In this episode, we are talking about the previous switch from a Group to a Fanpage. we also talk about growth and the viral effect of Fanpages.

We discuss how the page starts to take on a life of it’s own.

We also look at how to set up a Facebook Ad to promote the page. We look at the options of CPC(Cost per Click) and CPM(Cost per Thousand)

Remember you can view the whole series at: Creating a Facebook community page.

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Some new studies came out over the last little while talking about the benefits of using Facebook, how it effects customer loyalty and the truthfulness of online profiles.

I first found the studies at the Social Media Examiner, a great site and I recommend you drop by and check it out.

The first study put out by Neilsen Company talks about the time invested by users into Facebook.

The answer? 7 HOURS PER MONTH, just so you know Google users only spend about 2 hours on the site per month. Compare that to television at 144 hours per month. Yikes!

This came as no surprise but people like to share things on Facebook, this makes the site incredibly viral. In fact Facebookers like to share more than other Social Networkers from other sites. You can read more detail on that at TechCrunch.

Originally, I was going to write about the fact the Facebook has overtaken Yahoo in traffic, BUT, it looks like there’s bigger news to be had. Facebook overtook Google in Traffic the first week of this month(March). That makes Facebook the most trafficked site in the US. You can read about that here.

Another interesting study showed people tend to be more honest about themselves on Facebook with their profiles. This means you’re getting the real person not some idealized avatar of a person. This also means you can target your market easier since they have been more honest about themselves. You can read about that in more detail here.

This last study conducted by Harvard Business Review gives me mixed feelings. I know I’m such a deep person to have feelings about a market study.

Anyhoo, the study showed that Facebook fans of a company in this case a Cafe chain, are more loyal, spend more and are, well, better fans of the company. Which probably explains why they became fans on Facebook. But here’s the kicker out of the 13270 customers emailed and invited to join the page only 2.1% became Fans after 3 months of effort.

That’s a really low percentage, given the high number of people on Facebook? Now maybe they did not provide the right incentive, content and enticement? I love tossing out stats without context but an average direct mail campaign gets a 1% – 3% response rate and Email on average gets a 5% click through rate.

Now for the good news, those that became fans, came to the Cafe 20% more often, referred the Cafe to friends more often and became more emotionally attached to the Cafe. All really good things, but it really does not tell us what to do. Were these clients predisposed to be the best clients? Is that why they became fans to begin with. If they were more likely to refer the Cafe why did the Facebook site only develop into a few hundreds fans and not go viral? I’m sure we’ll get these and other answer on the next episode of Taxi. But until then were left with what the questions, “What we do with a Problem like Maria Facebook.”

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In the fifth part of the series we perform the dreaded switch from a Group to a Page.

In past videos I talked a little about the difference between a Page and a Group, my recommendation was to start a Page but for this experiment I would be creating a Group. Well we’ve done that, but before the Group gets to big, let’s switch it to a Page so we can focus on promotion and apps.

Here’s the video!

You can find the rest of the series here:

http://www.makingyoufindable.com/category/facebook/

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In the forth part of the series we talked about increasing membership.

There’s not much point in having a Group page unless of course it makes a group. So we’re going to talked about the things you can do to help increase the number of people that find your page and join it.

Watch Part 1

Watch Part 2

Watch Part 3

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In the third part of the series we start to cover adding content and customizing the page.

We talk about:

Fan Pages vs Group Pages
Member Growth
Improving Content, Info and Introduction
Promotion of Page

Watch Part 1

Watch Part 2

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In the second part of the series we start to cover adding content and customizing the page.

We talk about:

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I see a lot of questions on how to use Facebook.

One great way to use Facebook is by building a community page, it’s easy, viral and local.  All the things you want in a promotion.

In this series we start with nothing, and build a community page live, you’ll see the failures, and the success as the group gets built.  That means you can build yours while watching the series.

TIP:  You may consider using a Fan Page instead of a Group Page.  Both have their pros and cons, however, I choose a Group Page for this series just for experimental purposes.  Fan Pages offers a little more flexibility, Group Pages are super easy.

Here’s the first video:

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Do you ever wish you could tell someone your Facebook address?

Sure you tell people, “Find me on Facebook” or “Look me up on Facebook”, but it would be nice to tell them how to get straight to your profile or your fan page.

Facebook held off introducing vanity urls for a long time and finally relented.

Don’t know what a vanity url is?  Well it looks like this:

http://www.facebook.com/makingyoufindable

Notice how that link takes you straight to my Fan Page?

You can make one just like it for both your profile and your fan page, watch the video to find out how!

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So Alterian released the seventh annual, yes I said SEVENTH, Social Media Marketing Survey.

It comes as no surprise that more companies are shifting the budget to Search and Social Media, but it’s always fun to look at the numbers and then give my ever so observant opinion about what I think they mean.  Yes I know, you all hang out around your computers waiting for the witty and insightful words that stream from my blog posts, pleeeaasssee.

One of the most impressive points made in the report is where the money is being taken from.  I figured I would see most money shift from traditional print media.  But instead 40% were shifting 1/5th of their Direct Marketing budget over to Social Media?  I have to say, I’m not sure I understand this, an dit’s entirely possible I misunderstand it but Direct Marketing is usual a very accountable marketing medium, you only do it if it’s profitable, so why take money from it, take it from less accountable mediums.  You know the ones that tell you to advertise for a loooooonnnnggg time, because it’s the only way to see results.  They’re the same ones who have all your money before you realize the money you spent was wasted.

I digress!

Another really great point was that 57% of surveyed companies were planning on investing in engaging personalities to be their online voice that starts and continues conversations online.  I think this is a great move, if these personalities are given the freedom to truly engage.  Typically for larger companies this is pretty scary stuff, they tend to want everything to go through the PR department.  But the fact the companies are thinking beyond the box is hopeful.

The talent pool is growing as well, with layoffs in the journalism world there are great writers that can start to build careers as Engagement Creators. By the way I’m claiming that term!  I don’t want to see someone at a party attributing it to Steve Jobs, Seth Godin or Gary Vanerchuk.

For those of you that wish this whole process of social media was simple, well you’re not the only one.  In fact, 70% or respondents work with 3 or more vendors to make Social Marketing happen.

The lesson here is that Social Marketing has a cost. That cost is staff, experts and services which sub in for advertising costs you would have other wise spent. Unless you can get Meekakitty(youtube) to promote your product for free.

The report insightfully notes that Social Marketing needs to evolve, you can’t have 5 managers, controlling relationships with multiple vendors to create one on one experiences and engagements.  A sort of integration needs to occur, but the industry is to young, traditional marketing vendors don’t know how to co-ordinate the efforts for their clients efficiently yet.  All this is true, but also waiting in the wings for the best solutions leaves the door open for competitors to walk in and steal the next generation of consumers.

I don’t have the answer either, but  you can bet I’ll be thinking of one.

One such solution is the Customer Engagement Agency, they co-ordinate creative, data, media, delivery and technology as describe by Alterian. The term seems to have caught on, a quick Google search shows several agencies building offerings around the concept.

The report also mentions companies are having trouble finding good agencies to handle online and offline marketing.  Hmmm, no surprise there.  I would imagine the marketing agency are having trouble figuring it out themselves.  There’s a shift in thinking between to two methods of marketing, mass message vs micro message.  I can’t imagine a company being excellent at both.  It’s like a passenger airplane company being great at co-ordinating a taxi company.  Both are transportation but require unique skill sets to run efficiently.

I’m not going to go through the whole report.  You can read it directly from them and get it from the horses mouth.  But my key theme I want mention is social media has become a common place marketing avenue.  When Facebook holds more consumers than the United States Population you better sit up and notice.  Basically, you have a large nation of cross border users all communicating within a single medium.  That’s big, really big!

98 million people watched the last Superbowl, 1.6 million walk through Times Square daily, Facebook has 400 million users engaging daily.  Maybe this Social Media thing will catch on after all?

As Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise was so fond of saying, ENGAGE!

You can download the report at: Alterian Annual Social Media Survey

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We have two videos for you today. Well it started out as one video and quickly turned into two.

We’re continuing the series on Building an Web Presence. This episode focusing on Social Media, Facebook, Twitter etc. So grab a snack, maybe a fresh cup of coffee and let’s do some learn’in!

Part 1

Part 2

You can find the other videos for this series at – Building a Real Estate Web Presence.

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