Four million South Africans are spending an average of 27 minutes a day on Facebook. Brands have cottoned on to this as a fantastic marketing channel, and some are using it really effectively to interact with customers.
Done properly, Facebook can put a company on people's radars, widen its audience, build loyalty, give the company valuable customer insights, increase sales, generate goodwill, give it more mileage for its marketing, and much more.
Done wrong, it can damage the company's brand, be a PR disaster, annoy the audience, and drain resources.
Just because all the cool kids have Facebook brand pages, it doesn't mean your company should too. When considering putting a company on Facebook, think through these key questions first:
For the fans
1. Why do you want to be on Facebook? What do you want it to achieve for your business? The most common answer to this is 'we want lots of fans' - but companies are stumped when asked why they want those fans, and what they are going to do with and for them once they have them.
2. What does your audience want from your Facebook page? Chances are what you think they want and what they really want will differ. Don't hypothesise. If you don't know, ask: conduct a survey.
What's in it for me?
Think about how you use Facebook. (If you're not using it, don't even think of putting your business on there - you need to know how the site works first.) How many brands do you follow? Why do you follow them? Have you ever 'unfollowed' a brand? Why? The way you use Facebook and the brand messages you like and dislike are likely going to apply to your customers too.
Are you fishing where the fish are?
Jo Duxbury is the founder of strategy agency Peppermint Source.
Would you follow your company on Facebook? What sort of information would you want? Is it the sort of content you want popping up between your friends' holiday photos and status updates - or would you really prefer to get an e-mail newsletter?
Research has shown the main reason people follow brands on social media is that they want to get something out of it. Competition prizes, coupons, discounts, rewards. What can you offer? If a customer asked you 'what's in it for me?' what would your answer be, and how compelling is it?
People are on Facebook for fun and entertainment. It's a social network, not a corporate one. How will your page entertain and reward your audience?
Before jumping in
Okay, so assuming you can offer rewards and have interesting things to talk about, there are still some important things to think about before launching your company's Facebook page:
1. Are you fishing where the fish are? Is your audience actually on Facebook? If your customers are other businesses, stop right now and go focus on B2B marketing or LinkedIn instead. If you target CIOs and CTOs, don't think, 'Well they are on Facebook in their personal capacity.' Firstly, they are very unlikely to be in work mode when on Facebook, and secondly, you could do much better targeting them in more direct ways.
2. Do you know what you're getting into? Do you understand the platform, or do you have the budget to hire someone who does? A good Facebook page requires planning, resources (people and cash) and expertise. You will damage your brand and waste time and money if you do it wrong or half-heartedly.
3. Do you have a sustainable strategy? How is your page going to help you achieve your business objectives? And once your page has launched, what are you going to put on it? Your content needs to be regular, good quality, engaging and on brand. Invest in content strategy. Facebook is about building relationships, so please, please don't just use it to run iPad competitions and go quiet between them. Facebook is a commitment to your customers.
4. Facebook is not free. Sure, you can set up a page in seconds and it won't cost you a thing. But a good Facebook page requires strategy, content, design and development. This doesn't just happen - it's either going to be someone's job, or you're going to have to outsource it. And you're probably going to need some advertising to get people to your page in the first place. Whichever way you look at it, it's going to cost you to do it properly. Is the ROI going to be worth it?
5. Are you prepared to be in the firing line? Put your brand on social media and you are inviting feedback from your customers. You'll likely get many compliments (they're not called Facebook 'fans' for nothing), but you're also opening yourself up for criticism and complaints. Are you prepared to handle this? How will you field customer service enquiries on your page? You can't just delete the negative messages or disable your wall - social media is about conversation, not censorship.
Lastly, beware of agencies that promise to get you 'x' number of fans on your page, or that can set up your page for peanuts. You get what you pay for. And nobody can guarantee fan numbers.
It's not all doom and gloom though - Facebook can be a wonderfully effective marketing tool. Just make sure you know how deep the water is before you dive in.
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