7 Ways to Better Apprehend Facebook and Social Media

Not only! Even for Social Media itself, rules keep evolving without pause. What we learned last year, lives no more. This is how fast Social Media is moving right now, especially Facebook, whose recent multi-billion IPO will definitely boost development and evolution of the its Social Platform. We should, by the same time, see other SNS follow the pace. But first let’s see how we will make Facebook work for us in 2012. Getting to know the SNS juggernaut will definitely help at handling marketing on SEO Master panel, in a more down-to-earth way.

Here is my vision in seven points:

1. Don’t put all your eggs in the Facebook Basket… At least not for now. Facebook is an efficient SNS, with a one-stop shop like platform for Marketing professionals, who look for easily “targetable” masses and real time stats. But up to now, studies have shown, especially the one by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, that only 1% of Facebook page fans really engage with Brands. This doesn’t mean that Facebook is an ineffective medium, it just suggests that before using Facebook as a marketing arm, one should know what an SNS can do and what it can’t.

With almost 1 billion FB users all round the world, reaching 1% would be some great achievement and in micro-market Mauritius, reaching and engaging 1% of local FB 300 000-user base straight through Facebook would simply be phenomenal.

2. Don’t forget: A “Like” is no sale promise — Liking on Facebook is nothing but saying “Thumbs up” for a product, post or comment. You will need to work hard over the extra mile to get a first penny from a “Like”. A Like is not a vote, or commercial engagement. You will need to go real social and diplomatic to win that extra something that turns a somebody into a respectable and happy client. This rule for Social Media Marketing will never change. Remember that!

Futhermore, with Facebook’s removing the Like barrier for people to interact with Fan Pages, it has become more than obvious that more homework is to be done on how to build a stronger and more interactive Fan base.

3. Don’t Panic… Adjust to Timeline. It’s gonna be awesome — Still not at ease with the split page and the big cover page? This is normal, but it allows your friends to see who you are, at a single glance. Everything is there, on a single page, with a 851 px cover to depict your awesome profile.

Now, imagine doing same with your Brand, product or service. A real big cover, a sticky post for your running star-communiques. It will be all about visibility for peeps that spend an average 55 minutes a day on Facebook. Can you imagine of your Shop Window or your Billboard pane in the actual FB page format?

The following amazing updates will come with new Timeline for Pages: • A larger Canvas 810px against old 520px (an almost stunning 56% surface area gain)

• Everything of interest goes intuitively at the top, just under the cover page. Photos, Apps, Likes and no more on the clumsy left side.

• Pinning a particular announcement for 7 days at the top is now possible: just click on the star to make it wider, or on the pencil to pin it to the top of your Page, hide or delete it.

• Privately Messaging a Fan Page will be possible. That function was missing and finally they came up with it, helping for better interaction.

• New Admin Panel and Controls will be available in the trail of the new Timeline setup to guarantee close-to-realtime stats and better Fan Page monitoring.

4. Do not flee Negative Comments and Posts, just turn them to your advantage — The reason behind a Marketeer’s reluctance at using Facebook as a Power-tool, is the fear of Negative Comments: “OMG, What if we ever had Negative comments! We would damage our brand forever!”