Improving a Facebook page with story, community, and urgency

Our Facebook page can be better. I’m not completely embarrassed by it, but I am certainly not proud of it. And that’s OK. From The Personal MBA:

“If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late. — REID HOFFMAN, FOUNDER

Kaufman, Josh (2010–12–30). The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business (p. 81). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.”

So, I reached out to Barney Yau for some feedback. He broke down what we lacked into three categories: story, community, and urgency.

Truth produces the best story

As I mentioned yesterday, some of my favorite stories are those that are deeply rooted in truth. Michael Crichton, one of my favorite sci-fi writers of all time, really dug into research to bring his stories to life.

With Tunnyl, I think the best story will be our story. For now, our story is limited to Tunnyl’s story. The triggers that led us on this journey, the trials that followed, and the successes we enjoy. Soon, I hope we can expand the stories we share to include those of you who join or launch a Tunnyl project.

How do we bring this story onto our Facebook page? First, by connecting this blog to the Facebook page.

I’ve edited what was previously the “Message Us” button (which no one has clicked), into a Learn More button and linked the button to this blog. Once or twice a week, I will also crosspost the most popular posts on the blog onto the Facebook page.

Relate with others to build community

Next, I added a post update. This time, focused on explaining Tunnyl in a different light.

I was also thinking about posting something like this, but wasn’t too sure:

With Tunnyl, we’re building something that I wish existed when I lived in DC. I wanted an easier way to explore my creativity through projects involving more moving parts.

Craigslist is an awesome resource for that, but it lacks transparency and it can be a mixed bag. MeetUp is an excellent tool to build communities, but those communities rarely persist on the site — especially if the mod disappears.

While Godwin Chang is building the platform, Yaw Ayim-Aboagye and I will be focusing on the business and community.

Should improve it for future posting.

Urgency?

Not too sure how to deliver a greater sense of urgency. We have the events, which I also added to our main page on tunnyl.com, but that’s not enough. I think we can create urgency by launching daily micro-projects.

Micro-projects is an idea Yaw had a few months ago for our mobile app. Find people on the move near you to help with a small-scale project. It can be anything. From a camera to an extra pair of hands to just help out.

I think an “availability” post that people can reply to every day would be kinda neat. Here, people can reply and say they are available “between 1 and 3 around TST” for example. Anyone in the community can spot it and reply to that person with a request.

What do you guys think?