I’ve been working on the Facebook page of one of the UK office client. They already have a strong social media presence (through their twitter account) but would like to create a real community. And Facebook page are helpful for that 🙂 I’d like to share a few learning from about the creation of a Facebook page.
The reasons
First of all, if you still ask yourself why a facebook page and the difference with a facebook group : http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/
And if you ask why it’s great for a client to have a facebook page :
– SEO – the facebook page rapidely sits at the top of the Google results
– Community – you gather people with all their info under your mouse
– Statistics – you’ve got amazing statistics about your followers from the page. But really amazing (cities, tastes, connections, preferences, etc, etc)
– Plus it’s free …
Page creation
If you’re reluctant to create a Facebook page with your own facebook profile, you can create a client facebook profile. Careful : you’ll have to dig in the profile privacy settings to withdraw the profile from the facebook search, otherwise it might create confusion with the facebook page.
Facebook pages always have the same structure : A wall, an info tab, an image profile, boxes tab and notes. The first step : put an image on the page, a name, and some basic background info
Bring some content inside
You can publish images, synchronize the notes with any rss feed (a blog RSS feed is perfect :), write additional notes, share videos, launch conversations and invite people to be part of your new page.
Personnalization
All facebook page are very lookalike … yet there is some personnalization possibilites. My favourites ones :
1/ create a personnalized page (with some basic HTML)
2/ change the homepage of the facebook page
3/ add more information on the facebook page (add rss boxes with your twitter feeds, friendfeed feed, etc, etc)
4/ add more info to the basic standard facebook page info
And for those who know how to deal with flash : embed a flash animation.
The tools to help you : http://mashable.com/2009/05/13/facebook-brand-apps/
Publicize the page
Talk about your page, add it to your social media profile, indicate it on your client website, and ask to embed a fanbox facebook page.
More info about the fanbox facebook page : http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fan_Box
Create a community
Creating and communicating about the page was the technical part. Now is the community management part – dedicate resource to invite people to become fans, and give them reasons to become fans.
Deliver exclusive news, allow them to discuss with VIP spokespeople, create challenges, contests, etc …
Tool to help you create a facebook contest : http://www.wildfireapp.com/
To conclude, some useful advices how to run a great facebook page : http://mashable.com/2009/03/30/successful-facebook-fan-page/
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/03/facebook-page-strategy/
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-quickly-customize-your-facebook-page-to-attract-more-fans-29216
Anyone has experience to share ?
