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October 08, 2009
Facebook fan pages are the future
Facebook fan pages are the future for three reasons: They're free, easy to create and build a nearly instantaneous pathway to evangelists, prospects or the curious.
When fans interact with a fan page on Facebook, that interaction is sent through the fan's news feed, which goes to all their friends, practically daring a chunk of them to see what the page is about.
Compared to Twitter, Facebook fan pages rule. You're not limited by Twitter's 140-character posts, plus it's far easier for fan page members to preview a photo, video or weblink than what Twitter offers.
What more could a brand manager want?
Finally, a Facebook fan page can be a strong leading indicator of how well a brand is doing at any one time with buzz-spreaders, some of whom could represent connected, influential customers. Its feedback is all qualitative, but a Facebook fan page could help guide a brand in 3 ways:
- It immediately surfaces questions, problems or issues. A fan page can create an immediate fix-it list.
- It tells you how well you're connecting with fans through Facebook's free "Insights" feature that graphs subscribes, unsubscribes, post quality and total interactions. Plus, you get some tasty demographic stats about your fans -- won't get that from Google Analytics or Twitter.
- It tells you what resonates with fans by the number of comments and "likes" people give each post.
With a little bit of imagination, it shouldn't be too hard for a brand manager to devise a spreadsheet filled with marketing tactics that emerge from a vibrant Facebook fan page.
P.S. Not giving up my Twitter account though, even if Miley Cyrus has.
P.P.S. You should friend me on Facebook here.
Other blogs that reference Facebook fan pages are the future:
A couple things that have made Facebook Pages even more open is it'll import from a blog and post to Twitter. So now I can post to Twitter, or post to my FB page and have it go to twitter, or blog and have it go to FB and twitter. I like it.
I totally agree with you! Quick to put up and manage, and free to boot...it's a great way to connect with existing networks and to build your own network.
At our website, we offer a free downloadable guide to setting up your own Facebook fan page. Please feel free to come check it out:
http://grabbinggreen.com/id/288/Free_Facebook_Action_Guide!
I agree with you that fan pages are worth doing, but I wouldn't say they're easy. I've set up several fan pages for clients and I find them to be anti-user friendly. There are all kinds of hidden rules about the way different applications work and how you can build things that you just don't figure out until you dive in and try. It can make for a pretty frustrating experience.
With 300 million users and the ability to tap into social networks I think it's totally worth the effort--I just don't think it's easy.
I agree that fan pages are easy to set-up. And they most definitely allow/encourage/develop interaction.
But as a Brand Manager, I'd certainly want some method of control. With the understanding that social media is based in transparency, this reason alone stops these pages from becoming "the future."
There will always be the original/authoritative web pages for a particular product/brand. And while fan pages may supplement an interactive component of the marketing strategy, I think "the future" may be a little much.
Great insights.
I'd just add one piece to the conversation. Facebook fan pages are the future—until they're not anymore. In my opinion, the not too distant future (in Web terms anyway), will bring "next big thing" in social networking and will supplant Facebook as a brand's mouthpiece to the customer. Facebook is a great tool for now, but as a marketing manager I'd make sure I continue to keep my eyes on a diversified strategy (outside of Facebook and it's immediate opportunities).
Case in point: MySpace.
Rob -- That's another nice benefit of Facebook. Helps reduce the repetition of cross-posting.
Kevin -- When I say, I'm referring to the initial set up. It's done and ready to go in a few minutes, and people can start streaming in the doors within minutes. Getting deeper into a fan page and customizing it -- I agree there are more complicated tools to that, and it's not all intuitive for the non-programmer.
Ryan -- What forms of control are you referring to?
Brockett -- Funny you should say that. I almost wrote "Facebook fan pages are the future... for now" but then that's a hedge. I think marketing is a series of calculated bets you make. Gotta put some skin in the game to win.
Agree with the majority of your points, but see Facebook Pages as just part of the equation (but a significant part!) in terms of the customers that we interact with. I wrote a deeper response with a case study and some other ideas here http://bit.ly/17D1AI. In a nutshell, we've seen a pattern where businesses get discovered and form new relationships more effectively through search and Twitter, but then bridge into deeper ongoing engagement on Facebook.
Thanks for your post! I saw Jackie speak in Minneapolis this week and have enjoyed reading your blog since then.
Alex -- Thanks for commenting, and welcome to the church. I hope the post doesn't come off as saying drop everything else! Being part of the marketing mix is key but for a brand without any social media presence, it's not a bad start.
You say:
When fans interact with a fan page on Facebook, that interaction is sent through the fan's news feed, which goes to all their friends, practically daring a chunk of them to see what the page is about.
That is simply not true. If I leave a comment or I like a content published on a fan page, this action will appear on my wall (if I have not disabled this preference) but will not broadcasted to all my friends.
To broadcast a content from a fan page to all my friends, I have to share it which means that I'm publishing it on my wall: in this case it will appear in my friends' newstream.
It seems you have a very superficial understanding of the affordance of the platform :-)
The future of what?
Thanks for posting about this. I am frequently asked about inexpensive ways to conduct market research and, even with some of the drawbacks noted above, it's a useful tool. It will be important to remember that it doesn't necessarily replace other methods, but is one to have in the toolbox, as long the limitations (e.g., potentially biased sample) are understood.
I certainly seems like every association would benefit from having a fan page. All the key stakeholders (members, exhibitors, speaker, sponsors, staff, board, etc.) could contribute ideas, collaborate and see which of their ideas were most popular.
Imagine, for example, that an association in a small state launched and supported a fan page... and discovered it attracted more people and participation than their web site... or the web site of their national association/
Ben, I heartily agree, when you wrote " marketing is a series of calculated bets you make" and think, as a consequence, that you will enjoy Peter Sim's book out next year on just that topic: Small Bets.
Kare -- That's a terrific example and one I could see happening frequently -- mostly because most corporate websites are difficult to update. There's too many chutes, hurdles and hoops to jump through. A fan page basically eliminates all of that. "Small Bets" sounds interesting.
Joy -- I would consider the qualitative research found on fan sites to have a greater value for addressing Batphone-like issues than any form of random survey.
Dave -- Some hyperbole on my part, a reflection of my enthusiasm for the platform. Let's say: The future of having a simple way to drive fan and loyalty marketing.
You're absolutely right IF a brand get's it's fans.
That's probably the question of the future...
Ben, thanks for the clarification. Businesses need to fish where the fish are. :-)
Facebook fan pages are worth watching but I agree with previous commenters -- they are not easy to work with (in terms of adding features/applications) and interacting with the page does NOT give you the viral effect unless that content is shared.
Another problem I have is that if a fan tags your page using the @mention feature, as a fan page administrator, I have no way of seeing that or commenting on their update.
There is potential but I have a whole list of improvements Facebook needs to make to make them truly effective.
I set one up for a non-profit I work for. It is easy to get the basics working, but the third party stuff like Flickr integration... Not as easy.
The cross-post to twitter works easy, but I haven't gotten the blogs (WordPress.com hosted) cross posted to the Facebook FanPage to work, any application suggestions? There is an official one but it doesn't work with Fan Pages.
We're trying to use the Events feature more too.
Someone just asked me this question today! I'm about to tweet this post ss you've got the basics down and the comments rock. Not the future though, it's the present. And with the speed at which new developments happen, I'm betting we'll see more functions and usability till it gets easier and easier to use. Set up my fanpage 4 weeks ago, already have over 200 members and starting to get to know them with time. I love FB pages!! Tia @TiaSparkles
Thank you for the pointers! I recently created a fan page and have had nothing but success!
I think Facebook is versatile and allows as much flexibility as per your need. You can check out some of the interesting things done here. Also available are the codes and steps to perform the same.
http://www.facebook.com/webwhispers
