A while back, I stopped promoting my personal Facebook page. I did this because I received friend requests from random people I “knew” from Twitter or networking, but weren’t actually friends of mine.
What’s worse is that I kept getting cause and fan requests for things I’d never heard of.
One challenge of social media participation is that it blurs the line between business and personal activity. I now expect that using social media sites like Facebook opens me up to friend requests and fan requests from people I don’t know or for businesses/causes I’m not familiar with.
As we all become immersed in the social web, where social proof (number of Facebook friends, number of fans on your Facebook Fan Page, Twitter followers, etc.) is seemingly important, we need to proceed with caution because being too pushy is likely to impact people’s perception of our companies or causes.
If you’re too persistent, here’s what people may be thinking:
If I’ve never heard of your company, your band, your clothing line, your cause, so I’m unlikely to become a fan. Don’t even ask.
You might think I like your business because I know you, but that’s a dangerous assumption to make.
Just because we grew up together doesn‚Äôt mean that I‚Äôll support your cause, especially if I’ve never heard of it.
On the other hand, you still want Facebook fans. What can you do?
Rather than sending out a mass message to all Facebook friends asking people to become a fan of your business or cause, send invitations to people that have enough experience with your business or cause to evaluate whether they’d like to be a fan.
If you support a cause that your friends may be unfamiliar with, send them a message telling them that you support the cause and ask them to learn more if they are interested. Be sure to place a”Become a Fan” link on your “About your company” or “About your organization” page on your web site, so that when people do seek information, they have a logical next step.
Some questions to ask within your organization
- How can you generate buzz and interest to grow your Facebook fan base organically?
- How can you integrate Facebook efforts with other marketing channels?
January 28th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Sharif says:
Well said, Rick.
And another tip… if you do ask, ask ONCE. If someone has already declined the request, asking again every few days isn’t going to change any minds.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Jeff Kelley says:
Facebook fan requests and groups suggestions are the new spam. If the world were not so ingrained in Facebook, I’d scrap my account. I like aspects of Facebook – checking in to see what friends are doing, events (bigtime thumbs up), photos, and following my favorite brands. The spamming aspect has gotten out of hand and it gives people a negative image who do it constantly.
I like having a fan page for my Web site, but I never, ever promote it. If people want to join up and get updates, well that’s awesome and I’m honored they became a fan. It also gives me an accurate number of people who are actually fans, versus people who were just spammed to pad numbers.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Ileane says:
Hi Rick,
I work for a technical publisher who has not found their “place” in the world of social media. Let’s face it social media isn’t for everyone. We have areas on our website that are dedicated collaboration areas for our members and the more I think about it the social web just doesn’t work for us.
In terms of my personal blog, I do most of my networking on Twitter and just like you, some of that seems to be migrating over into Facebook, which I tried desperately to keep separate. In fact I set up a fan page for my blog and it just sits there (I haven’t made it public yet) while I continue to debate with myself about launching it.
There is such a fine line and I don’t see myself crossing it. Thanks for your insights.
@Ileane
January 28th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
element321 says:
I do no advertise my blog on facebook. I keep facebook seperate from my blog. In fact only a few people know about might site.
I have been trying to figure out a way to have facebook fan page without using my personal facebook account. Do you know if there is a way to do this? Any advice would be grateful.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:31 am
RalphJP says:
Great tips! It may sound strange, but none of my offline friends are fans of my blog on Facebook because they don’t know about it. I have a personal Facebook and a fan page for my blog. I did this just to see how many of my readers would join. Now that I am gaining more fans, I think I will invite some of my offline friends and contacts to join-without being pushy of course
January 29th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Rick Whittington says:
@Jeff: Well-said. I, too, have a Facebook Fan Page for my business but don’t promote it for various reasons. I think organic growth of a Fan page is always best.
@Ileane: Without knowing more about your company, I would think Twitter would be an excellent outlet for technical publishing. It’s ok for companies to decide that social media is not a good fit, but they a) need to go through an evaluation process before coming to that conclusion and b) need to re-evaluate periodically.
@element321 Right now, I think you have to have a personal Facebook account tied to a Fan page so there’s an “administrator.” You can, however, configure privacy settings on your personal account so you can maintain privacy.