Friday Focus: Facebook Pages
// April 24th, 2009 // social media, web thoughts
If you are involved with a brand, business, band or think you’re in a line of business where you might have ‘fans’ then setting up a page on Facebook can be a very rewarding adventure. As a first step into social media it’s potentially a great way to develop an online community, but don’t assume that if you build it they will come. Once the Page is ready to go live you will need to use your full armoury of marketing channels to put up signposts to your fantastically polished Page.
Please also be aware that developing content and keeping on top of your fans questions and queries can become a full-time job, build in management and review time in your work schedule. There are some great resources below that make essential reading before you click the ‘Publish’ button…
Facebook’s very own guide – giving you background information, how to prepare and a step-by-step guide.
A handy 10 page Facebook Pages PDF (updated March 2009) also from the Facebook team that gives you an extra level of information, from Page publishing through to looking at user statistics.
Following Facebook’s recent overhaul Mashable pulled together a superb Guide for Social Media Marketers – highlighting the opportunities and challenges of setting up your first Facebook Page.
Mashable is a superb social media resource and their 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page post really supported that position.
If you are seeking inspiration Peter Kim setup a very useful Wiki packed full of social media examples. Sort by type, find Facebook Pages and there are some good examples there.
Probably the best way of researching is to dive into Facebook itself and search for brands, most of the big boys have pages, with varying examples of how to and how not to setup a Fan Page on Facebook – Skittles, Maltesers and Innocent all offer good, simple examples.