Here’s “a few of my favourite things” – Pages on Facebook I think are interesting – and ones I let into the inner sanctum of my news feed. I’ve listed them to help get you in the right headspace to set up and develop your own Page.
As with all things to do with social media (and life?), you can learn alot by observing other people and organisations who are doing it well.
SMALL BUSINESS
This is a husband and wife team based near Mudgee who run permaculture courses. From a small base, they’ve grabbed the position of the leading provider of these courses in Australia. A lot of their success has been built on their use of online media. And a fair bit of that via Facebook. They’re always up to something on there – running events with with permaculture leaders, posting video interviews with them, photos of people on courses, pics of the farm and food, the odd unusual article they find and more. Their Page gives the impression they love what they’re doing and you can tell their followers love them back.
PEOPLE
Chris is 25 years old. He writes books for teenagers. (Including a successful series entitled ‘The Phoenix Files’.) I like the way he interacts with his followers via his Facebook page. (He does well on his blog too.)
Every day Seth pumps out another interesting gem on marketing. It’s not long, but it’s very personal and down-to-earth. I can rely on Seth to write a useful insight. I probably read his stuff more than any of the other people (including friends) in my news feed. This content feeds through from his blog.
CAUSES
Greenpeace have been at this game for awhile now – jumping on new media early and using it to build and galvanise communities in their target. They’ve also plugged in a useful app to feed videos from their YouTube to their Facebook Page.
NEW MEDIA
Mashable is a social media property worth millions of dollars. It was started by Peter Cashmore and now employs a team of writers. They’re constantly pumping out interesting ideas on social media. And on this page interacting with their audience. Actually to be honest I find it too much to keep up with these days, but I do like the way they aim to be the best in the field.
Mark Pollard started this online blog and Page. He’s a Strategy Planner at an ad agency in Sydney. Like Seth’s feed, I’m mainly getting this one to make sure I get Mark’s interesting posts that come through from his blog. (They’re a mix of ideas on digital media, advertising, consumer insights, and life.) He’s also experimenting with asking questions of his followers. I like his style. Someone to watch.
OLD MEDIA
‘Old’ is probably a bit harsh. The ABC have really lead the way in adopting new media and using it to complement their traditional media outlets. In fact ‘complement’ may not be right either. The ABC are having a good go at trying to engage, interact, get feedback and ideas from their audience.
BIG MARKETERS
Here are an assortment of Pages from established brands who have seen where things are going and are well down the track in using Facebook for marketing. Check out the kind of posts they’re putting on there. In most cases you can do that too (adapt it for your business.)
At the time of writing Gap had almost 2 million Likes.
In summary, make sure everything you put on your new Page is good. I know you don’t have the time to put stuff on there often. But when you do, make it worthwhile.
Craft the wording. Make sure any links, photos and videos you add are interesting. “Pump out good sh*t” as Gary V would say. You want people to follow, receive, and even read your news, not hide it.
I’ll be updating this post with interesting, useful Facebook Pages as I come across them. Ones which use this media well. If you see or know or know of any yourself, you’re welcome to add them in the comments below.
Have a good look at the Facebook pages you like the best. Think about what they’re doing and learn from it. Adapt and apply the style and techniques which work for you.
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