Facebook: building a 2000+ Facebook: building a 2000+ following.following.

Emma FoxEmma FoxCareers & Employability ServiceCareers & Employability Service

University of LiverpoolUniversity of Liverpool

Why facebook?Why facebook?

• Back in 2009 we noticed that almost every student working on computers in libraries and teaching centres was also looking at their facebook page.

• We realised that we could be missing out on a new method of cost free communication with our students and graduates, so.........

We set up our Facebook page...We set up our Facebook page...

How did we do this?How did we do this?

Select ‘Create a Page’ form the facebook login screen.

You are then taken through a few simple steps to set up your page.

Tips and hints for a successful

facebook page

Keeping fans engaged...Keeping fans engaged...

We use the status updater to inform students of:

• Vacancies with immediate closing dates.• New books/magazines/directories in our library.• The services we offer.• Changes to employment law.• Initiatives to help graduates in a gloomy economic

climate.• Details of student/graduate career related competitions.• Links to websites that may be of interest to students.

Rules of EngagementRules of Engagement

• Discover all relevant communities of interest and observe the choices, challenges, impressions and wants of the people within each network.

• Don’t just participate solely in your own domains (use other facebook fan pages, twitter conversations related to your brand/service, etc).

• Observe the behavioural cultures within each network and adjust your outreach accordingly.

• Don’t speak at audiences through generic messages. Introduce value, insight and direction with each engagement.

• Give back, reciprocate and recognise notable contributions from participants in your communities.

PostingPostingKeep your posts short and sharp. Your fans will not want their

newsfeed filled up by posts that are not relevant to them. Use web links for further information rather than typing a lot

of text.

Try to limit posting to no more than 4 per day. Serial posting can loose you fans.

PostingPosting

• Consider if you are going to allow your fans to post directly onto your wall. (This can be changed in the settings page.)

• At UoL, we do not allow direct posting to our wall as we prefer to vet posts for relevance and to ensure anything on our page is in line with the Universities policies and procedures.

Managing postingManaging posting

• Set up a facebook post spreadsheet on a central drive.

• Ask colleagues to contribute posts to the spreadsheet.

• If your facebook manager is out of the office, the spreadsheet allows others to access the scheduled posts and ensure they are uploaded.

Facebook spreadsheetFacebook spreadsheet

PhotosPhotos

• Add pictures, people like to see who they are dealing with.

• We have an album called ‘Who we are and what we do’ which holds pictures of staff and a description of what they do. The album gets lots of views.

• Can negate nervousness for students.

PhotosPhotos

EventsEvents

• If you often hold events, add the details to the events tab and invite your fans.

• If a fan confirms that they are coming to your event, this will appear in their newsfeed thus widening your audience. You may find that friends of your fans also become fans of your page through this method.

EventsEvents

ChatChat

• Avoid chat, it can be a can of worms if you do not have a set strategy and enough people to manage it.

• Chat can be useful for ‘one off’ things but if you are thinking of having a chat forum at a set time each week then you will need to set some clear rules for yourself and your chatters.

Podcasts & VideosPodcasts & Videos

• Podcasts and videos are useful for facebook. • If you have a lot of information to get across, record it in a

podcast or video.• Fans prefer podcasts and videos to large amounts of text.

How to get fans...How to get fans...Select ‘Invite Email Contacts’ from the

Build Audience drop down menu.

You can then upload an excel spreadsheet

containing your target email addresses. Once you have uploaded your list of email addresses, facebook

will send an individual email to each member

asking them to join your page.

Facebook advertising...Facebook advertising...

• Facebook offers the opportunity to access paid advertising at a charge. You can create Facebook Ads or Sponsored Stories by visiting www.facebook.com/ads/create. It’s cheap and reasonably effective.

• Start by choosing whether you want to promote your Page, event, app or a website outside of Facebook. Next, decide what activity you want to showcase in your ad or sponsored story.

• For example, if you decide to promote your Page, you can choose:– A new ad about your Page– A post on your Page– When people like your Page– When people like your Page post

• It is possible to set a daily price limit to your advertising, for example,

Target the right people...Target the right people...

• Think about the profiles (timelines) of the people you want to reach with your ads, and select criteria based on what your audience is interested in, instead of what they might be looking to buy.

• You can target by:– Location, Language, Education, and Work– Age, Gender, Birthday, and Relationship Status– Likes & Interests: Select Likes & Interests such as "camping",

"hiking", or "backpacking" instead of "tents" or "campers"– Friends of Connections – Connections

Design an engaging adDesign an engaging ad

• Create multiple versions of your ads with different images and body copy to find out which combinations are most effective.

• Here are some tips for creating effective ads:– Include your business or Page name, a question, or key

information in the title– Provide a clear action to take in the body copy, and highlight

the benefits– Use a simple, eye-catching image that is related to your body

copy and title– Target different audiences to determine which groups are most

responsive to your ads

Manage your budget...Manage your budget...

• Set a budget that will allow you to effectively reach your target audience, and check your campaign performance often.

• CPC vs CPM : Determine if you want to pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis.

• Daily Budget: Set the maximum amount you want to pay each day - once you hit your daily budget your ad will no longer show.

• Bid Price: Bid prices fluctuate often. Set a bid within or above the suggested range, and check your Ads Manager often to update it when the suggested range changes.

CPC vs CPMCPC vs CPM

• CPC: Cost per click. The most obvious reason for selecting a CPC bid is that you are only charged when people click on your ads. This means that in theory, you could get thousands of “free impressions”. The reality is that these “free impressions” aren’t really worth that much to you (yes, this is debatable). As advertisers, you want to pay for ads that generate results.

• CPM: Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is the cost per 1000 times your ad or sponsored story is displayed.

Statistics (Insights)Statistics (Insights)

• The best way to get your audience to engage with your content and share it with friends is to understand what the people you’re reaching care about. Page Insights gives you the data you need to gather these consumer insights.

With Page Insights, you can:– Assess the performance of your Page.– Learn which content resonates with your audience.– Optimize how you publish to your audience so that people will tell their friends about

you.

• For example, you can look at each of your posts and see the ones that are getting the most views. Post more of this type of content if you want to increase the number of people talking about you.

Statistics (Insights)Statistics (Insights)Four metrics at the top of your Insights tab allow you to

quickly assess the size and engagement of your audience.

Statistics (Insights)Statistics (Insights)

Total Likes: The number of unique people who like your Page as of the last day of your selected date range.

Friends of Fans: The number of unique people who are friends with your fans as of the last day of your selected date range, including your current fans.

Talking About This: The number of unique people who have created a story about your Page during your selected date range. A story is created when someone:

-Likes your Page-Likes, comments on, or shares your Page post-Answers a question you've asked-Responds to your event-Mentions your Page-Tags your Page in a photo-Checks into or recommends your Place

Total Reach: The number of unique people who have seen any content associated with your Page (including any Ads or Sponsored Stories pointing to your Page) during your selected date range.

Exporting this data...Exporting this data...

• You can access your Insights data through the dashboard, or export it using the ‘Export’ button in the top right corner.

• If you decide to export it, a dialog box will allow you to specify:– The date range for which you want to get data.– Whether you would like to get the data as an Excel file or as a CSV

(comma separated values) file.– Whether you want to see data at the Page level, or for each

individual Page post.

Further statistical information...Further statistical information...

• The statistical information available through ‘Insights’ is quite limited. You'll only see the number of monthly active users, daily new likes, daily post views and daily post feedback.

• By adding Google Analytics to your Page, you can significantly improve this data set. With Google Analytics, you get a far more comprehensive information snapshot, which includes graphs, maps and specific numbers. It also provides information on the number of visits, page views, pages visited, bounce rate, average time on site, new visits and location of visitors.

• Armed with this information, you can them optimize and market on the tabs that are getting the most visits and traffic.

(Information on how to install Google Analytics to your Page can be viewed here.)

And finally.....And finally.....

• Remember:– Publish interesting and relevant stories.– Interact with fan engagement. – Update regularly.– Use links to external sites, videos and podcasts.– Keep a spreadsheet of scheduled posts. – Ensure at least two people have access to and knowledge of the page.– Upload photos and events. – Do a call to action: Prompt people to like or comment on your post.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY.....

– Make it fun: Remember that Facebook is a social community where people come to, primarily, to have fun. To this end, find a way of making your page fun while still staying true to your brand/product/service.