How to Create Experiences That Will Build Your Facebook Fan Base
Facebook Pages are an essential marketing tool for most businesses.
Since so many businesses have Facebook Pages, it is important to find ways to make your page stand out in the crowd.
This article will take a look at companies that have differentiated themselves on Facebook, and will also take a look at inexpensive ways to increase the number of fans you have.
Oreo Oreo has a "World's Fan of the Week" campaign that encourages their fans to post a photo.
The person who submits the winning photo is highlighted as the fan of the week.
Spotlighting their fans is a great way to make the experience on their page fun.
This approach must be working for them; their Facebook Page has almost 8 million fans! Old Spice Old Spice got the attention of a lot of Facebook users through their "Old Spice Guy" videos.
The videos showed a shirtless guy responding to questions from fans that were often silly and frequently funny.
These videos went viral, and by the time the 2-day campaign ended, the Old Spice Facebook Page had 616,000 fans, and their YouTube channel had almost 8 million views.
You may be thinking that these are great strategies for big companies, but what about small and medium sized companies? The great news is that even small and medium sized companies have a chance.
A major brand is unnecessary for massive amounts of exposure and relationship building with customers and fans.
Facebook Experiences The way to differentiate your page from all the others is to create Facebook experiences.
These experiences which are carried out on your page are specific to your brand and also bring great value to your fans.
Even small experiences have the potential to be very powerful.
A great example is the Social Media Examiner Facebook Page, where we have "Expert Fridays.
" Every other Friday we have a guest who is a social media expert answer questions for a full hour directly on the page.
Any fan on the page can post a question, and the guest directly answers as many questions as possible.
This has been a huge hit.
Easy Ways to Create Your Own Facebook Experience Here are some specific things you can do to create these great and memorable brand-specific experiences on your Facebook page.
#1: Think about the overall feeling you want to evoke with your experience Is the main purpose of the experience adding value? Do you want to educate? Maybe you want to entertain people.
Think about your fans and determine which approach will resonate with them most.
#2 Be clear about what your company is best at What is your company best at and specifically known for? What are the types of things your customers say when they sing your praises? The good things your customers say about you will give you fodder for the unique experiences you'll want to offer.
Be sure the ideas you come up with are easy to duplicate so that you'll be able to do them multiple times.
This is important because consistency is a key component to building momentum in your Facebook community.
#3: Create a plan A plan for engagement on your Facebook Page is a lot like an editorial plan and allows you to document your experience.
At Social Media Examiner, we followed this step when planning our "Expert Fridays.
" We brainstormed about ways to find experts, how we would handle posting questions, the best day to make the announcement about the upcoming expert and so on.
After talking this out and making decisions, we documented everything.
The document was something we could refer back to when needed for guidance.
The document is a work in progress, something we tweak on a regular basis.
#4: Commit to the plan Planning is one thing; committing to it and executing it is another thing.
This is often the hardest part, but it's essential.
If you say you are going to do a certain thing weekly, be sure to do it.
A lack of follow through damages the trust you have with your fans.
Repurpose Content and Information Always be on the lookout for ways to repurpose the content that you receive through the Facebook experiences you create.
For example, if there is any audio used, use it to create a podcast.
If you use video, use the video as an opt-in strategy for anyone who may have missed it the first time around.
Memorable experiences are a great way to keep your Facebook Fans coming back for more.
The primary key is to keep it simple so that you can do it repeatedly and consistently.
Since so many businesses have Facebook Pages, it is important to find ways to make your page stand out in the crowd.
This article will take a look at companies that have differentiated themselves on Facebook, and will also take a look at inexpensive ways to increase the number of fans you have.
Oreo Oreo has a "World's Fan of the Week" campaign that encourages their fans to post a photo.
The person who submits the winning photo is highlighted as the fan of the week.
Spotlighting their fans is a great way to make the experience on their page fun.
This approach must be working for them; their Facebook Page has almost 8 million fans! Old Spice Old Spice got the attention of a lot of Facebook users through their "Old Spice Guy" videos.
The videos showed a shirtless guy responding to questions from fans that were often silly and frequently funny.
These videos went viral, and by the time the 2-day campaign ended, the Old Spice Facebook Page had 616,000 fans, and their YouTube channel had almost 8 million views.
You may be thinking that these are great strategies for big companies, but what about small and medium sized companies? The great news is that even small and medium sized companies have a chance.
A major brand is unnecessary for massive amounts of exposure and relationship building with customers and fans.
Facebook Experiences The way to differentiate your page from all the others is to create Facebook experiences.
These experiences which are carried out on your page are specific to your brand and also bring great value to your fans.
Even small experiences have the potential to be very powerful.
A great example is the Social Media Examiner Facebook Page, where we have "Expert Fridays.
" Every other Friday we have a guest who is a social media expert answer questions for a full hour directly on the page.
Any fan on the page can post a question, and the guest directly answers as many questions as possible.
This has been a huge hit.
Easy Ways to Create Your Own Facebook Experience Here are some specific things you can do to create these great and memorable brand-specific experiences on your Facebook page.
#1: Think about the overall feeling you want to evoke with your experience Is the main purpose of the experience adding value? Do you want to educate? Maybe you want to entertain people.
Think about your fans and determine which approach will resonate with them most.
#2 Be clear about what your company is best at What is your company best at and specifically known for? What are the types of things your customers say when they sing your praises? The good things your customers say about you will give you fodder for the unique experiences you'll want to offer.
Be sure the ideas you come up with are easy to duplicate so that you'll be able to do them multiple times.
This is important because consistency is a key component to building momentum in your Facebook community.
#3: Create a plan A plan for engagement on your Facebook Page is a lot like an editorial plan and allows you to document your experience.
At Social Media Examiner, we followed this step when planning our "Expert Fridays.
" We brainstormed about ways to find experts, how we would handle posting questions, the best day to make the announcement about the upcoming expert and so on.
After talking this out and making decisions, we documented everything.
The document was something we could refer back to when needed for guidance.
The document is a work in progress, something we tweak on a regular basis.
#4: Commit to the plan Planning is one thing; committing to it and executing it is another thing.
This is often the hardest part, but it's essential.
If you say you are going to do a certain thing weekly, be sure to do it.
A lack of follow through damages the trust you have with your fans.
Repurpose Content and Information Always be on the lookout for ways to repurpose the content that you receive through the Facebook experiences you create.
For example, if there is any audio used, use it to create a podcast.
If you use video, use the video as an opt-in strategy for anyone who may have missed it the first time around.
Memorable experiences are a great way to keep your Facebook Fans coming back for more.
The primary key is to keep it simple so that you can do it repeatedly and consistently.
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