Creating a Facebook presence has become a must-have for brands these days. Most companies decide to establish themselves with one or more Fan pages. As opposed to personal profile pages, these pages are specifically purposed for companies, brands and famous people; their key measure of success being the number of “fans” that a page has.
There are many features and customization options on Fan pages including the ability to customize photos, layouts and the tab structure. With so many options, it can be a bit mind-boggling to determine an approach for how to lay out your page.
Click here to view the page above on Facebook
A review of existing Fan pages indicates that there are a number of different approaches that one might take. The choice of which approach to take should be based on the company’s product and service profile. Here is a breakdown of some approaches to consider:
Show — a “show” approach is good for companies that have a number of visually distinctive products. In this case, using the photos and videos sections heavily is a great choice. This can be especially useful if your product can be customized by consumers. For example, there are really great Fan pages that show hundreds of variants of custom automobiles. That drives fan interest, which is what you are looking for.
Explain — this is a great approach to take if customers have a reasonably sophisticated or complex purchase decision to make. This works well for offerings such as software, home improvement products or services. Demonstration applications and videos can take individuals through the process. Also valuable for consumer understanding are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and visual demonstrations and charts.
Converse — many fans are looking to dialog with the brand they are fanning. You have to be willing, of course, to actually converse with posters and provide regular follow ups. While two-way communication can be scary and involves some risk it can be valuable in encouraging feedback and empowering others to market your brand themselves. Methods to encourage this conversation include activation of wall postings and discussion boards. This approach requires regular monitoring and follow-up postings to ensure conversation does happen.
Entertain — some brands are looking to simply enhance the brand in the marketplace. For those situations, striking images, interactive games and links to interesting information can drive interest, and more importantly, fanning. Creating regular entertaining content will secure your brand as a place to come to for interesting information. Of course, this makes sense if that resonates with your fans and they would normally look to your brand for entertainment.
Tell — this approach can be contrasted with the Converse and Entertain approaches as it is primarily a one-way interaction. In essence, you are using Facebook as a loud-speaker to promote key messages. We find that many companies start out using this approach to their detriment. The key to using the Tell approach effectively is identifying information that your fans want hear about. If you are a retailer, tell them about special offers and deals that they can get because they are a Facebook fan. Tell them the story of your company’s founding or how a product was created. Post a blog. Tell them about big upcoming events.
We find that most brands take identify with more than one approach, which is fine since an additive approach can be taken. What is important is that your style matches your brand and marketing objectives — giving both fans and your company the interactions that make sense … and in the end, an experience that is interesting.
A great example of a Facebook fan page done right is one of our favorite clients Bebe. See their vibrant Facebook page here
Talk to us today about utilising Facebook in marketing your brand.
