Facebook Fan Page: DO IT YOURSELF GUIDE

I.
Introduction
I like blogs in general and for me to blog in particular. The virtues are many (
writing, dialogue, inspiration, visibility, ...) and a blog is like Chris Brogan
says "home" on the web. (Http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-love-for-blogging/).
For businesses, blogs are an important contribution. A key advantage for a compa
ny to have a blog is the increased traffic it brings to the website of the compa
ny. Here are the results of a study Hubspot (1) for small businesses:
The same study shows that the blog also helps improve the visibility of the comp
any through google links inboud generated.
Also in the context of being seen by search engines, mainly google, the blog all
ows for a number of pages indexed more consistent.
But you say, what relation between these beautiful figures touting the merits of
the blog so that the title is dedicated to fans of Facebook pages? Strips impat
ient, I just .... Facebook is, in my view, a phenomenon quite apart. On the one
hand, its audience increased consistently, which is in itself is important but F
acebook is a site where visitors stay
rather long. These two elements make it an essential communication for businesse
s. If we limit the figures in France, a study of Médiamétrie (2) tells us that:
"In a year, there were three times more registered users on social networks and
there is an upsurge of time spent over 112% on these sites. It was at Facebook t
hat we owe the greater part of the overall increase. Fifth site hearing, 7th in
time, he received nearly 21 million unique visitors in December. "
Facebook has 15 million active members in France and 400 million around the worl
d AND then in January 2009, members were spending an average of + / - 3 hours in
January 2010 they spend 4:31! (3)
When such a success is, eternal Cassandras always try to see an end and anticipa
te tomorrow's success. Among these, I found two tickets items that interest me a
nd ask me questions. Is it appropriate to compare Facebook:
•
Frienster (4)? Rue89 This article does not yet accepted and will even try to est
ablish a long-term trend from a decline in hearing over a month: "Let us remembe
r Friendster. Five years ago, we spent much time on Friendster. Thanks to our fr
iends and our friends of friends, we totaling a half-dozen best friends. Who rem
embers Friendster? MySpace and Facebook Friendster killed as evenings of Macumba
buried those of Moonlight. What made you leave one for another? The new applica
tions, some would say. Friendster has failed to adapt and propose applications F
acebook: no sheep to send itself to the figure, vampire bites, pinch of friends.
"In the United States already, the traffic and time spent fell slightly between
December 2007 and January 2008. "
•
Secondlife (5) as does FredCavazza because even though it weighs its decision of
questions, it seems quite negative about the future of the site: "Facebook now
finds itself almost in the same situation as
Second Life in 2007: a service with very high potential that maturation is hampe
red by too much media exposure. To summarize say that tensions and expectations
are too strong for Facebook evolves and progresses in good conditions. I'm not s
aying it's impossible, but there are big reaches conditions for Facebook to over
come the many challenges it faces. "
Of course, the forecast is always difficult but also useful to try to precede tr
ends. But the question to ask is it in the durability of Facebook in the long te
rm. I do not think so. It seems rather obvious that in the short and medium term
, it is an absolute must for companies. The social media optimization certainly
going through Facebook. Lest you think I am a hardcore brainwashed because I muc
h prefer a Twitter view personal contribution. But it is not a question of perso
nal preference, but many essential tool. That said, I would try to share some ke
y elements to the presence of a business on Facebook.
II.
Group or Fan Page?
For companies wishing to invest in a sustainable presence, the fan page is to pr
omote,€I propose to develop the advantages and possible disadvantages of this ch
oice. a. The url: the fan page allows you (when 25 members met to have a url lik
e: http://facebook.com/entreprise or http://fb.me/entreprise) while for the grou
p, not possible
b. The number of fans. The group is limited to 5,000 members, while the fan page
accepts an unlimited number of fans
v. Stat: Facebook offers a number of statistics about your fans. This feature is
not available for groups.
d. What is posted on a fan page appears in the timeline of the fans, I do not th
ink this is the case for groups.
e. The fan page allows you to integrate the flow of a blog for the automatic rel
ease of tickets on the page of your blog
f. Facebook gives the possibility to create a widget that allows you to promote
your fan page on another site or another blog.
g. The fan page can be coupled with your Twitter account to update it at each me
ssage posted on the wall of the fan page. (Conversely I like less)
h. The term fan has a more involving than simply being a "member". Identificatio
n with the brand is stronger thanks to the use of a fan page.
i.
The pages appear in the suggestions made by Facebook friends, this is not the ca
se for groups:
j.
The most important thing to me: applications that are available for fans pages a
nd not for groups. See Chapter IV.
PS: An interesting note on the alternative group / fan page: http://www.webmarke
ting-com.com/2009/09/11/5024-facebook-page-fan-ou-groupe-quel-estle-meilleur- ch
oice
III.
A fan page it works.
The Harvard Business review (6) conducted an interesting study shows that having
, for a company, a fan page is a valuable adjuvant. They are sent a survey to 13
,270 customers of Dessert Gallery, a chain of coffee and pastries. Replied 689.
Thereafter, the brand has started a fan page on Facebook and members of the mail
ing list were invited to join. The page has been managed smoothly and in enginee
ring practice.
After three months, a survey was conducted again. Here are the findings that hav
e been made: This time 1067 people responded. Fans of the page are: • • • • • Pr
oduced 36% of visits in most stores mark Spent 45% more to the mark in their bud
get Spent 33% more in stores Increased by 14% their attachment to the brand are
more loyally committed to the mark of 41%
The study states that still must be careful that this is primarily a tool for ni
ches. But these figures show a significant difference anyway.
IV.
Create a fan page
To create a fan page, it must be a member of Facebook and logged on the network.
Here is a series of screenshot that shows how to create a page:
a. Click Ads and Pages
b. Click Create Page
v. Choose the appropriate category and select the appropriate menu option. Then
name your page. He is not here to choose your vanity URL final. You can not do t
hat when you have 25 fans gathered on the page! and click Create Page.
d. Your page is created. It is as if a new member of the network existed. Any in
teraction you'll have on the page will be the name of it and not on behalf of yo
ur personal account.
e. There you "rest" on the set .... To access your page, click on Ads and Pages
(see a.). Then click on "Edit Page"
You have access to three types of possible changes: • General settings: you can
modify the permissions. These are of three types: by country, by age category an
d if you have not published your page immediately upon creation, you can do so b
y choosing "Published" in the third menu.
•
The parameters of the wall: you can choose the first menu that will appear by de
fault on the wall. The choice is limited between the display of what the fans an
d the admin page or have just posted what the admin page was posted.
Remember that you can determine which page will get non-members. This has its im
portance when
use applications that will allow us to create a home page for example. Finally,
you can choose if the fans can publish and what they can publish. In most cases,
it is appropriate to allow publications to enable the UGC and the larger implic
ation is that vis-à-vis the mark.
•
Mobile settings allow you to upload photos and videos via email. An entry in the
SMS service is requested to publish updates on the status page.
V.
The applications available (note that some applications
may result in redundancies. Make sorting possible !!!). (7)
a. Create a tab in FBML FBML Type in the search engine on Facebook. Arriving on:
Click view the application! Now click on Add to my page.
You choose the page to which you want to add a custom tab. You return to your ho
me page and then clicking on ads and pages:
In the application list, you now have:
You click on Edit in the FBML application and you get:
You put a title suitable for the tab that you create and you type in html simpli
fied what you want on the page. The easiest way is to make an image and simply i
nsert the image as was done for Techtrends:
You have to add the tab to be visible on the page:
You have to go into the display settings to ensure that any page that you create
d is one that appears by default. See III. d.
b. Tigerlily Go to your page and click edit. At the bottom you have:
Click on browse and search over typing Tigerlily. The application appears. You c
an also type directly into the engine Tigerlily Facebook as we did for FBML. You
click on Add to my page (see FBML). A window opens and you choose which page to
add the application. Visit your page and in the possibilities of adding tabs, T
igerlily was added:
You add and click Go to admin:
You have the option to put the widgets that you feel would help in two columns.
Among these widgets, RSS, videos, pictures, Flickr, Twitter, ... It's really coo
l what you can do:
v. Add a stream / multiple blogs to your page. • Networkedblogs
If you have installed this application (I use Me). You can go into the menu and
click Settings Fedde:
Then this appears:
You click configure and you just check the button:
•
Blog RSS Feed Reader
As before, you want the application and when you found and you're on his page, c
lick Add to my page and select it.
You go to your page and click edit. In the application list, you see Blog RSS Fe
ed Reader. You click edit and add a feed.
Then click settings and in the pop-up tab for additional authorizations. You sel
ect Publish recent activity on my wall.
d. Twitter Twitter You simply type in the engine, you'll find the application an
d access. You click on Add to my page. Finally you select the page and go there
... The routine now: D
The application now appears in the admin of your page. You click edit. Your Twit
ter appears in Facebook and you have a button to allow Twitter to update your Fa
cebook status
If you click on the application settings, you have a check box for "Publish rece
nt activity on my wall." Personally, I do not like what is posted on Twitter app
ears on Facebook. Some people with whom I am connected to both networks use them
and I find it a bit cumbersome. I recommend this way of doing this even though
the interest're saving time. It should ask you if you twitter what should appear
on the wall systematic Facebook?
e. Posted Items Pro allows you to add videos hosted on the usual sites on your p
age. This application installs on your profile at the same time as the page is a
bit boring, I think. After having accepted it, click Manage Pages:
In marriage pages, you choose which page you use it. As a result you click Add V
ideo and fill with the code of the video:
Remember to add the Posted Items Pro tab in the menu of your fan page:
By default, the application inserts examples of images or videos, be sure to rem
ove them to avoid leaving them on your page:
The attraction of this application is that it allows the sharing of what has bee
n posted by remaining on Facebook:
Note that you have as an alternative YouTube Video Box.
f.
Poll (request access authorization)
This is an application that allows you to conduct surveys. You proceed as usual
to add the application to your page. Then€Poll appears in the tabs possible to a
dd, you do.
When done, you then click on the tab and then appears:
Simply follow the instructions to create the survey ....
g. Type in slideshare slideshare engine facebook and you arrive directly on the
application. Same procedure: Add, go to the page. In the list of app, you are lo
oking slideshare. You click edit and it offers you to link your page with a slid
eshare account:
You can then go to the Application Settings tab and in the Profile pop-up, click
on add to the tab:
h. Memorable Web address We have seen that one disadvantage of the groups was no
t having a vanity url. With this application you can create easy to remember add
resses for all your activities on Facbook. This application creates: • • • urls
profile.to / username for personal profiles, urls groups.to / username urls for
groups according cutter choice for fans pages (band.to /; artist.to /; Companies
. to /; ... ..)
This is an example with the fan page of the ISE:
i.
Promotions can create different campaigns. This is an application but it seems t
o pay anyway nice to create campaigns inexpensively.
You will be redirected to the site wildfireapp.com you submit a large choice of
types of campaigns:
j.
MailChimp (8)
Freemium service that allows you to manage a free newsletter from your fan page
up to 500 fans and 3,000 emails sent per month. It is not really a separate appl
ication because the site generates a code you MailChimp to insert a tab generate
d in FBML. Here are the steps: Create an account mailchimp.com Go to the admin p
anel and click on MailChimp tab LISTS
Click on forms and then "for your website" and then click signup embed code:
You can then customize the registration form and code is generated automatically
:
You copy and paste the code in your FBML tab and enter a suitable title to it: e
g: Newsletter Here's what to do:
Not bad at all, I think! Of course, we should arrange a little better presentati
on ... What you will not fail to do.
VI.
Import emails from your fans (9)
a. Create an account yahoo b. Go to the contact tab at the top of the page and c
lick Import Now
v. Several choices are offered, choose course Facebook
d. Grant access:
And here we go ....
e. Once the import is done, you can then choose an export format to use them wit
h your usual email address.
VII.
Username
At II. a. I boasted the advantage of having a fan page vanity URL you choose. On
ce you have 25 fans, this option works. Pay close attention to the name that you
 choose for this choice is irreversible (for fan pages to my knowledge anyway).
Type http://facebook.com/username and this is what appears:
Click set a username for your pages. You can then select from the menu pages wit
h more than 25 members who have not yet vanity url. You check the availability a
nd confirm when you're done. The purpose of having a vanity url based on simplic
ity to locate you and communicate on the page but also for the engine visibility
.
VIII. Send invitations
A first means to use to promote your page is to use the system for sending invit
ation from Facebook. Just click:
A window opens where you must select one by one the friends you'll send an invit
ation. It's annoying! Here is a little trick (untested) (11) to avoid this and s
elect all your friends in a few seconds:
"You'll be able to select in one click all your friends going to your fan page t
o recommend, by clicking on" Recommend to Friends "by copying and pasting this s
mall JavaScript code in the address bar: javascript: document = Elms . getElemen
tById ('Friends'). getElementsByTagName ('li'); for (var Elms in fid) (if (typeo
f Elms [fid] === 'object') (fs.click (Elms [fid ]);}} Voila, all your friends ar
e selected, you only have to click on the button "Send Invitations" and voila. "
IX.
The most difficult part
Yet many companies improvise in managing their fan page and / or entrust it to t
heir staff or students on the pretext that they have an account on Twitter and F
acebook. Clearly,€The most difficult thing is not to create the page but to keep
it alive and place it in an overall communications strategy. Unfortunately thes
e two elements seem to be set aside, which will generate negative comments about
the usefulness of this tool so that it will be there for nothing. Put the best
of saws in the hands of a clumsy, he will not make good use! Why should it be di
fferent with social networking in general and Facebook in particular. PS: I have
not activated the free download ... but I will gladly send on request by email
... to my followers on Twitter @ Vansnick
By Regis Vansnick • • Lecturer at the Higher Institute for Economic Ixelles (div
ision of the High School Lucia De brouckère) Manager of the SPRL Dkoop http://dk
oop.be
Webography
(1) http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5014/Study-Shows-SmallBusinesses
-That-Blog-Get-55-More-Website-Visitors.aspx (2) Médiamétrie, press Releases of
March 10, 2010: Year 2009 Internet. Propulsion in the era of real time. (3) http
://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0, 39020774,39750052,00. Htm (4) http://www.
rue89.com/et-pourtant/facebook-va-se-ringardiser -as-de-uneboite palavas (5) htt
p://www.fredcavazza.net/2009/05/28/facebook-peut-il-reussir-son-pari-peutetre/ (
6) http://hbr. org/2010/03/one-cafe-chains-facebook-experiment/ar/1 http://www.r
ice.edu/nationalmedia/news2010-02-18-facebook.shtml and (7) http://www. smbceo.c
om/2009/10/20/setting-up-facebook-fan-page-customlanding-page / (8) http://www.w
chingya.com/2010/03/facebook-applications-fan-pagepopularity.html (9) http://www
.mailchimp.com/blog/subscribe-form-facebook/ (10) http://www.labnol.org/internet
/export-email-addresses-from-
facebook/12970 / (11) http://www.thugeek.com/web/augmenter-le-nombre-de-fans-de-
sa-
top-facebook /