in online games or create online content and share in the experience with other members. Red Bull (2+ million fans) launched a Red Bull Stash App that allowed participants to engage in a city scavenger hunt to find Red Bulls hidden all over the country. Fans could download the app and enter their local zip code to begin receiving clues for their local scavenger hunt.

These are just a few examples of how brands connected with their fans - gave them a great experience by serving a purpose or providing some entertainment and no doubt they created some loyal customers along the way.

The work that goes into having a successful Facebook program takes thoughtful planning, for this a conversation calendar is a valuable tool that can organize and streamline the planned initiatives. Although timing isn’t everything a conversation calendar will let you analyze when page members are receptive to updates and information. Additionally, a conversation calendar allows you to:

·         List media and frequency of all your social media activity

·         Budget time and assign tasks to team members

·         Schedule social media events/promotions to leverage brand initiatives

·         Facilitate and plan a consistent conversation with fan page members

Creating a conversation calendar requires collaboration among all marketing/communication teams.  Simply put, if another brand team within your organization is announcing a challenge or sweepstakes it is important take that into consideration rather than compete for the share of voice.  Depending on the purpose behind a brands page there a couple ways to set-up a calendar, the following are different categories a brand can use to schedule fan page activity:

·         Page publishing and CRM

·         Promotions and special events

·         App launches

·         Brand announcements

·         Weekly updates

Consistent activity and engagement on a page is crucial – but measurement is equally vital to the success of a page. If people don’t find the content appealing or useful, how often a brand provides new content is irrelevant.  A brand can measure the impact of a program by listening to the conversation among fan page members and evaluating if there was an increase in participation. For example if a brand launches a new Facebook app it will want to monitor if the launch resulted in new fan page members, comments on the fan page, Twitter mentions, blog posts etc. If it did, the brand knows that piece of the Facebook strategy works. If your page members dislike or just don’t care about the new app, it is time reevaluate and alter the strategy in a way that will increase engagement and get page members excited.

The trick to a successful Facebook page is to find a balance that satisfies the brand and the consumer.  We help our clients along the way by implementing a conversation calendar so the strategy is clear, the tools and promotions come into play at a time that makes sense to the overall campaign and most importantly our client can focus on providing a memorable and valuable experience to its consumer.