In a recent analysis of social media use by large and small corporations across several sectors we found that less than twenty percent have buttons showing where else they have content. And many of them don’t carry a consistent branding and message through their blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.
If you are not yet vigorously active on Facebook, take another look at what they are up to: depending on whose stats you believe Facebook is either right behind Google nipping at its heels or has already surpassed them in terms of traffic.
And according to WSJ.com they are about to take another leap forward. Their new ‘Like’ button is already appearing on sites like Scribd.com. The idea is that other sites will include this button that users can click on to signal their interest in a piece of content and that approval shows up on his or her Facebook page, with a link back to the site. No wonder sites eager for more traffic and better search visibility are rushing to display the button. More than 70 partners have signed up to embed “Like” buttons or other customization widgets on their sites, including ticketing site Fandango.com and CNN.com.
“Facebook is growing up fast and Google had better be on its toes,” says Paul Gillin in his latest newsletter. “Services that choose to partner with Facebook will benefit from immediately adding content from Facebook’s 400 million-plus members with minimal effort. They’ll also enjoy easier cross-enrollment with the social network.”
Since Facebook is getting so many visitors and driving so much traffic back and forth to websites, it’s time to take another look at your Facebook page. What experience are you offering once people get to your page? Why should they become a fan?
Simply putting up a page and not ‘pimping’ it as much as you can means you are leaving opportunities on the table. With the new features available, you can have a robust presence that cross-pollinates with your other online content. The Social Media Examiner page is a great example.
Engage
The point of social media is to build relationships and have conversations. You can’t do that unless you engage with your followers and fans. It’s obvious why an individual would want to do this, but why should a business or an organization do it? More than half of Facebook fans said they are more likely to make a purchase from a brand they follow and 67% of Twitter followers reported the same.
Social Media Audit
If you feel that your social media efforts are not producing stellar results analyze the activity on your social sites. Just pushing content out is not the way to go. Duplicating that content across all platforms with no human interaction won’t get you the results you are after. At the Society for New Communication Research Fellows’ meeting at the NewComm Forum this week there was much discussion on this subject. Every company has to be a publisher today in addition to their core business. And if you are not doing this and getting great results perhaps your staff needs more social media training in how to blog and tweet more effectively and make the most of Facebook, LinkedIn and sites like StumbleUpon and Digg.
