Moving Beyond A Facebook Page

Facebook is undoubtedly, the most popular social media platform among marketers and the reasons are quite obvious –

1. It is very popular and has a huge user base
2. It has low budget, highly targeted advertising options

But thanks to the ever-changing Facebook algorithms, the platform is gradually losing it’s charm. I think many of the social media marketers would agree to the fact that it is interesting to build up a brand on Facebook but after a point one wonders ‘now, what?’

What we as an agency strongly feel is once you create a good fan following amongst your target customers, you need to deepen this connect and move beyond just the updates & contests zone. Following are some methods that one can explore -

Exploring Facebook Groups

We manage a highly active brand community in the intimate hygiene space for women. Gradually, over few months we built up good interactions. We had to then look at next steps – then what?

The highlight of the community was the genuine experiences and stories shared by women on our page. We thought of enhancing this intimacy with a closed group, only for women. The initiative worked wonders and we have seen fan engagement at a different level.

Sign Up Activities to Connect over Email

Another great way to step up the engagement with your fans is to connect with them via a newsletter. Ask them to sign-up directly & excite them through interesting content in your newsletter.

Two important things to keep in mind while opting for this route is that –

1) be consistent in sharing the newsletter and

2) provide quality and good content that is of interest to your fans

Sourcing of email ids would also help for look-alike Facebook ads targeting as well as searching & connecting with your fans on other social media platforms

Connecting with the fans offline -

Many brands are already exploring offers, contest and check-in feature on Facebook to connect with the customers offline. You can connect with them offline by organizing some meet and greet events.

Another approach to this is organizing a select event for your influencers for example a blogger meet and asking them to share their experience online with other fans.

Tupperware parties can be one good example here. The concept is very simple – whether a cocktail party or a fun girls night out, just host a party or be a guest and learn about Tupperware products. These parties now are planned on social media too, and it has grown so big that there is a Tupperware party happening every 2.5 seconds across the globe.

When Pizza Express launched In Mumbai, they had a series of pre-launch offline activities which was promoted on the social media in order to create uproar about the launch. From blogger meet previews, to select food bloggers baking session with the chief pizzaiolo of UK to flash mobs all the activities were hyped online.

Exploring other platforms -

Once the brand grows on Facebook, you can take it to other social media platforms as well. It is advisable to explore other niche social media platforms based on the type of brand.

For example, for a fashion brand photo platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are good options. Similarly, for a travel brand, Twitter can garner more traction as many of their target customers are using the platform extensively.

To conclude it all, a brand cannot just look for having a good presence on Facebook via FB page. They also need to explore other complementary platforms & initiatives to build a stronger connect with their fans. Social media marketing should be collaborated with other marketing initiatives of a brand to make it cohesive and impactful.

What other ways would you suggest to take the Facebook fan interactions to the next level?