facebook – addicting, confusing, distracting… powerful. yes, i find facebook exceptionally powerful. at just shy of 1,000 fans, i think scoutie girl’s page does a good job of straddling the line between self-promotion and community value. how? glad you asked. i have some pretty strong opinions on the “right way” to use your fan page.
think of your fan page as an opportunity to connect with fans in a different way than your other social media outlets. blogs are for (generally) long form ruminations on life & work, twitter is for witty repartee in 140 characters or less, social bookmarking is for broadcasting posts all over the world. facebook is for encouraging conversation around your brand.
creating a web experience
but even more so, facebook is a web experience used & enjoyed by millions of people from all walks of life. on facebook, you must find a way to incorporate your brand into daily life by providing value and meaning beyond advertising.
consider the mission of your business, your job on facebook is to share information, pictures, questions, video, and links that are relevant to that mission and that encourage conversation & fan involvement.
i do this on the scoutie girl facebook page by:
- encouraging others to leave their own links sharing their passion on a static landing page
- sharing links to other businesses that i don’t have the opportunity to post on the main blog
- asking questions using status updates
- replying to others comments whenever possible
in other words, i give people a reason to follow the fan page other than just keeping up with my blog. my fan page is a separate entity that engages readers in a different way.
my mission on scoutie girl is to share my penchant for the passionately handmade. my facebook page participates in this mission!
and in return, they allow me to broadcast my message to them on a daily basis through a web experience they love – a pretty great tradeoff for a little extra work!
how can you add value to your page?
consider how you can create additional social media value through your facebook fan page… exclusive sales? in-progress pictures not posted elsewhere? links to friends or customers? conversation on pressing issues in your field? check out lillyella’s page for another great example of creating additional value in a facebook page.
the anthropologie fan page is another – they are all the time sharing exclusive content that is helpful to customers! the information not only engages fans, but helps fans use their brand & products more effectively: outfit suggestions, insights from designers, behind-the-scenes photos. what information can you share to actually help your fans use your products more effectively?
building the value of your facebook fan page through exclusive information gives you the opportunity to really build community around your brand. i think, when done enthusiastically & purposefully, you’ll see greater reader engagement than on your blog or on twitter – with longer lasting effects!
for more info & best practices on using your fan page, check out mashable’s guide to facebook.
*****
before you ask, here’s a tutorial on setting up one of those static landing pages. if you’d like one for your page but don’t have the time or know-how, contact me!
please note: your fan page is a page – not a profile. your business does not have “friends” it has “fans.” read the terms of service – please don’t try to friend me if you’re a business – that’s spam and i won’t accept the request. as a page, you cannot reach out to people the way personal profiles can reach out to friends. as far as i see it, that’s your only limitation.
Thank you so much Tara for this post. I haven’t really put too much time into my facebook fan page and I appreciated the advice you offered. You’re the best!
you’re welcome, michelle!! thanks so much for your support!
I totally agree! I’ve found Facebook to be invaluable! Friendships, connections, networking, keeping in touch with customers, clients & friends, inspiration, mutual encouragement and so much more.
This is a great post thank you for it! I just set up my fan page 3 days ago and I am returning comments as fast as I can. I feel the same way about what you said and hope to reach my fans on a more personal level. Thanks again for the great tips!
Nic-e…also known as @stringsofme on Twitter!
hi nic-e! you’re quite welcome! thanks for stopping by and commenting
I’ve really tried to keep my business info out of my personal posts b/c some of my friends don’t care that much about my business and vice versa. I do find it a challange therefore to keep enough of the Personal in my Page! One thing you mentioned above was being able to comment on other pages, etc, *as* Scoutie Girl (or a comment from your page). I have no idea how to do this! It seems that every time i comment on anyone’s page (even when I want to be able to comment as Lilith’s Apothecary) I only seem to be able to comment as my (Sarah Powell) profile. I notice that a lot of other businesses have the same issue and even comment on how they can’t figure out how to do otherwise. Please advise! Thanks for all you do
~Sarah
hey sarah!
no – you’ve got it exactly right. if you are using the “page” feature correctly (i.e. not breaking TOS by using a profile as a business) then you can only comment on other pages as yourself. the only place you can return a comment as your “page” is on your own page. so – i reply to comments on the scoutie girl page as scoutie girl (in fact, they don’t give you an option).
if you’re trying to get the attention of another page, i think the best way to do that is through “tagging” – which is using the @ symbol to call up the names of people & pages your associated with. that will show up on the pages wall with your page as the tagger. that worked for me for getting my page & a link picked up by etsy!
hope that helps!
Oooh Tara – that’s a great tip (and Sarah – thanks for posting the question!) because it’s something I keep running into as well! Now I need to find an opportunity to test it out ….
I think a lot of people would appreciate the advice you’ve given in this post. I’ve seen so many start up a fan page with so much excitement and energy and then get discouraged easily when people don’t interact or the sales don’t come rolling in. It seems that those who really struggle with social media are the ones who use broadcast media promotional tactics – promotion only, no engagement. After a while, it feels like spam and people lose interest.
I try to use my fan page to share things I list, but to share things from other handmade creators that I find beautiful, interesting, or inspiring. I also have my blog posts and Flickr stream fed into my fan page.
You gave some great suggestions that I look forward to trying (and I thought of a couple other things while typing my comment). THANK YOU!
hi jen! you’re welcome – thanks so much for your comment. i agree – those who are most frustrated are the “me me me” people. the more you give, the more you get back – plain & simple – no matter the platform. as long as you are building on your mission as a business, you’re going to be doing great things through social media!
Thanks for the information and explanation…I’ve always had trouble understanding why I would want to subscribe to a fan page when I already follow the blog or twitter…there’s so much repeat these days it drives me insane. I wonder if the Facebook avenue is for everyone though…what if one just doesn’t use Facebook much – is it a mistake to have a fan page if you are as present I wonder?
hi linda! i’m definitely not the type of “social media evangelist” that thinks you need to be on every platform out there! i think you should engage your followers on the platforms they visit the most and the ones that you personally like the best. for me, that’s twitter & facebook. for others, it’s flickr & youtube. i think your efforts will look contrived if you don’t LOVE the platform your on. so if you don’t LOVE facebook, i wouldn’t bother setting up a page that you’re going to neglect. same goes for twitter, etc… create a really current, interactive profile wherever you spend the most time! thanks so much for the thoughtful comment!
Thanks for this Tara! I’m still finding my way around Facebook and this definitely helps me understand how it works.
hey amy!! you’re welcome! thanks for stopping by
Thanks for the motivation to finish my FBML attempts on Facebook.
I noticed on your fan page that you have fans land on the Wall. Do you recommend that for all pages/brands? Or would creating a specific landing like your “What’s your Passion?’ tab be a better idea for a product based brand?
hi cyn! i think that a landing page is a great opportunity to engage your potential fans from the get go. on my “what’s your passion?” page i ask fans to share their link right away & introduce themselves. that gives me the chance to “say hi” and thank them – and it puts in their mind that there comments are important to me. i think all of our brands are “product” based. and to clarify, that tab is where “non-fans” land – once they’re fans, they see the wall right away.
my products are much more nebulous than others. but they are things to be consumed nonetheless and creating engaged followers is the best way to do this. thanks for your comment!!
Thank you for this information. I recently started a Facebook fan page but knew nothing of static fan pages. Going to check it out now.
I agree, my Facebook page has been a great way for me to connect with customers. I also have FOUND many other talented artisans through suggestions of other’s fan pages. Thanks for the post!
Hi Tara – Thanks for this post – I’ve been a bit hesitant to use my fan page vs. my profile and this helps clarify. PS. Missed seeing you at the Rosen Show in February – did you get snowed in? Jen
Oh great post! And I’m a few weeks late commenting!
I have a “group” page, not a “fan” page. Not quite sure what the difference is. But I love this part of fb because I can keep things semi-private (I’m invite only) and offer larger exclusive downloads, useful links, discussions, etc…oh and members can post their own links and projects too.
I’m actually quite surprised with the amount of members I have. But I’m grateful because I’ve made some good friends.
I actually already do those things…:) I just need to do them consistently and I have to start asking questions that are related to my business as well. I tend to ask questions that are more fan-focused as I enjoy learning about who’s watching me and I know people are always willing to share stories…:)
I also share treasuries I made and am in, share the photos of my latest pieces, have special sales just for fans, do sneak peaks just for fans (basically, they get dibs on pieces before I list them. I can’t do giveaways on FB the way I can on my blog and so that is what I do to make my FB page special just like my blog giveaways make my blog special. People have the opportunity to follow both!), and also post links to whatever blog post I created recently (many of them lead to other artisans and so I promote other businesses that way).
Here’s hoping I can begin to be more consistent and keep building a loyal following!
Forgot to say that I also allow anyone to link on my Wall or post anything they like. I love the diversity it gives my page. The world is a big place and it’s not like my fans will all suddenly disappear just because someone has put up a link!
Tara,
I just found your Facebook page and your blog today, so this is really several months off! I want to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading; it’s kept me from getting everything I need to get done so far today…
I sometime regret having a personal and business page on Facebook. I’ve even thought of closing my personal page and starting over. You mentioned that you don’t respond to businesses that “friend” you, but that is just about all that request or come up as someone for me to contact.
My business page has been there for a while, but I just started working on it again. It bothers me that people hardly ever respond or leave comments. Lately I have tried putting a little more thought into my post, even if it is about my business, and those are the first ones that I’ve had people like. I would love to be able to write as well as you; you make it seem so easy. I saw somewhere on your blog that you mentioned making a tab for coupons, and that is a great idea.
Thanks, Patricia