You know you need a Facebook page for your business. You may even think you know what kind of stuff you want to put there. But before you go one step further, you should think about this question: if my Facebook page is successful in engaging customers, what will that look like?
For an example, take a look at a page I’ve set up for a little hobby website of mine, RepublicTigerSports.com. (I cover local sports exclusively focused on my hometown.) The season is just starting, and last night was a good example of what an actively engaged Facebook audience looks like. In about 6 hours, here’s what people posted to the page, out of the 1,300 fans:
- 3 user-generated wall posts
- 14 comments on my posts
- 12 clicks on the “like” button
That’s about a 2.5% participation rate — but keep in mind, I’m only talking about a single 6-hour period. Most traditional websites are lucky to get participation of around 5-10% over a much longer period of time. I could never get that kind of comment rate if I merely posted sports updates to my website.
The point of the example is that a Facebook is a great way to engage people. And engagement is more important than building up a huge number of fans. That’s because engagement — getting people to take action, even if it’s just clicking a “like” button — is a sign that you are building a relationship with your followers. And that’s the point of pouring time and energy into social media in the first place.
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Here’s yet another story of how Facebook and social media have helped a local business connect with customers. The Springfield Foodie has details on how a Qdoba burrito franchise in Springfield, Missouri, grew from 200 to 4,000+ Facebook fans in just a few months. (Hint: They didn’t just create a Facebook page. They’ve been creative and consistent about generating content for it.)
Meredith, the publisher of Better Homes and Gardens and several other big magazines, is getting into the branded-content business. The Wall Street Journal has details.
Called Meredith Integrated Marketing, the operation has created custom publishing, email, social media and mobile campaigns for major marketers, including Kraft Foods, Chrysler and Wells Fargo. It recently recruited digital-ad veteran Martin Reidy to lead its marketing arm, and says it is on the prowl for more acquisitions.
I have a hard time putting into words how brilliant this is. And not just because it’s so similar to the work I’ve been doing for Learfield Communications, another major media company.
As I wrote in a comment over at Buzz Machine, advertisers are shifting a lot of marketing dollars toward producing engaging, valuable content for their customers. That content’s not advertising, but it’s marketing. So it makes perfect sense that they would turn to people who’ve been producing content for a living for decades: magazine publishers, radio companies, local TV stations. Workers in those places know how to tell stories, to engage audiences, to inform and entertain people.
My job at Learfield InterAction is built on this premise. Journalists are the best people to create content for audiences of all types — whether it’s the general public listening to a newscast, or a group of 75 donors to a small nonprofit. Why not take some of our journalism expertise and put it to good use for clients? As long as we don’t intermingle that content with our straight-news product (and we don’t), it’s simply another way of engaging audiences.
Disclosure: My employer, Learfield Communications, has a business relationship with Meredith involving one of its magazines. I don’t work on that project.
