What type of fan page do you have??

What type of fan page do you have??

Really the question is: what type of fan page do you want??

It's no secret now that businesses are flocking to fan pages in hopes of generating more revenue in these tough times. Can fan pages do it? Of course they can. Do you know of any other medium with such a captive audience?

The problem is two fold though, as with any marketing. You need to have people find you AND you need to motivate people to do something. Facebook fan pages come with built in leverage to help you achieve the first but the lions share of the latter falls on you.

Let's chat about these two issues, shall we?

In social Media there's a buzz word that gets us all excited and becomes the source of the ultimate let down. You know what it is.... come on, can you say: Viral?

Truth is going viral takes work and happens rarely. The real success comes like anything else, effort = reward. We'd all love to have something go viral and you SHOULD definitely try for that. Trust me, the word "Bacon" has a mystical like power. just don't get let down when it doesn't happen.

But this dream of putting up a post like:

"Hey come on down down tonight, we've got free stuff and a great atmosphere" 

will fly about as far as a bowling ball tied to a helium filled birthday balloon.

Now think about that fan page update. You've seen them, doesn't that just really put the suck in social???

What you need is something that will make your fans "like" (good), "comment" (better) or "share" (***Insert sound of angels singing here***) your posts.

There's a lot of things to consider when doing this: graphics, tone, relevance, humor. I could go on and on but let me suffice to say that you know when someone just shamelessly markets to you and you know how quickly that makes you turn away. So I pose the question: Why do it to your current and potential fans????

spoiler alert:  social media = fans marketing for you. duh.

Here's an example of shameless promotion in a post:

At Signore Web Design, we can give your fan page a voice and personality that keeps your fans engaged. We will help spur your fans to be ambassadors of your brand, be the first line of defense for customer service issues, can create compelling fan page apps that increase the value of your page and also provide professional level graphics that Facebook users will see as an example of the professionalism of your brand. 

We simplify the management of fan pages, provide real time response to fans all with the consummate professional manner. At a cost you will not believe.

While that is the truth of the matter, and we can be reached at 774-232-0508 to discuss how it works, I'd probably have some recommendations about putting posts like this on a fan page.

Labels: business pages, customer service, facebook, facebook offers, fan page offers, marketing, social media, social media marketing, social network, twitter

posted by Adam Signore @ 9:42 AM 0 Comments

Marketing in the brave new social site world.

Social Media, Social Marketing, Blah, Blah, Blah.....

This is a little byte about using FaceBook to market yourself. There's a little difference between FaceBook and other mediums. There's also a different attitude you need to have when you work this route.

Although marketing is always about reaching people who are interested in what you've got, and that will never change. The methods with social marketing are sort of counter intuitive to some. You don't ant to use a medium like FaceBook to blast as many unknown people as possible about your great new widget.

That's just social spam.

The idea here is the "tell two friends" method. And the pinnacle of using that method is to get FaceBook friends to comment on your shared links and posts (more on that later). The unspoken contract here is that you respect your friends, and your friends friends and their friends. So you don't treat them like a flock of sheep.

People come to FaceBook to get away from that.

In this medium (and on other social sites except maybe twitter):



There's some simple truth's you need to decide for yourself before you do the "Social Marketing" thingy:

• Is your new product or service really that interesting?
  
• Does it appeal to people emotionally?
  
• Are you prepared to be open to criticism on your efforts?
  

The wider the appeal the better you will do. I dabble in this for my Web Design, that's almost a waste. I only appeal to people interested in finding a web designer.

I also do this for a local Boston band, their appeal: anyone who likes music. aahh ha!

People won't be put off by status updates about a band they like. They will be about my Web Design Company blog postings. uhh oh.

So, anywho back to this thing about the pinnacle of the Facebook posting. Here's the deal kiddo's. For the "tell two people" thingy to work. You need your friends to comment on your postings.

Try to share your links and other posted items in a way that elicits comment. That is the viral hook to move beyond your "circle of trust" to the greater FaceBook world outside. Better yet, craft your postings so that people will want to share it themselves and tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on........

Labels: appeal, facebook, marketing, myspace, social marketing, social media, twitter

posted by Adam Signore @ 9:48 AM 0 Comments