How long have you been using Facebook for your business?  How has it made a difference for you?   Why did you start using Facebook?

When I started Facebook I came in “kicking and screaming’  However,  I knew I needed to be there as I was in the internet marketing world and the gurus all said that those of us who love what we do… need to be using social media. They said we could create a brand and presense without a website.

The first year I did an experiment with my main Facebook business page. I wanted to see if this was really true. Could I really “get out there” with only a Facebook page?  Much to my surprise I found that they were right!  In less then a year, we achieved international recognition through that business page with only social media, especially Facebook.  What an eye opener that was. (Now, I have added a website to the mix)

Have you had any “ah ha” moments while using Facebook?  How has marketing on Facebook made a difference in your business?     

Well i have been running our facebook for around a year now, but it has been around a little longer just sitting full or spam with not many likes before is started.

We now get around 2000 visits to our site per day from facebook, it will probaly be a lot higher but these are just the hits we can track.

For the amount of fans we have this is not amazing but at the end of the day it is free advertising and i see it more as a customer service tool than hit generator

@pacey   WOW!  2000 visits to your day from Facebook traffic.  Now that is impressive.  Would you mind sharing your Facebook page so we can look at it? 

I like how the people we find on Facebook can be so targeted.  It makes it so much easier for us to focus on who needs us.

I also liked how you are using your pages for customer service.  People seem to really like how accessible we have become through Facebook. 

What advice would you give to somebody who would like to get those 2000 visits a day from Facebook.  What did you do to get those results?

@randithompson i should also really learn to use the @ function on here lol

It has been 6 months and it grew significantly considering I am the “one man show” in Social Media and Communication in a Company of 200 employees and that our topics are Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (so not that much fun like talking about … a new pair of shoes!).I am trying my best to boost feedback, likes, followers, interaction … hope to be of some help here but more than anything to find ideas, suggestions and that lift to elevation.

@russellallert  Hi Russell.  Loved your blog!  There was so much heart and soul in what you wrote. Thank you for sharing it.  Would you also like to share your Facebook page here so we can check it out?  (I know, we could go to your profile, but this is easier and also gives you a little extra Google link juice….

We have some amazing people here.  I am enjoying reading what you have all been, and are doing with social media. 

The company I was with between 2008 and 2011 started it facebook page in October 2009 and today has close to 11,000 very engaged fans. We ran an analysis to see what topics were discussed between September 1, 2010, and August 31, 2011. If memory serves me right, there were more than 12,000 comments made during that time, about 54% were customer service related, 24% were related to marketing (promotions, discounts & offers), and the balance was a mix bag related to the company: PR, other services, etc.

My a-ha moments? There were a few, but I’d say:
- observing how much traffic was coming from facebook to our web site;
- observing the shift, within two years, in customer service touch point from on-site or email to directly on facebook, in almost-real-time;
- having an engaged fan base that would react like crazy once we’d post a picture, or video, or contest.

Last but not least: once you unleash the beast, you gotta keep on feeding it…
(In other words, it’s great to have a facebook brand page, but if you do get the follower base, you have to live up to it afterwards)

francesca @floridallergy Hi, Welcome to the world of social media!   I have a feeling you are going to like it here. What is your Facebook page? 

There are some amazing people here.  We can all learn from each other.  Together, we do make a difference. 

@fredericgonzalo  Hi, Frederic.  You have been doing this a long time (in social media worlds)  Enjoyed reading your Ah hah moments.   They are so true!   My biggest ah ha was finding that I could spend 20 hours on an article and when I post it,  there is a little bit of sharing and comments.  I can share a photo with a quote that takes me 4 mins to find, and it goes viral like crazy!   What an interesting world we are playing in.

And what you said here is so very true.  “once you unleash the beast, you gotta keep on feeding it…
(In other words, it’s great to have a facebook brand page, but if you do get the follower base, you have to live up to it afterwards)

I find that if I leave for a few days that my numbers go down very quickly. This even happens if I have somebody “watch” my page for me.  The fans know the difference.  I started by posting once a day, and am now up to at least 3 a day and even more on the weekends.   What have you be finding on your page?  How many times are you posting?  Have you noticed a difference in how your fans respond with more or less comments?

@randithompson Loved your comment about “working 20 hours on a post vs. 4 minutes” and the reactions you get. Frustrating, at times. But it’s all part of the learning process, I guess.

With regards to FB page, yes, we did various trials & errors, and we found that posting daily was a minimum to keep fan base engaged. But because it was a seasonal service – a ski resort – it was more quiet in the summer time, with 2-3 posts per week, showing “getting ready for next season” type of content, photos and links. In the winter time, specially before or during a snow storm, we could be posting several times per day.

Experience showed, though, that as excited as we were with the snow, it’s dangerous to send too many posts, pictures and links to weather channels. You have a die-hard base of fans who want to know, but if they represent 1% of your base, you have to be careful not to ‘”spam” the other 99%. There’s a fine line to thread with engaged fans, die-hard fans and the observers, which are all important in their own way.

@randithompson @jacobsenandco

Thanks so much for the kind words! This is becoming a really cool place to hang out and have some interesting conversations, not to mention helping others.

2012 is going to rock!

Russell Allert

@pacey  Ian,  Thank you for those horse games. You really do have a big selection.  I have been wanting to add a game to my page and will add one of yours to my tabs. 

I agree with you as to honoring the comments that people make on our comments.  I see so many people who are ignoring this valuable resource!   Like you, I make sure to comment on every post that is made on my page.  My goal is to get them to interact more with me, and the community. As you have found, it works!   I will tag their business pages in that response and usually do it so that the thumbnail drops down. I like to promote my fans and their businesses and do this as often as I can.

To do this (for those who do not know) add the full URL (as in http://www.yoururl.com)  at the very end of your comments. (this only works on the comments that come after the original one)  

Have you noticed an increase in the amount of people who are adding “games” to their websites and social media pages?

@randithompson We had a marketing specialist who was very interested in web design and social media, so he started the FB page and managed it until it became bigger than we had foreseen (this was late 2009, early 2010). His position was then transformed into web master & community manager. I helped out as co-admin for the FB page, and I managed the corporate handle on twitter. As things grew, we hired a communications director, she also became co-admin FB, and helped with the twitter handle…

As you can see, it was a work-in-progress. Having left that company since (Nov 2011), I learned a great deal in how to build a social media team, but reality is, I find this task should not be under one department only. It should be owned company-wide, but perhaps under an umbrella of multi-department team representatives.

For SMBs though, it’s a tougher act. Most likely, the owner and marketing persone have to be hands-on and manage accounts, with lots of self-discipline by setting specific times per day, or else you just lose too much time…

@fredericgonzalo  Frederic,  That is very interesting.  Those must be bigger companies as most small business owners could not hire a specialist to handle their social media.   It is much more hands on for us, and more personal for those who love what they do for business. I agree that we need to set up routines where ever we are sharing our comments.  Do you have any advice that small business owners could learn from?

@randithompson Sure! For SMBs, the person who handles social media (owner, marketing person or other), should set specific times aside to monitor and interact on social media platforms, according to the strategy you have put in place.

If Facebook is central to that strategy, you can probably make it under one hour per day. For example, Monitor first thing in the morning (8am) to see if comments, likes or pictures & videos were uploaded to your FB wall. 10-15 minutes.
Post according to your editorial calendar, if you have one (you should): contest, question to fans, simple quote of the day, video of the day, etc.

You can come back around lunch time to monitor, respond to questions and comments. 15-30 minutes

In the afternoon and/or in the evening, set aside another 15-20 minutes to monitor, respond, etc. Combining the three time periods, you dedicated roughly one hour to your Facebook page, which has become a customer service channel, a lead generation potential (for cross-selling or up-selling, by responding to questions) as well as an engagement tool with your customer base.

Obviously, you can mix & match this scenario, adapt it to your reality, business and industry, but you see the point. Social media doesn’t have to be time consuming – it shouldn’t be – if you have self-discipline. Easier said than done, I know

Cheers,

@abigailgorton such great success with Facebook.  I love to see the success stories so I can share with my clients.  I get asked all the time, will this Facebook stuff really work.