Facebook Pages

The Insider’s Guide

Facebook Pages

The Insider’s Guide

April, 2008

Facebook Pages

The Insider’s Guide

“With some candidates in the 2008 Presidential electionembracing every facet of Web 2.0 to get their message out…yournext president may be no further than a friend-add on Facebook.”– Time

Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for information about companiesand products. According to Jupiter Research, 70% of viral marketers report increasingbrand awareness as one of the most successful areas of their social marketingcampaigns. With more than 70 million active users, Facebook is the Internet’s leadingsocial utility. Facebook Pages give businesses the opportunity to build a consumer base,sell products, run promotions, schedule appointments or reservations, shareinformation, and interact with customers. Today, hundreds of thousands of leadingbrands, restaurants, hotels, writers, filmmakers, bands, and retailers are leveragingFacebook Pages to reach consumers.

Businesses now have the ability to expand their revenue base and acquire newcustomers through free Facebook Pages. Pages enable customers to interact, learn,purchase, and spread the word about your business to their friends.The key is Facebook’s stable and trusted platform, which gives companies the ability toconnect with consumers and participate in the conversations they’re already havingwith their friends about their favorite local spots, artists, films and brands. This regularinteraction gives businesses the opportunity to connect with existing and newcustomers as effectively as a face-to-face meeting.

Facebook Pages

The Insider’s Guide

Introduction to Facebook

Facebook offers you an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your fans andconsumers—on their turf and in ways they find meaningful. By maintaining a FacebookPage and using all the available features, you can interact with consumers the sameway they interact with friends and colleagues. Your biggest fans have probably alreadytold a couple friends about your business in casual conversation, but Facebook’stechnology makes it easy for them to spread the word instantaneously to all of theirfriends.

Keys to Using Facebook

1) Make business personal

People primarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The moreyou showcase the human element of your business, your products, and your people, thestronger of an effect it will have on everyone who views it.

2) Update your Facebook Page frequently

Facebook is geared to highlight new information and recent changes. The more oftenyou add new content, the more often people will come back to your Facebook Page. Youcan also send Updates to your fans to announce in-store events, special promotions,new products, concerts, screenings, or other news.

3) Harness the power of News Feed

The News Feed on users’ home pages tells them what their friends are doing. Whenusers become your fan, News Feed tells their friends and invites them to become fans aswell. In turn, this can lead to the friends of their friends finding out about your businessthrough their News Feeds, and so on in a virtuous cycle. News Feed is the key tospreading your message virally on Facebook.

4) Choose the applications that are best for your business

Facebook and its outside developers have built thousands of free applications forbusinesses, bands, and every other type of organization. Your Page comes with thebasics pre-installed, but you can easily add whichever other applications are right foryour business. For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for onlineordering or reservations, while a film may add a cinema-locator so the user can find thenearest screening without ever leaving Facebook. You can even build your ownapplications. The more useful your applications are to your customers, the faster yourfan base will grow.