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Creating the right impression for Company Pages on Facebook

With more and more companies taking advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook to promote themselves to their fans, it’s becoming clear that creating the right impression on a company page can make the difference between people ‘Liking’ you or not.

And it’s certainly important to get those ‘Likes’. Coca-Cola boasts 15.5 million friends on Facebook — that’s 15.5 million Coke advocates (and their friends via their walls) that the business can reach through via Facebook.

There are a number of factors to consider when planning a Facebook company page.

First, you’ll need a plan! There’s no point in just sticking up a Facebook page and hoping that it will just run itself. You will need to consider design look and feel, engaging content, an ongoing content plan, media — such as movies, competitions, events and surveys — and of course some serious thinking about what it is you’re hoping to achieve from all this. Remember, your Facebook friends can ‘Unlike’ as well as ‘Like’…

Starting a company page on Facebook is a long term commitment that needs resourcing. A recent Econsultancy survey showed that 72% of businesses take Facebook seriously enough to appoint someone with responsibility for it. If you’ve ever tried putting together an engaging Facebook page you will already be aware of the pitfalls. Unlike a typical website, Facebook pages operate within a Facebook template. Coming up with a great landing page needs manipulation through Facebook Markup Language (FBML)… there’s plenty of scope, and some brands are taking advantage of this, including:

• Branding
• Bespoke graphics and images
• Fan news
• Content only available to fans
• Location based content
• Feedback and comment
• Links to external web pages
• Online video and sound
• Viral marketing through the use of ‘Share’
• Promotions and competitions
• Events and event registration

Here are some great examples of company pages on Facebook (click on the images to enlarge):

Sainsburys Facebook Page

Sainsbury’s — Sainsbury’s are using Facebook to great advantage, incorporating video and interactive content. They are leading the way amongst UK supermarkets.

Facebook Starbucks Page

Starbucks — Simple, an on-brand. Clear calls to action

Facebook KitKat Page

KitKat — KitKat are using Facebook to get people talking about the brand. Note that they’re delivering local content.

Facebook Smirnoff Page

Smirnoff — Smirnoff are using Facebook to promote events.

Facebook RedBull Page

Red Bull — Nice and simple! You can see that Red Bull want you to do!

Facebook Windows 7 Page

Windows 7Clever tactics here… content on the page is blurred and out of focus until you click on the ‘Like’ button. Important point to stress here is that you can manage the content that’s available to your group — ‘public’ content can be different to the content served up to your friends…

Facebook Coca-Cola Page

Coca-ColaCoke is a leading brand in the Facebook community. There are loads of ways to engage with the brand — video, product information, feedback and questions — and a really nice section about green credentials, the environment and corporate responsibility.

Corporate pages on Facebook aren’t just for the big brands. Opportunities exist for all sizes of business to engage with their fan bases and to generate a following online. At WiseTiger we’re working with a number of clients to promote themselves on Facebook and other forms of social media.

Simon Verrall

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