I am sure getting tired of being asked to join Facebook fan and cause pages . I actually refuse to do it anymore: for the most part it seems to be an ego trip on the part of the organizer—it has little to do with creating community and building business. Organizations (and that includes associations, non-profits, and commercial groups) seem to think that if they’ve tossed a Facebook page out on the internet, they’ve completed the course in Social Media 101, and their members/fans/target market can not accuse them of avoiding ‘technology’.
Well, guess what? The whole social media thing requires a little more attention than a couple of hours of work on a Facebook page. In fact, those two hours you spent on an organizational page may well have been time wasted: you invite everybody, they agree to be a fan or a friend, and then they go away, never to return. No community, no contact, no contribution. Nothing.
What’s the solution? First, think of your organization’s Facebook pages as an integral part of an entire marketing program. Link your Facebook page to your Twitter account. Add your Facebook url to every email signature that originates from you or your staff. Link your Facebook page to your blog and your association website. Add Facebook apps which will enhance your readers’ experience: YouTube, MyFlickr, and Twit Poll. Loosen up controls so that members can freely post and interact with your page: get out of the way of the user!
Secondly, ask yourself how a Facebook page can enhance the value of membership in your organization. There are many instances when Facebook simply isn’t a fit, and your page building efforts are time wasted. Members of some organizations simply aren’t receptive to social networking. That may be because they plenty of other opportunities for other forms of cooperation, or because the demographics of the membership aren’t a good fit. If, for instance, you have a viable website with a lot of public and member interaction, a Facebook page may be redundant. Let’s say you’ve developed a great Realtor association website, complete with a public property search, access to your MLS for members only, standard forms, a couple of informative blogs, and some forums with lots of input. What’s to be gained by a Facebook page?
And even if you don’t have a compelling organizational website, if you don’t have a dynamic content on your Facebook page, why would anyone remember to come back to it?
I’m an enthusiastic advocate of Social Media Done Right, but not of Social Media Done for the Sake of Doing It. As a part of your evaluation of your Facebook efforts, consider adding one of the statistics programs which monitor your visitors (like Friend Statistics), which will help you quantify how effective your page really is.
First of all, thanks for the link to the Wild Apricot blog. :-)
I think you're right on the mark with this. I have a presentation slide I use regularly that I think goes to the point you're making:
When to try social networking...
You’re doing well in other online channels (e.g. your website, mailing list, etc.)
You have people dedicated to care & feeding (to growing the social effort, whatever it is)
You’re willing to give up some control (engage/collaborate, not just blast people with messages from other channels)
Social media is not a panacea, and as you say it should be looked within the context of larger organizational communications strategy. It's about time more social media 'experts' made this clear from the start.
A behind the scenes look at organized real estate--what works in an association, what doesn't, and what a long time AE sees as challenges facing the industry from the viewpoint of its professional organization.
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