Facebook is a personal social network, it’s where friends and family stay in touch, connect, update each other, etc. It was never made for business (until not long ago). However many marketers and brands treat it as another advertising medium to promote their product. Ssssstoopp it..
Let us start with one of the most controversial:1. Put a face on Facebook. Not all brands want to put their face on their business page or even on any social networks. But it is said that the Best way to be “human” is to have a human face on it. People want to talk to people, not to an avatar or a logo, and I believe that there are several ways that you can do it.
- Create an alternative Facebook page to respond. You can create an alternative Facebook page dedicated for support or responding to enquiries. Sort of like an alternative Twitter account with a face on it. I wouldn’t go with a personal Facebook account since it would be a question of who owns the account later on. However, an alternative Facebook page with a person’s photo, person’s name, and the company name can help.
- If your company doesn’t allow a photo, then alternatively what you can do is create an alternative Facebook page to respond, use a logo as an avatar. However when people go to the alternative Facebook page, they will be able to get a full banner and photo of the person behind it.
- If your company doesn’t want a photo or a name, then last resort would be a dedicated page with a company logo, YOUR NAME + company name:
Eg: From ShoeDazzle, they have a couple of people such as Natalie Dazzle, Jane Dazzle:
2. Facebook posts: I won’t go much into the details about this, but here are some ways that you can make your page more humanized. Posts should be:
- Engaging
- Worth sharing
- Include photos: Stands out on Facebook rather than just boring text
- Questions
- Tips
- Pick one question: Eg: Shoes vs Heels
- Fill up the blanks questions: First thing I do when I wake up is ___________
- Videos
3. Develop a personality or a voice: Sounds easy but often times it is the hardest and takes time. A voice or personality brings a whole new level of engagement. Don’t be a ROBOT. If people want to talk to a robot, they’ll use SIRI.
Tip: Write the way you speak!
4. Don’t bore everyone about your products daily! Sure, brand awareness or product awareness is something that you want to achieve on Facebook, but posting them daily will bore your fans. Remind yourself that It IS about your fans, not your products. Make it about them and the rewards are two-fold.
5. Reward fans: Fans love to help a brand that they love. You can reward your fans by:
- Doing a fan of the week where you have photos of fans on your banner.
- Use applications such as booshaka that allows you to see who the top fans are. This shows how well fans are doing and they will compete among themselves. At the end of the week/month, you can reward them.
6. Post “behind the scenes”: This allows people to see what goes behind a brand. People will feel they know a brand or feel a personal connection when they see what happens behind a Facebook page. Here is a great example by Zappos. They shared a photo of one of their employees, Tony Hsieh, making pizza in Las Vegas. Zappos is a great brand that we can learn from.
7. Respond: Most important of all… respond to every enquiries if possible. If you can’t respond to all them, then have a number that they can call and get help right away. Some tips that I’ve learned is always make it easy for customers to reach you. I’ve seen people going to a company’s profile page, posting an inquiry only to get another email to email the question to someone else without getting a reply. This happens most probably due to companies outsourcing their voice and the person behind it is following a script. A great respond doesn’t follow a script.
In summary, do something that represents your company and culture well. Some things might not work for your brand. Do what feels comfortable. Anyway, I hope I have covered most of them, if I miss any, do share by leaving a comment below.
Note: This post was also published at iStrategy Conference blog where I contribute on a weekly basis
shinytoyrobots says
Sensible options. I think they are part of an overall ethos towards Facebook (and social media) that many brands overlook. Social media is *not* a broadcast medium, it’s about engagement and conversation. Brands lose a huge amount of benefit if they simply use social media outlets to talk *at* consumers.
shinytoyrobots says
Sensible options. I think they are part of an overall ethos towards Facebook (and social media) that many brands overlook. Social media is *not* a broadcast medium, it’s about engagement and conversation. Brands lose a huge amount of benefit if they simply use social media outlets to talk *at* consumers.
NigelOhrum says
Great information Aaron. I really love the “behind the scenes” idea. Everyone wants to see what’s there. Why not and it adds a well received personal touch.
EricAnthonyJohnson says
Great post Aaron! I really liked what you said about not boring my fans and customers with repetitive product posts.. You are right when you say it has to be about the fans.
Thanks again
Eric.
ChristinaReed1 says
Great post as usual Aaron! My brand involves a fictional character that’s recognized by locals. My vision always entailed; look at that, as opposed to, look at me, so I have yet to add a photo of myself to the fan page. However, your advice is usually dead on accurate, so I’ll definitely consider a new approach! (I’m always going against the grain aren’t I). Thanks again for the advice!
Ayla85 says
Thank’s for share.out with us the idea’s regardless with the multiple purposed bringing on by Facebook.
MarianneRich says
This is really helpful to me…Thank you for letting us know about this too…
lauraleewalker says
This strategy looks like a great way to humanize an organization. It encourages people to pull down the corporate veil to reveal the soft underbelly of human nature, which is to create meaning, share and connect. Great post!
AskAaronLee says
@MarianneRich My pleasure 😀
AskAaronLee says
@lauraleewalker thanks Laura! Indeed! hoping more brands would focus to humanize their organizations. Will cover some case studies in the future 😀
AskAaronLee says
@Ayla85 My pleasure Cheers!
SpanglishWebs says
This is great – seems so simple, but I never thought to put a photo up to show work behind the scene – great way to engage people. Thanks for this.
http://www.spanglishwebs.com/
mollymarketing says
its so interesting how brands just get onto facebook bc they think they need to and they don’t do their research! facebook should tutor brands into making effective pages bc brand pages that dont follow tips like you mentioned are most likely hurting the brand and not helping.
Ciara_Fitzpatrcik says
Really interesting post, I think it’s fascinating how customer service seems to be moving towards these social media sites, good to see brands being innovative enough to recognise this.
ambreen11 says
Great post on humanize brand on facebook. Humanizing your brand can make it an attractive place to work. By putting faces behind the brand you can establish personal connections with viewers.