We already know the folks at RCG love twitter, and while I like twitter, the marketer in me has completely fallen for Facebook Pages (note: these are a very different beast than Facebook profiles)… and if you’re running a small business, there are many reasons you should be interested in FB Pages too.
The three main reasons I’m been putting a ton of energy into building out Facebook Pages for my clients lately are:
- Traffic: at this point traffic from social media feeds (like twitter’s stream and Facebook’s newsfeeds) are generating more traffic than RSS feeds for almost every website I run.
- Engagement: For new sites, it’s becoming harder-and-harder to build a “community” on your own site without tapping into the communities where they already exist (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
- Reach. Unlike Twitter, Facebook Pages allow you to get into the highlights and recommendation sections of fans… allowing you to reach the often elusive “friends of fans.” For most small businesses, the friends of your fans are a ridiculously relevant audience and even more relevant than traditional SEO traffic.
By the way, I was inspired to create this post because I JUST created a Facebook Page for Rain City Guide and of course, I’m hoping you’ll join up and become a fan.
Similar to the Rain City Guide blog, I’m going to be using the page to engage with folks about Seattle real estate. It’s not that we “need” another place for a conversation, but rather an experiment to see what it will look like when we take the typical RCG conversation to the Facebook audience.
Of course, many of the stories on the Page will be about RCG articles, but truth be told, I’ll be looking to link out to any real estate articles I think will interest people interested in Seattle real estate. So, if Facebook is the place you’d like to engage, join the conversation by becoming a fan of RCG!
And if you’re interested in a seeing a more developed implementation of Facebook Pages, check out the business page I created around my social media consulting and speaking. In just a few months, it’s grown to over 1200 folks who are consistently engaging in ideas around using social media to generate business.
A friend of mine is launching a website for spa parts and filters so we launched a fan page for hot tubs about a month ago. Last time I checked it was almost at 2,000 fans. It will be interesting to see if that converts into traffic once the site is up and running.
Nice! I’m finding a ton of success with FB Pages with some of my clients… but it’s like most other online marketing. You’ve got to offer something of value and expect to spend a decent amount of time (or money) marketing…
I first learned about the page function from you and then I learned about being able to point a personalized domain (courtneycooper.com and dustinluther.com) to it from you and I am impressed! I hadn’t thought about the friends of fans part of it….But that is three great FB page ideas that came from YOU – plus I see my mug captured in your screen shot – LOL. Congrats on also being able to grab that elusive personalized FB page domain because of all your fans, too!
ahh… we’re just getting started! 😉
Good luck with the Facebook page Dustin. I will follow with interest. I am on record as saying that I don’t believe Twitter and Facebook are the best marketing venues for Realtors. However, you are blogging and that’s a good compliment to Facebook and Twitter marketing.
It’s interesting that your forward your web address to your Facebook profile. I’m curious as to your reasons.
Hi Jay,
I agree that twitter and facebook is a bad use of most realtors’ time, but only because they often do a horrible job using it as a marketing tool. Ditto for blogging, though. When done right, there’s no better way to reach a niche audience than with social media… and it’s often the niche audiences that provide the best referrals for most professionals (both online and offline!).
In terms of forwarding dustinluther.com to my facebook page, it’s simply so that I can link to it easily from sites like twitter. Recently (like this weekend), Facebook let me get a “vanity” url for my fan page so I can now link to my page via: http://facebook.com/dustinluther but before that I had to use a long URL with a string of numbers in it. Not very easy to share (or remember!).
You absolutely spot on Dustin…being recommended to your friends fans is HUGE!!! You certainly have inspired me to get our team moving on our FB page.Its all about that value proposition -you so rightly mention – in this regard, look out for our video creation engine for individuals and small business to create video online for their real estate business in minutes and automatically syndicate to facebook pages!
When you get the Facebook Page built, let me know. I”m always curious to see how different people use the tool to market their biz.
Sure thing! I`m curious to know how you would rank your top 3 fb functionalities? Those providing you the most traction on your profile pages right now!
great question… but not sure I have a “top 3″… Nonetheless here are some of the things that come to mind:
There’s a bit more to the magic… and like any other bit of online marketing, the more value you are willing to offer people, the easier it will be to attract attention. 🙂
The comments are messy. It took me two tries to get to this box.
The time element to stay up on social media is a problem. So far my return on that investment of time is limited.
Let’s see if this works.
Thanks again.
I was thinking more in terms of actual functionalities being provided by FB & through third party developers. You did mention the static FBML app which is no doubt useful! Nonetheless nice post… the value is undeniable!
What is your take on highlights and recommendations does one have any influence or is this appearing pretty randomly? I would think when it came to newsfeeds this is influenced by the frequency of posts very much on twitter lines…???
yeah… there’s just not too many apps that do much for a facebook page. The real benefits come from regular and engaging updates.
Highlights and recommendations aren’t really random. From what I can tell, it’s almost entirely based on what you’re friends are engaging with (i.e. “liking” and/or commenting on). That’s part of the reason that engaging content is so key. If you can get people to engage with your stuff, you can end up in front of their friends.
I was thinking more in terms of actual functionalities being provided by FB & through third party developers. You did mention the static FBML app which is no doubt useful! Nonetheless nice post… the value is undeniable!
What is your take on highlights and recommendations does one have any influence or is this appearing pretty randomly? I would think when it came to newsfeeds this is influenced by the frequency of posts very much on twitter lines…???
Dustin, I’m excited to see how the RCG FB page evolves and the new RCG Twitter. I’m surprised about your comment regarding traffic:
“Traffic: at this point traffic from
social media feeds (like twitter’s
stream and Facebook’s newsfeeds) are
generating more traffic than RSS feeds
for almost every website I run.”
Here again, I think that web 2.0 social media sites are the future. Always updated, always blending “personal” and “business” together, ever changing. For me, I’ll have to agree that I like FB better than what Twitter provides. Twitter is quicker, sure, but I’ve formed better relationships and ‘readers’ on FB.
Thanks for the article.
Dustin, let’s say you’re on a desert island, and you can only have one or ther other: twitter or facebook… which would you select and why? 🙂
hmm… With Facebook, I get more family and close friends who are most likely to help get me off the island, but with Twitter, there’s some nice mobile apps that would let folks know my exact GPS. 🙂
Too funny! Have you checked out Ning? (sorry…kind of off topic).
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! 🙂
Thank you much 😉
I have checked Ning out… but from a marketing point of view, it’s not much different than trying to build up a community with a blog. The hardest part of community building online is getting in front of people who “might” be interested in taking part and with Ning, you’re pretty much left to do all the marketing yourself (just as I was when I started RCG). The beauty of FB communities (like the RCG Page I started the other day), is that it lets you tap into a community of people where they already are, so it’s a lot easier to get traction.
Just logged in using Facebook. It shows my correct avatar in the sidebar. Seeing if that carries for a comment.
yeah… the problem is that the “system” just created a “new” account for you that’s not connected to your original RCG account… I still haven’t figured out how to delete the connection you made between your RCG account and Kim’s FB profile. But at a minimum, I know I’ll have to delete the one you just created (no use have two ardell profiles in the backend of RCG), so I don’t recommend leaving comments when connected to this account.
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