Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social networking site that enables friends, family and groups from around the globe to connect with each other in a way that has changed the manner in which we communicate. Besides personal communication, Facebook is also changing the way businesses communicate with and market to their target audience.
Large and growing portions of some of the most valuable demographics are spending more of their time and attention on Facebook and less on other media. Not only are U.S. college students and teenagers fully engaged in Facebook, but adults, professionals and people from around the world now make up a substantial portion of the Facebook user base as well. Here are some quick facts, according to Facebook user data:
• More than 200 million active users
• More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
• More than two-thirds of Facebook users are out of college
• The fastest-growing age demographic is 35 plus
Facebook offers a wide array of creative tactics to reach your customers and members, as well as potential customers and members. The best part about these tactics is their cost: free.
Profile(ing)
A profile page is the starting point for any bank or credit union new to Facebook. This is the first opportunity for you to introduce, describe and promote your financial institution. It is imperative to take advantage of the Personal Info, Work Info and Photos sections to tell your story. By connecting to partners, customers, associates and friends on Facebook, you will bring traffic to your profile page.
The Group’s All Here
Groups are the easiest way to build a community around your financial institution on Facebook. By creating a group, you make a central spot for customers or members, partners and friends to share in your brand. You can post discussion topics, photos, videos and links, plus send news and updates to your group members as often as you like – messages arrive in their Facebook Inbox. Once members have joined your group, it is easy for them to invite their friends to join the group. If your members and customers are excited about your group, it can grow quickly.
Page(ing) All Fans
Pages are a way for financial institutions to establish a brand presence on Facebook. Pages are a lot like groups, with some important differences:
• Pages are more customizable than groups.
• Pages get a more prominent presence on your fans’ profile pages.
• There is no message limit.
• Fans who join your group can invite their friends to be fans of your Page.
• You can export breakdowns by fan age and gender into an Excel file.
The Main Event
When you create an event, it gets its own page that includes a wall, discussion, photos, videos and links. You can send evites to the event; the people you invite will receive a special notification requesting their response. You can also add administrators to the event, who can invite all their contacts. Facebook Events makes it easy to get the word out to hundreds of people, manage your guest list and build community around your upcoming event.
The Need For Feed
Marketing on Facebook is really all about the News Feed and Mini Feed. The News Feed appears when a person logs in to their Facebook account. This updates the user on what his or her friends or groups have recently posted. The Mini Feed appears on a person’s profile page. Visitors to the page can view updates on individuals or what your organization has been doing throughout the community. These tools give your bank or credit union’s marketing the most reach.
When Facebook users join your group, RSVP to your event, become fans of your page, share your photos or further come into contact with your brand, Facebook automatically adds a feed item to their Mini Feed. That feed item exists for all to see, and is often in a prominent location on Facebook profile pages.
The News Feed has revolutionized the way information is shared between friends on Facebook. This can mean great things for your campaign and your brand. Getting prominence in Facebook users’ News Feeds allows your brand to spread more rapidly and powerfully than has ever before been possible on the social Web.
Getting started
Facebook is free service but like anything worth doing it takes contact attention to ensure you are correctly managing your site. Find someone within your bank or credit union that is already an active user on the site. You will most likely find one of your younger employees that is willing to take on the task of managing the site. Be sure to map out a strategy, assign people that will be responsible for approving content before posting and make sure that you are watching your site for any information that may be harmful to your brand. Be sure to start slow and build your strategy as you start to understand the power of social media.
Utilizing these five tools will give your financial institution a great start to having a Facebook presence. Once you’ve mastered these concepts, your bank or credit union will be prepared for the next generation of social media.
