Monthly Archives: January 2009
The Facebook Communication Dilemma
Back in October I did a post outlining the utility behind Facebook pages. Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook. BUT, today was again another reminder of some consistent frustrations with the site.
I spent the afternoon helping out our building mates Imerman Angels with some social media strategy and tips (just FYI, this isn’t a client, but they are an incredible nonprofit, be sure to check them out). We started discussing which avenue was best to pursue in terms of utilizing a Facebook group, page or cause to organize Imerman’s supporters.
Though Facebook created all three resources for different purposes, issues arise in overall communication utility behind all three. I don’t want to rehash the excellent work others have done in laying out all the pros/cons of these tools but let’s take a quick look at the intended purpose and the major problem behind communicating with your supporters through each resource.
Groups
Purpose: Groups are a great way to quickly organize support around an event, niche focus or short-term actionable request. They allow for content sharing, event coordination and direct-to-Facebook inbox communication with members.
Communication Problem: Groups cap out their “message all members” feature after you reach more than 5,000 members. You have to respect Facebook for proactively guarding against a spam dilemma, but it poses an issue for groups that build up a big support base.
Pages
Purpose: Pages allow businesses and brands to have a presence on Facebook. They are of great utility in terms of the way they rank in search engines and are accessible for viewing by any Web user without requiring Facebook membership.
Communication Problem: The problems with pages are twofold. First, the event feature only enables you to invite your friends to an event as opposed to inviting all of your fans. Second, the only way to communicate to all of your fans is through the “update” feature. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bargain to say that most Facebook users are probably unaware that there is even an update link on their profile to check fan page updates. A lost cause at best.
Causes
Purpose: Causes can be created by anyone and are intended to help organize people toward collective action and raise funds for various nonprofits or political candidates.
Communication Problem: I’ve personally had the most luck utilizing the cause communication tool. It enables administrators to send updates to all cause members and deliver that communication directly to a supporter’s personal email account. You lose the functionality of hyperlinks, but overall, I’ve found this to be the best resource for connecting and updating supporters. As far as I can tell, Facebook does not cap the email feature based on the number of supporters in your cause.
The problem arises in that the cause page does not offer an event invite tool. Thus, you would technically have to create an event through a group or page and include that hyperlink in an email update to your cause.
Solution?
Personally, I think the easiest solution for Facebook would be to enable a direct-to-Facebook inbox message feature on their pages. I love that they allow you to target updates to key demographics, but no one reads updates! I have to believe there is a way that Facebook could auto-scan a message if it was being sent by a page administrator to more than X people to ensure it’s not spam. In addition, it seems it would be easy enough to incorporate open-rates and click-thru analytics into the page insights feature as well.
C’mon, we all love metrics, step it up a notch Facebook.
What’s your take? Have a favorite choice or suggestion for communicating with Facebook audiences based on these options?
-Scott
Today
Once in awhile I like to take a look at how social media is being utilized by government and politicians. It’s not often, but hey, it’s nailed me an Associate Professor position at the best online social media university (when’s that first paycheck coming Lee?).
On a serious note, today is a monumental, historic day. Like it or not, politics affect us all. I’m the first to admit that I’m only a quarter as political savvy as my co-workers (what can I say, they’re a very smart bunch) but the last couple years have drawn me in with a new level of engagement that I never expected. Regardless of your political views, it’s exciting, it’s fresh, it’s new, it’s CHANGE. We’re all in this together and as a nation, today marks a new direction.
Though not everyone can jam into D.C. to take part in the festivities, social media will help us all connect in real-time throughout the day. Twitter has doubled it’s capacity for the day as they anticipate a slew of Tweets. I’m sure there are a variety of hashtags being used to track converstation throughout the day, but here’s one to follow #inauguration. In addition, here’s a few other ways to stay connected with the day’s big event.
Last but not least, if you really want to show support today, be sure to check out Obamicon.Me. Put together by one of my favorite music magazines, the site allows you to quickly upload a photo, Obama-nize it and share anywhere you’d like.
Enjoy the day,
Scott
Your 6 Step LinkedIn Strategy
2009 will be an interesting year for everyone. It’s hard to say how the current economy will ultimately impact the PR/Marketing world, but now is the time to continue building your professional network.
LinkedIn is my “go to” business contact database. As of October 2008, the site reported having more than 30 million users, covering more than 150 different industries. This survey from September 2008 shows that the majority of LinkedIn users are executives and consultants or “decision makers.” Not a bad place to seek out some new business contacts and job opportunities.
As with any social networking site, you’re wise to do some groundwork and have a strategy in place instead of just signing up and never touching the site again. Here’s six steps I recommend for making your LinkedIn presence worthwhile.
Polish Your Profile
Go ahead, brag a bit. Treat LinkedIn like your online resume. List your current position/description but also be sure to include your past positions, education info, groups/affiliations, awards and specialties.
In addition, be sure to include links to your website, blog and Twitter profile. You may also want to consider adding in one of LinkedIn’s applications such as the WordPress application which provides an RSS feed from your WordPress blog directly on your profile.
Make sure your profile is in “full view” and tailor your profile URL to your name. LinkedIn tracks well in search engines and this will likely rank high under your name search.
Connect
LinkedIn makes it easy to search your current email databases to find existing contacts on the site. They are also stringent about making sure you only connect to people with whom you have had some type of contact or affiliation. Take a look at weekly digests that LinkedIn sends out to see who your contacts are connecting with as opportunities for you to also connect.
Join Groups
There are a ton of them. I believe I’m currently part of 26 different groups. Search around and find the ones that are most relevant to your industry or interests. Most groups usually require the group administrator to accept your request, which can take a couple days. Search through the other members of these groups and see if there are others to connect with.
Start & Respond to Discussions
Group discussions are a great way to begin networking and meeting like-minded professionals. Users will pose a variety of questions and on message board threads so you can build off the conversations of others.
Don’t use this solely to plug yourself or your company!
That’s not the purpose. It’s fine to provide a link to a relevant blog post you may have done on the topic or to include your Twitter handle as part of your signature, but as with all social networking, make sure you focus your response on contributing to the question posed. It’s also a great opportunity to suggest another contact, company or link that may help provide a solution.
Provide Recommendations
More and more college students and junior staff members are joining LinkedIn. Have an intern or member of your team that has done a stellar job on a project? Give them a recommendation! It will help bolster the individual’s profile and serve as a professional endorsement for their future career.
Be sure to check out Jason Alba’s post as well as Chris Brogan’s tips on writing LinkedIn recommendations. Hint – you’re not signing a high school yearbook here.
Stay Consistent
Is LinkedIn going to get your agency a new client or find you a new job overnight? Maybe not all the time but it does happen quite frequently. It is a fantastic resource for making new contacts, maintaining an online rolodex and analyzing/assessing other companies. Do you need to be on the site everyday? Nope. Check in once or twice a week to answer a question, write a recommendation or make a new contact. The long-term benefits will be worth it.
Hope this helps!
-Scott
*Note, I’ll be back to posting middle of next week. Out to Park City!
