Take Your Facebook Strategy to the Next Level (Part I)

 

Social media is no longer a trend, but a convention. From over 2 billion Internet users worldwide, more than 1 billion are already using social networks, with Facebook as the king, having more than 800 active million users. According to Nielsen’s new Social Media Report, we can find other key facts:

• Today, 4 in 5 active Internet users visit social networks and blogs, accounting for nearly a quarter of total time spent on the Internet.

• Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other website.

• Users on Facebook install 20 million applications every day.

• Close to 40 percent of social media users access social media content from their mobile devices.

• 53 percent of active social networkers follow a brand, while 32 percent follow a celebrity.

• On average, people on Facebook install apps more than 20 million times every day

• More than 7 million apps and websites are integrated with Facebook

 

Social media has grown rapidly, almost reaching the maturing stage. Brands need integrated on-line marketing strategies aligned with the actual offline efforts, to engage with their communities in real time. This is not about creating a fan page on Facebook or a Twitter account just to follow the trend. Actually, this can be even counterproductive if marketers do not know the environment and all the potential we can get from it.

At Involver, we are proud to be the web’s most trusted social marketing platform, providing marketers and developers with everything they need to create rich experiences across the social web:

• Audience Management Platform (AMP): Allows brands and agencies to connect to multiple social networks from one website, publish targeted messages across multiple channels, monitor the activity of certain keywords and analyze the performance.

• Facebook applications: Seamlessly power the interaction with audiences and make the most of your brand’s social web experience.

• Social Markup Language (SML™): Enables front end developers to rapidly build and extend Involver applications, creating customized experiences on Facebook.

How do you get started on Facebook as a brand? We have summarized guidelines of 8 useful principles from Lithium below:

1 – Set Community Expectations

What does the brand stand for? Although the web is an open space, it is important to clearly articulate what the customer should expect from your company. Try to fill in all the information as completely as possible in the Facebook fan page. Make sure to adapt the language, voice and tone of your messages to the community.

2 – Provide Cohesive Branding

The stream is a primary context for social interaction and the most effective driver of viral content sharing. Match the look and feel of your brand across all Facebook tabs, and make sure that your user experience is consistent with the rest of the social web.

3 – Stay Up-to-Date

Why should I come to the fan page again? We have tom combine specific company information, with external content and look for ways to trigger conversation with the community. Otherwise there is no reason to come back. There is not a standard number of posts per day for every brand. The quantitative brand has to be combined with other metrics like level of engagement or best time to post.

4 – Live Authenticity

Being human is what it’s all about. Showing your human side. Personalize interactions by giving a “human” touch to your Facebook page.  Here is an example:

To view Part II in this series, click HERE!