By Monique Stennis, MBA
Social Media Manager
University of Redlands
AABLI alumna, Class #6
4 strategies + loads of examples = social media buzz
Do you wonder why your personal Facebook page attracts more participation than your business page? It’s less a matter of popularity or influence than the communication strategies that support the goals of your organization.
Here are four strategies that will show you how to gain more Facebook fans and persuade them to participate on your page:
- Define your Facebook goals.
French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Establishing your goals is much like setting any other target that highlights specific activities. End result? You get what you’re after.
Common goals:
- Build brand awareness by getting people to talk about your organization.
- Drive traffic to your website by posting interesting information that leaves fans wanting more.
- Collect data to improve customer service and satisfaction.
- Deepen customer loyalty by cultivating a relationship with your fans.
- Increase attendance at events where you can meet prospective clients/supporters.
- Determine what actions to measure.
- Use metrics to help you pinpoint what your fans are or are not responding to on your page.
Metrics to consider:
- Number of new fans that like your page on a weekly/monthly basis
- Posts that prompt fans to like, comment or share
- Number of likes each post receives
- Number of people each post reaches
- Number of people who attended an event posted on your page
- Use the 80/20 Rule.
Whereas the Pareto Principle, 80/20 Rule, looks at the distribution between time production and business results, in social media it represents the threshold of maintaining engagement with your fan base. If you overwhelm fans with content that is selling products/services, you risk losing them. Remember, social media is a networking site. This is why 80 percent of the content you create should include entertainment or information that is relevant and adds value. The rest is selling and recruiting.
Engaging content:
- Inspirational quote with a visual
- Newspaper article that features the work of your organization
- Video featuring behind-the-scenes footage of your organization’s projects
- Photos showing your organization’s community service efforts
- Tie your business to a theme day/celebration
- Invite fans to an event your organization is hosting
- Include industry information that will interest your fans
- Allow fans to share photos of their experiences with your product/service
- Highlight an expert in your organization
- Get fans to respond to a post by asking a question
- Include a trivia question with multiple choice answers
- Reinforce/remind your fans to do something positive
- Mention and link to industry thought leaders
- Create a social media content calendar.
Publications have been maintaining editorial calendars forever. They remind magazine staffers to focus on story topics. A social media content calendar can help you stay organized as you promote across social media platforms.
Snapshot of Facebook content calendar (for one week):
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| 1 pm
Share an interesting post from the newsfeed of a business you follow on FB |
8 am
Quote with an inspirational visual |
10 am
Behind-the- scenes footage of your organization |
4 pm
Fun fact/trivia related to your industry |
10 am
Highlight a customer’s story |
Noon
Write a “how to” blog on your website and post it on FB |
11 am
Post an absorbing news story from a credible publication |
Identify your posting schedule and time. Whether it’s three days or seven, it is important to keep a consistent schedule. Test your schedule to see how your fans respond to the days/times you post content on your page. Identify how often you can post content while maintaining strong reach and engagement.
Loads of examples:
Behind-the-scenes video
Tie your business to a theme day/celebration.
Fans are taken to a strawberry parfait recipe blog on the Smart & Final website.
Invite fans to an event that your organization is hosting.
Link takes fans to the event page of The Home Depot website.
Industry information that will interest your fans.
Allow fans to submit photos of their experience with your product/service.
Southwest Airlines did a fabulous job when Karen Clevenger posted a picture of her father taking a photo in the cockpit with the pilot.
Get fans to respond to a post by asking a question.
Great way to engage fans and this university tied the question to the Summer Olympics.
Include a trivia question with multiple choice answers.
Highlight an expert in your organization.
Reinforce/remind your fans to do something positive for themselves.
Applying these strategies to your Facebook goals is more effective than merely maintaining your personal page. Once executed, your fans will start to anticipate content on your organization’s page.
What are some other ways you incorporate Facebook into your communication plan? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave your thoughts and comments below.
This blog is not written by aabli.org or The African American Board Leadership Institute. The author is solely responsible for the content.
