Facebook: should my business have a page, group or profile?
Monday, April 23 2012When helping a number of our clients through getting their social media in order, we’ve often been presented with questions around whether a Facebook page, group or profile is best for their business, so we decided it was time to put up an article on what works and why when using Facebook to promote your business.
What’s the difference between a Facebook page, group and profile?
Pages were originally set up to connect with bands and celebrities who wanted a public profile to share information on. This then turned into a tool to promote businesses, brands, events, products and more. Pages allow all visitors to view information on the page, and all of the updates you put into the page go into each fan’s news feed. A page is also not connected to any particular person, unlike a profile. People can “like” a page and they are instantly connected. Pages come up under a person’s “Likes” on their profile page.
Groups were set up to share information between a group of people – good for people collaborating on a project, organising an event together, etc. These are often private, or if they are public you need to request to be added. Any member of a group can add updates, and these are published to all members of the group. Groups are not listed publicly on any member profiles.
Profiles are set up for individuals to share news with their friends and family. People have to request to be added, same as groups. Profiles show up in a person’s friend list, and show a first name and surname; it’s not set up for business names.
So, why are Facebook pages best for businesses?
- Anyone can follow your updates without needing to confirm them.
- Your business updates on the page show up in your fans’ news feeds.
- People can search for your Facebook page on both Facebook and search engines.
- Pages are public, making it easier for yourself and fans to promote content on the page.
- You can add customised pages and applications to add extra content to your page.
- Your individual profile can be disconnected from the page, ensuring your privacy.
- Fans will have your page linked on their profile, helping promote your business.
If you’ve read this and are feeling a bit stuck with the Facebook presence of your business, comment or call us and we’ll help you out.
“There’s too many social media sites I need to be on!”
Monday, March 5 2012Hold it!
Yes, there’s an entire gamut of social media sites, but many of them have different uses, and you may find some are more relevant to you than others.
The best thing to do with social media is find 2-3 sites that will be useful in promoting your business, and then put your efforts into those alone. Very few businesspeople (and nobody we know!) have time to be updating and interacting regularly with 20 different social media profiles.
At the moment, Facebook has the most active users of all social media websites across Australia (6.6mil users checked Facebook daily in 2011, according to Gizmodo), which gives you the biggest audience for your business. It is also one of the easiest platforms to interact with your customers in a public digital space – you put up a post, “fans” of your Facebook page comment, and you can respond. If you also run a retail store or cafe, your fans can check-in on their phone to say they have visited your shop.
YouTube is the next most popular as far as the amount of visitors to the website, as well as the time spent on the website – however, it requires you to be handy with a video camera to create content to upload. YouTube works well for musicians, commentators and professional consultants.
Twitter, Linkedin and Google+ follow thereafter, all using slightly different ways of interacting with your customers.
It also comes down to which social media websites your target audience are spending most of their time on: as an example, if you create stylish homewares and your target audience likes to collect and share images of homewares they like, then Pinterest may be most suitable.
I’ve only really started to scratch the surface on social media – there are many, many more out there; some which we probably haven’t even discovered yet.
What social media websites do you use, or ones you want to know more about? If there’s any you would like us to write an article on in more detail, please let us know.
#QantasLuxury – when social media doesn’t work as planned
Wednesday, November 23 2011Qantas – a company who has upset more than it’s fair share of Australians over the past few weeks after grounding their entire fleet on October 29.
So why not start a competition on Twitter? Win some hearts back, perhaps?
They posted this tweet yesterday:
@QantasAirways To enter tell us ‘What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury.
The prize? “A luxury amenity kit and our famous QF PJs.”
Passengers who were disrupted by the recent Qantas debacle are still heated, and this is plain poor timing – along with a prize that seems more like a poke at the Australian public. Nonsense prizes equal nonsense responses.
@FarmrsMarktsFan #QantasLuxury? 1. Plane takes off/arrives on time; 2. Baggage delivered promptly. This used to be called #QantasService
Social media is a fast-moving medium: #QantasLuxury is one of Australia’s top trending hashtags today. You can’t control what is published by the community in the social media sphere; I wonder how Qantas PR are coping?
“
@kiwi_kali #QantasLuxury Somewhere in Qantas HQ a middle aged manager is yelling at a Gen Y social media “expert” to make it stop. / LOL
Twitter is often used as a venting board for opinions. Qantas should have seen what was already being posted before launching the competition, then listening and responding to the current (negative) publicity first. Customer service is about listening to your customers before taking action – no matter how large or small the company is.
Considering this competition goes until Thursday, who knows where it will end?