I picked up a copy of The Facebook Marketing Book by Dan and Alison Zarrella in hopes of demystifying Facebook. I get the sharing of photos and tidbits of life with friends but beyond that, I get lost in the quagmire. This book deals in generalities and sends you to www.facebook.com for all the details so I still have some digging to do!
Here’s what I did find useful:
- information should be social and fun, not focused on sales. This is a social networking tool and people expect it to be used in a social manner.
- give your content a positive spin, keep it upbeat
- teach your reader how to do something
- keep it simple; as the level of complexity increases the amount of sharing decreases and you want people to share your message to reach new friends
- keep the content flowing by responding to comments on your wall and commenting on other pages
- monitor your page; respond to questions, complaints, and compliments in a timely manner and remove inappropriate comments. It is better to address negative comments than delete them, it makes you more trust worthy
- plan your content and create a posting schedule, this will help you stay focused
- determine how frequently you want to post and vary the time of day that you post
- avoid posting to frequently, you don’t want to be a pest and get blocked or unfriended
- vary your language and how your subject matter is handled, make it interesting
- SEO is just as important of Facebook as it is elsewhere on the web so use keywords appropriately
- keep it under 50 words
- avoid superlatives and flowery language
- use good grammar and style
- PROOFREAD!
Above all else, think before you post! This is important in all aspects of the web, once it’s in cyberspace it’s there forever! You should give just as much thought to the little comments on Facebook and Twitter as you do to longer dissertations on your web site or blog. Have fun, be careful!
