Social Media Best Practices
Facebook & Twitter:
Management tactics
About Facebook
• 300 million users worldwide.
• 50% of active users log on daily.
• Surpassed MySpace in the U.S. in May/June 2009.
• Diverse demographics.
• Average number of friends: 130.
• More than 10 million users become fans of pages each day.
Facebook page/public profile
• A page is a Facebook profile for a brand (business, institution or public figure). Pages allow an organization to converse and interact with users as a single entity.
Pages vs. groups
Pages:• Only represent a
real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity.
Groups:• Can be created by
any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject.
Pages vs. groups
Pages:• Will never display
their admins' names. Any action taken will carry the identity of the brand/page.
Groups:• Will display the
admins’ names. Any action taken will appear to come from the individual admin.
Pages vs. groups
Pages:• Have no limits on
fans/subscribers.
• Pushes content posted by admins out to the fans’ news feeds. Notifications of fan activity appear on the fan’s profile wall.
Groups:• Have a 5,000
member limit.
• Displays posted content on its wall only. Notifications of the poster’s activity appear on the poster’s profile wall.
Pages vs. profiles
• A page is a Facebook profile for a brand (business, institution or public figure).
• BUT there are differences that address the needs of brands.
Content and posting patterns
• The goal is to arouse an action from subscribers.
• The action shows on the walls and news feeds of the page and the subscribers, which fosters viral marketing.
Content and posting patterns
• Establish a regular posting schedule.
• Identity the optimal amount of content.
• Variety works.
• Conversational tone.
• Use Web writing style, especially on the page wall.
• Become a participant.
Facebook username
• Personalize the page: http://www.facebook.com/username/
• Public entities can promote a Facebook presence with a shorter URL.
• Requirements: > 25 fans, must be at least 5 characters long
• Periods are not counted: johndoe, john.doe are considered the same.
Updates
• Pages can send messages to either their entire fan base or a specific demographic. The messages will appear in the "Updates" tab of a user’s Inbox.
• Targetable demographics: Location, sex, age.
Sharing content
Outside Facebook:
• All content has unique URLs that can be linked to.
Inside Facebook:
• The share link facilitates posting on profile walls and within messages.
• Use the like link.
About Twitter
• Micro-blogging: 140 characters or less.
• Fresh content galore: Real-time searching.
• 14 million U.S. users (April 2009)
• More push than social: 10% of users account for 90% of the tweets (Harvard Business School).
Twitter tactics
• Use it as a pointing device. Link to more substantial content that lives behind a URL. Shorten URL with services like tinyurl, bit.ly, or ow.ly.
• Follow the information leaders.
• Utilize the #.
• Re-tweet: It’s efficient and adds value.
Twitter tactics
• Utilize the @.
• Follow the feed’s mentions.
• Check out the available Twitter tools.