SMO guide part 3 - Facebook
Facebook is the market leader in a social arena that is known as social networking. Social networks allow users to have a profile, share pictures, videos and news with other “friends” on the site.From a marketing perspective, there a quite a few opportunities for companies to promote their brands on the site, the main one being the “groups” section. This is where users start a group on a subject, any subject, and people join the group to show their allegiance, add related content, and make comments about what has been happening on the group topic.
Many companies have started groups related to their company; most have been unsuccessful (interpreted as not much activity or few members of the group). The reason for this is that the companies have started their groups without much thought or planning. For a group to work, you have to reach an audience that is interested in what you have to offer. To do this, you have provide points of interest in the group page to draw people’s interest. These include posting videos, uploading pictures, starting discussions and leaving comments about your company, turning it into almost a blog. If you don’t show interest in your Facebook, why is anybody else going to? Ask friends and colleagues to join the group, and contribute to it.
The idea is to make it into a “hub” for people interested in your company, a place where people can gather to discuss, debate and ponder your brand. The web 2.0 element really comes into play here, as people can submit their content to the group and discuss and rate it.
It can also be possible to boost the popularity of your group by referring to it in other marketing you do. Try adding a "see us on Facebook" tag to your emails, posters and other literature.
Ideally a group should become almost viral, with its users recommending it to their friends, and so on. The group should grow organically.
Another place where you can promote your company on Facebook is on your profile. In Facebook profiles the social network gives you opportunity to name your employer, and give their web site URL. This link is “no-followed” however, meaning that the “link juice” will not pass from Facebook to your web site. There should be some traffic resulting from this link, however, as people nosey enough to go through your profile may want to see the company where their friend works. The amount of traffic that such a link generates may be small, (check your analytics for the exact amount of people referred) but multiplied by all your employees, and you might find a reasonable number of people are sent to your website by Facebook profiles. It might be a good idea to ask all your employees who have a Facebook profile to add their employer details (with the web link), as many people choose to leave that section of their profile blank.
Facebook widgets/applications are another place on Facebook where firms can promote their product. An example of where a brand has successfully ran a Facebook widget campaign is MSN messenger, who have seen their "Add Me on Messenger" widget taken up by a large number of people. Users simply click on the icon, and it enables them to add the person with the profile and widget to their MSN Messenger list.
This commercial oriented application is a rarity however, as most applications and widgets used on the site are of a non-branded and non-associated "fun" nature. The application area of the site is a notoriously anti corporate one, where it can be very difficult to gain visibility for your brand/product, so be wary.
Another drawback of attempting to market on this section of Facebook is that since the recent radical redesign of the site, the "Boxes" section of the site (as it is called) has been relegated in status from being seen at the end of the everyone's profile to a separate tab at the top of people's profiles that doesn't get seen much anymore. So the marketing value of this section of the site has decreased.
The last place on Facebook where its possible to promote a brand or product is in the events section. Here individuals or organisations can make a post advertising an event that is going to take place, giving the option of displaying the date, time, venue and a poster or image advertising the event.
In the same vein as the groups, there is the opportunity for the organisers, and anyone who has been invited to the event, to add photos, videos, discussions and comments on the event. This gives the web 2.0 element that is so important in today's social media environment.
So you can see that Facebook offers many prospects for the budding SMO practititioner. Sign up and start "poking" today, and see what marketing on Facebook can do for your business.
If you are looking for a guide in what can be a rather daunting marketing arena, then give SearchPath a call. We are experienced at marketing through Facebook, and can give your business an edge in this cutting edge environment.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link