ShopTalk

Facebook Tips from the Experts Part 2

The speakers at PRSA-NCC’s “Facebook for Government, Business, Associations and Non-profits,” event shared some terrific information at their recent event. Below is Part 2 of my favorite tips all from Amy Ganderson of the Nature Conservancy. If you missed it yesterday, be sure to check out Part 1.

• Amy Ganderson, associate director of digital marketing, The Nature Conservancy
  
  • Treat your Facebook page like a website. You should have a custom landing page. If you don’t have the budget for a paid program, there are plenty of free options out there; you may just have to deal with the program’s branding on the page.
  • Facebook is very visual. Photo content often ranks higher in clicks than any other posts, so be sure to incorporate pictures into your strategy.
  • Facebook is a chance to be fun and funny. The Nature Conservancy tried a “choose your own caption” post for a photo and saw great interaction. Play around, and if it works, why not make it a weekly feature?
  • Leverage eager participants in your organization. When your organization is made up of different parts and/or has multiple locations, every niche may want its own Facebook page. Not only does the Nature Conservancy pass out guidelines, but it requires that all pages go through an application process that forces potential participants to lay out strategy, how often they’ll post, content ideas, etc.  That way, you’re not stifling any group that is willing to put in the work, and you’re filtering out groups that would be in over their heads. Amy has a monthly call with all the page leaders to check in and share tips. Very useful!
  • Don’t forget about Facebook ads. The Nature Conservancy directly attributes a significant spike in fans to Facebook ads. They’re cheap, and if you want to test the waters, start with targeting friends of your page’s fans (friends of friends).

Thank you to all the speakers at this event. The full podcast is available here.

Facebook Tips from the Experts Part 1

Recently I listened to “Facebook for Government, Business, Associations and Non-profits,” an event hosted by PRSA-NCC. The speakers had a lot of great information, so I’m sharing Part 1 of my favorite comments and tips today and Part 2 tomorrow –- stay tuned.

• Read Holman, new media strategist, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • A Facebook page is not the same as a Facebook presence. What’s more important than your actual Facebook page is increasing the ability of people to share information (with Share buttons) from your website and blog. The easier you make it, the greater your social media presence.
  • Images on every website and blog post are key. Once people paste a link to Facebook, a description and image from that page automatically populates. If you don’t have an image associated with each page of your website and every blog post, that dramatically decreases sharability.

• John Wolf, senior director, public relations, Marriott International   
  
  • Always ask, “What are my business objectives?” Because Facebook (and social media as a whole) is resource intensive, you need to be able to identify how your social media strategy is going to help you meet those objectives. 
  • What else do your fans care about? When trying to think of ways to engage with fans, research what your fans are fans of. Marriot fans tend to like football, so Marriot posts about football.

• Laura Hubbard, International CES, Consumer Electronics Association
  • Deal with incorrect comments. Instead of deleting non-factual comments, see them as ideas for your next post; something to correct.
  • Check yourself. Worried you’re posting too much? Check Facebook Insights to see if people are hiding your feed.

• Steve Wymer, president, Senate Press Secretaries Association, communications director to Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.):
  • Know your brand. When you’re a public figure, especially when you’re in the political realm, you have to strike a balance between being authentic and personal brand reputation – in other words, between intimacy and getting in trouble. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) have had success making their pages more personal, but you should always beware of the risks.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.

·         Read Holman, new media strategist, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

o   A Facebook page ¹ Facebook presence. What’s more important than your actual Facebook page is increasing the ability of people to share information (with Share buttons) from your website and blog. The easier you make it, the greater your social media presence.

o   Images on every website and blog post are key. Once people paste a link to Facebook, a description and image from that page automatically populates. If you don’t have an image associated with each page of your website and every blog post, that dramatically decreases sharability.

 

·         Laura Hubbard, International CES, Consumer Electronics Association

o   Deal with incorrect comments. Instead of deleting non-factual comments, see them as ideas for your next post; something to correct.

o   Check yourself. Worried you’re posting too much? Check Facebook Insights to see if people are hiding your feed.

 

·         Steve Wymer, president, Senate Press Secretaries Association, communications director to Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.):

o   Know your brand. When you’re a public figure, especially when you’re in the political realm, you have to strike a balance between being authentic and personal brand reputation – in other words, between intimacy and getting in trouble. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) have had success making their pages more personal, but it’s not recommended for everyone because of the risks.

 

·         John Wolf, senior director, public relations, Marriott International

o   Always ask, “What are my business objectives?” Because Facebook (and social media as a whole) is resource intensive, you need to be able to identify how your social media strategy is going to help you meet those objectives.

o   What else do your fans care about? When trying to think of ways to engage with fans, research what your fans are fans of. Marriot fans tend to like football, so Marriot posts about football.

Enchantment

Recently Entrepreneur Magazine hosted Guy Kawasaki's talk "Enchant and Engage More Customers with Social Media" just outside of DC. The session was based on Guy's current book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. The event wasn't your typical social media conference, which I highly valued, and it highlighted one core truth - no matter the tools or message the act of PR is enchantment.

This idea was solidified when post-event I started reading Guy's book and saw that the first few chapters reinforced that enhancement is present whenever people are trying to make the world a better place. Making the world a better place is why we work with mission-driven companies and organizations here at CFox. We tell our client stories as our small part in making the world a better place, and we can tell more stories the more enchanting we are.

Below are a few enchanting tips from Guy's presentation, you can buy his book here, and check out the TwitterChat from the session using the hashtag #smallbizworkshop.  Agree or disagree with these tips? Leave a comment below or tweet C.Fox (@CFoxcomm), me (@TMStrategy) or  Guy (@guykawasaki). 

 1) Be Perfect - be deep, intellectual, complete, empowering, and elegant.  This applies to the work you produce as well as you as a person.

2) Messaging - always make your messaging short, sweet, and swallowable.

3) Mission - think mantra not traditional mission statement for your business and your personal brand.

4) Prepare - don't wait for an issue to arise, conduct a pre-mortiem. Pretend you fail and figure out what you can fix before you actually fail.

5) Audience - enchant all influencers. Don't assume who is the decision maker, interest and engage all members of your audience.

6) Proof - provide social proof of your messaging. Example is the white earbuds of Apple products - they grew in popularity because seeing more white earbuds made you think more people thought Apple was best.

7) Case Studies - Guy said best enchantment case study is the movie Never Say Never and companies to study using premiere PR and social media campaigns are Virgin America, Ford, and Comcast.  The event sponsor, Hiscox, also unveiled their new video campaign called Leap Year (leapyear.tv) which is an online TV show which never mentions their brand - something to keep an eye on for sure.

8) Greatful Dead - not my cup of tea musically but loved hearing how they enchanted and evangelized their concert goers.  They would set up taping stations at all concerts so that fans could take their favorite songs home and share with others.

9) Social Media - sure Guy gave some tips like using holykaw and posterous as far as social media tools but his most important tip was to think like a "baker not an eater" when it comes to social media. Bakers look at what they can create for others and eaters look at what is immediately available to them.

10) Main Takeaway - have the likeability of Richard Branson, the trustworthiness of Zappos, and the quality of Apple.

 I'll leave you with a quote from Guy that can apply personally, in planning social media tactics, and for overall brand strategy: 

"I don't do anything by accident - I am always thinking...."