Facebook’s recent facelift has not only meant change for users — it’s forced brands to give their own Facebook strategies a makeover. Corporate pages now look and feel like personal pages, complete with status updates and newsfeeds. Brand content is now part of the same stream as a person’s friend content, making it more important than ever that brands behave like, well, friends.
Brands are learning that, like any friendship, maintaining a Facebook fan base takes an ongoing commitment. Facebook fans are fickle. And with more than 4 million new users becoming Facebook fans each day, brands not only have to maintain their existing friendships, but attract and reward new friends as well. The social stakes are high, but clearly the investment is worthwhile: Facebook would be the fifth most populous country in the world at the time of this writing, and it may be fourth before we go to press.
So how can brands behave like a friend? As we’ve helped clients develop their Facebook strategies, we’ve honed some great social skills:
Be interesting. Now that brands have to compete in a content stream that ranges from the intriguing (John Smith thinks irony is the opposite of wrinkly) to the banal (Susan Jones just ate waffles), they must carefully edit their content to be as relevant and cool as possible. What’s new and fresh that your fan base would care about?
Keep it real. Find an authentic, credible voice that sounds neither overly personal nor too much like marketing. Brands can easily be seen as intruders in the stream of friend content, and items that are stilted, fake or otherwise lame will be tuned out, or worse, turned off. Less self-serving content will spark more dialogue.
Listen. Hear what your fans have to say and tell them what they want to hear. Insight from fans can help direct the conversation, especially when it comes to your toughest critics. Once you’ve established trust, solicit feedback: post polls, start discussions, ask your fans what they like and don’t like. Be ready to respond to the good and the bad via the wall and editorial cadence.
Don’t be overbearing. Finding the right frequency of updates takes finesse, and it’s still early in this new version of Facebook for frequency benchmarks. The key is to have an ongoing content cadence that lets how much you actually have to say drive your frequency (your brand should not be eating waffles), and commit to keeping your page fresh. We’ve been adjusting the dials along the way and, surprisingly, fans seem to be tolerable of multiple newsfeed touches (as long as it’s valuable to them).
Say thanks. Show your fans that friendship has benefits like exclusive offers and sneak peeks. Special promo codes are a great way to measure ROI success.
Make some very close friends. A huge fan following can be flattering, but quality matters as much as quantity. Cultivate fans among existing customers via established programs and by encouraging internal participation.
Get more personal. Any fans standing out? Zero in on your best and toughest fans and get to know them better. Are there ways you can address them personally? Give them incentives, answer questions and challenge them to become your brand advocates.
Try new things together. More than 3.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide). How can you raise engagement time? One way is applications — they must be valuable, fun and, most importantly, worthy of an install. Also, consider using native Facebook functionality to lure users to linger.
Ask for introductions. The average user has 120 friends on site. Create opportunities to reward your fans for spreading the news. You’ll have to give your fans and their friends a valuable reason to extend the invite: special offers, exclusive access, contests, fun factor and helpful info.
Check us out here, too. Ask fans to join your brand on other venues: Twitter, Flicker, e-mail subscriptions, rewards programs, Ecom, in stores. Cross-pollination along with a comprehensive content strategy is a great way to continue the conversation and see your brand champions emerge.
Go mobile. More than 30 million active users are accessing Facebook through mobile devices. How can you get fans to tune in while they’re on the go? Extend contests, applications, user-generated pushes, special offers and more to the mobile setting.
Article by, Katie Kirkpatrick, contributing thinker.
