Facebook Pages and Groups

Facebook is unique in that it offers numerous ways to gather together and interact with people in your social network. In this webinar I talk about Facebook pages and groups, how to set them up, and how to use them to market your business effectively.

About Facebook

• At last count, Facebook had 600 million users. If it were a country, it would rank as the third most populated country on the planet and outranked only by China and India.
• Even well known public figures such as President Obama and Queen Elizabeth II (the queen of England) use the social site to reach out to their respective communities.
• Users spend 700 billion minutes per month and each person is connected to approximately 80 other pages, events, and groups on the site.
• Over 2.5 million websites have integrated their site with Facebook. More and more are using Facebook as a forum for comments for their articles.
• About 250 million users access Facebook through their mobile phone and the trend is only increasing.

What Are Facebook Pages

• Facebook pages are like mini websites on Facebook. It is a page about a specific person, organization or even product where fans can get updated information as well as participate in conversation with each other about the topic of the fan page.
• Facebook pages can be created by any one on any topic. Even Facebook has a fan page about their fan pages
• People who Like the page (become a fan) can post commentary about the subject. This is a great way to get people engaged with your business.

Benefits of Facebook Pages

• Facebook pages lend themselves to a variety of promotional opportunities such as offering coupons, running contests, and getting users involved in social concerns.
• When people comment on your Facebook page, their comments show up in their streams and reach the people they are connected to.
• People who like your page are already “warm” to you. They are an audience ready to hear what you have to say unlike a “cold” prospect.
• Facebook pages have a number of applications that can be used to add functionality as well as integrate with other marketing tools such as blogs and mailing lists like MailChimp.
• Onsite analytics shows you how well your marketing with Facebook pages it doing.
• Vanity URLs for branding.
• Shows up in the search engines
• Reputation Management

How to Setup Facebook Pages

1. To create Facebook pages, you must have an account on the site. There must be an administrator.
2. Go to the front page of Facebook and click on “Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business.”
3. There will be several options. For businesses, select “Company, Organization, or Institution”
4. Either select the industry your company is in or select generic “Company” from the drop down box. Enter company name and agree to terms and conditions. Click “Get Started”.
5. Sign into your Facebook account or Sign up for an account.
6. You are done. Were you expecting more steps?

Customizing Your Facebook Page

• Like the personal account pages, you can customize your page to make it attractive to your target market.
• To add your company logo and information, click on the “Edit Info” located underneath the title of your page. This will take you to the hub of editing activity for your page.
• If you are a local business, add your address so that you can be found on Facebook Places.
• Enter as much information about your company as you can. Make your descriptions engaging but tell the visitors what you do.
• Add a picture of either you or a recognizable symbol associated with your brand. Use the new masthead to get creative wit your brand logo.
• You can obtain a vanity URL (http://facebook.com/yourpagename) when you get 25 or more people that Like your page.

Facebook Page Apps

You can add a variety of apps to extend the functionality of your Facebook pages.

To get to the apps, click on “Edit Info” and then “Apps”. At the bottom, click “Browse More Applications” to see the full catalog.

Useful apps: (*Some of these may have an associated cost)

• MailChimp or Constant-Contact list building apps
• Video App allows you to upload videos from your computer to your page
• YouTube App allows you to put YouTube Videos on your page
• Events for listing meetups, seminars, or webinars on your page
• Networked Blogs for adding your company (or personal) blog
• Twitter for Pages to connect your business Twitter account to your Facebook page
• Badges for encouraging fans to place a badge identifying them as a fan on their page
• Fan Offer for providing exclusive coupons or discounts to people who Like your page
• Welcome Page for creating a customized landing page whenever someone visits it
• Contact Me to provide an easy way for fans to contact you outside of Facebook

Interesting Uses of Facebook Pages

Fan pages can be used for a myriad of other things beside promoting your business.

• As a help center where people can get support for your product or service
• Promote a specific product
• To aggregate information/news about a specific topic (example: Japan Earthquake)
• Encourage activism around social issues
• Provide access to exclusive training/information
• Sweepstakes/giveaways
• Discussion forum
• Place to aggregate topical user generated content

Marketing Your Facebook Page

Marketing your fan page is really just like marketing other web properties or profiles you own.

• Offer special benefits to people who Like the page (coupons or exclusive access to info)
• Promote on your other social profiles
• Integrate the Facebook widget onto your blog/website which shows latest updates
• Encourage users to share with their network
• Encourage user generated content. Example: if you sell cosmetics encourage fans to submit tips or links to video tutorials using the cosmetics
• Include a link at the bottom of regular emails and Include info in emails sent to your lists
• Talk about it on your YouTube videos
• Host giveaway/sweepstakes where entry requires them to Like your page
• Include a link to the page in your forum signatures
• Include a link to your page in the author bio section of ezine articles
• SEO your page with relevant keywords for search engine marketing
• Use Facebook Advertising to bring attention to your page
• Comment on other pages as your Facebook fan page to raise visibility
• Partner with other business to get on their Featured Liked Pages list (located in left sidebar)

About Facebook Groups

• Facebook groups provides a place where people can gather to talk about a subject.
• Facebook pages are open to the public. Facebook groups can be made private where only members see what’s been posted.
• The groups options allows you to send mass mailings to the people who are a part of the group. Group members can do the same.
• When someone posts to the group, everyone in the group is notified. With Facebook pages, people have to check in to view updates.
• This feature also has group chat where members can talk to each other in real time.
• Groups can also be indexed by search engines but only if they are public.
• Unfortunately, apps cannot be used on Facebook groups

Uses for Facebook Groups

• Facebook groups lends itself to exclusivity. This is great for people in the information marketing business where buyers can be given access to useful supplemental information and one on one help.
• Groups can be used in place of the standard mailing list.
• This feature is also great for group collaboration on a specific projects.
• Posts to the groups will be seen in member streams. However, if the group is private only the member will see it.
• Posts can be further targeted to members by language or country.

Creating a Facebook Group

1. Login to Facebook
2. In the left hand column click on Create Group
3. Enter group name
4. Add members
5. Select privacy option
6. Click Create
7. It takes two seconds and your group is created.
8. Clicking on “Edit Settings” will allow you to set up notifications of group activity, group chat messages, and whether or not to allow the group to show up in your home navigation.
9. To edit the group’s information, upload a profile picture, and adjust privacy settings, click “Edit Group”.

Visit the Social Media Video Library for more blogging and social media training. Contact me for a free 1 hour consultation on how to use Facebook pages and other social media tools to your advantage.