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Friday, February 26, 2010

6 Tips for Engaging Facebook Fans

It seems that February unofficial became social media month for me. I worked with several clients to setup new Facebook fan pages and discussed how to get more fans. But whether the client was new to Facebook or had a fan page for awhile, I found myself having the conversation of "How to make the Facebook fan page better?" over and over again. Here are a few tips.

Tip #1 - Start a Discussion
The entire basis of social media is to connect and share. By utilizing the discussion application, you open up your fan page from being a source of information about the practice page to an engaging social media page.
An easy way to start a discussion is to ask for opinions or questions about a recent news topic connected to your industry. For example, if you're a plastic surgery practice you could start a discussion about ABC News' story on Fat Transfer for Breast Augmentation. You can briefly share your thoughts about the procedure and/or story and end by asking fans what their thoughts are or if they have any questions they would like answered about the procedure.

Write a teaser and post a link to the discussion page as a wall update. If you're having trouble getting the discussion started, encourage practice staff or other people you know well to comment. I also recommend posting a link to the discussion on your personal page to get things rolling.

Tip #2 - Take a Poll
This is a quick and simple way for your fans to share their opinion. You can poll about anything, but keep it related to the practice in some way. If you've been thinking about doing a special on a service but not sure where to start, then ask your fans what procedure they would be most interested in getting if money wasn't an issue. As an extra incentive to cast their vote, you can offer a free or discounted service to one randomly chosen voter.

You can also make it as fun as well as research based. For example if you're a dental practice and a hygienist gets a new puppy you can have the fans vote for its name. Does your practice make philanthropic contributions? You can have your fans vote to determine which charity you'll give to or participate in. The possibilities are endless.

Tip #3 - Setup an Event
This is a great way to connect with your fans offline as well as online. I recommend keeping the event related to your business. For example, a plastic surgery center that has an Aesthetician can do a wine and skin care evening. You can add details about the event, receive RSVPs, and much more. The event application can also be used as notification tool if someone in the practice is speaking at an event, being featured on TV or radio, or is making any other form of public appearance.

Tip #4 - Join the Conversation
I've seen numerous pages that don't allow its visitors to comment on their videos, posts or photos. I highly discourage this. Even if you allow comments, you still have control over whether they are visible or not. But it is not enough just to allow comments. You must join the conversation! If someone leaves a comment, don't forget to comment back. To ensure timely responses, I recommend having a dedicated admin for this.

Tip #5 - Become a Resource for Information
The most common mistake I see are a fan pages that only talks about their business toting their own specials, blog posts, staff, etc. and nothing else. While it is a good idea to share that information on the page (after all it is your practice's page!), I recommend publishing interesting and relevant content about your industry. Have you recently read an interesting or relevant blog that someone else wrote? Then share it! This helps to make users not only fans, but repeat visitors.

Tip# 6 - Offer Exclusive Incentives to Fans
While I realize this may not be feasible for every business, for many businesses it is. When someone new becomes a fan, send them a welcome message with the incentive. Recently I began following a company on twitter and received a message from them thanking me for following them, as well as a code for 15% off one of their services!

In addition to sending out initial fan incentives, you can periodically send incentives to all of your fans or even just the fans that are active on your page thanking them for their input.

The fundamental basis of all social networks is connection and sharing. To do that it's essential to engage your audience. Need more help? Your Page 1 Account Manager can work with you to get the conversation started!

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posted by Jessica at 1:09 PM 0 comments

Monday, January 25, 2010

Vitamin Water Creates a New Flavor of Facebook

Wanna know what Facebook tastes like? Well according to Vitamin Water, it tastes like black-cherry lime. The new drink flavor is a result of an online marketing campaign that ended this month. Vitamin Water asked Facebook users to compete in naming and creating a new flavor to represent Facebook. It is the second time this month that a unique campaign has swept through Facebook. Recently I blogged about a strange breast cancer awareness campaign on Facebook, where users were updating statuses with their bra colors. The campaign went global in less than a day.

Both marketing campaigns, though very different, have one major thing in common, they both got the attention from millions and have started more people talking about how social networking can launch a successful marketing campaign.

Social networking is no longer just to connect with old friends and share photos. Businesses that aren't using them need to start or they will be quickly behind the competition. Not only can they help brand your business, but with the recent viral campaigns, it has shown it can reach your target demographics instantaneously.

For more information on ways to think outside of the box with your online marketing, contact Page 1 Solutions today.

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posted by Ashley Martin at 1:23 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 22, 2009

New Ideas Wecome!

Recently, many of my clients have begun to use Social Media like Twitter and Facebook. There is so much buzz about this new phenomenon that everyone wants to be in on the "next new thing." Cherrish at Pratt Plastic Surgery and I created a new Facebook fan page for Seattle Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. David F. Pratt- I showed her all of the basics to create events for new specials, adding photos, etc.

Additionally, she created a discussion board on Facebook. This allows her to post new topics and have people respond after to keep people engaged on the topics. She posted topics on Breast Augmentation and Financing which is a common concern for most people right now.

I encourage all of my clients to come up with new and exciting features on Social Media. It creates better branding, more word of mouth and who knows it might even generate some leads.

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posted by Amanda at 10:16 AM 0 comments