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The 4 stages of a business Facebook page

Although no two Facebook pages are the same, there are some similarities that appear across multiple pages.

There are four main stages your page goes though, and once you identify the stage your page is in, you can use some standard tips and tricks to get it to the next level.

Sometimes pages will naturally progress from stage to stage, sometimes they’ll go backwards, and sometimes they won’t fit any stage at all! Don’t worry– just keep your eyes on where you want your page to be, and work towards that.

Stage 1: Getting your page off the ground.

When Facebook pages are new, the community is still finding the boundaries and tone of the page. It is at this stage you can easily convert brand advocates though quick wins, answering questions and being the good guy.

By turning your early fans into brand advocates, they will help you monitor and set the tone for your page when it enters stage 2. These fans are likely to be your friends, family and workmates, so be explicit about asking them to be active on your page. Honest – but active.

Tips for a page in stage 1

  • Think like the person you want to attract. What would they like to see on your page?
  • Post regular, interesting and infomative content – posting no more than four times a week and no less than once a week.
  • Keep your tone friendly. Facebook recommend you “push” in only 20% of status updates. The other 80% should be relationship-building.
  • Set your spam filter, and any keywords. Pick wisely as to not stifle the natural conversation, but to not allow any content that may disturb your audience.
  • Fully complete the “info” section of the Facebook page.
  • Set flexible strategies around dealing with negative feedback now. Where are your brand’s boundaries around negative posts? Should you allow them on your Facebook page? (I say yes, by the way, that’s a natural part of being in a public forum. Don’t delete it unless the language is filthy or threatening.)
  • Create a landing page that explicitly asks people to like your page.
  • Upload lots of photos and any videos you have to make the page interesting and useful.
  • Read Facebook’s brand page terms and conditions.
  • Get a username (facebook.com/username) once you have 25 fans. Make it short and to the point. This URL will help you in stage 2.

Stage 2: Building momentum with existing fans

Reach out to your existing fans by promoting your Facebook page to them using the custom URL. This may involve putting a social plug-in on your website, a mention in your e-letter, or a notice on your front counter or shop window. They already like what you have to offer, why not make it easy for them to find you on Facebook?

Tips for a page in stage 2

  • Keep an eye on your page’s insights to see who your fans are: Their locations, demographics, what they most respond to on your page, what they’re clicking on. If they don’t match your wider marketing plan, something’s a little off.
  • Be seen to be responding to feedback, good and bad alike. Seek feedback from your fans and act upon it. If they say they’d like to see x happen, and it’s reasonable, make x happen. If it’s not, be honest about that.
  • Keep an eye on what’s going into your spam filter and restore anything that’s been mistakenly tagged as spam.
  • Find pages similar to yours and see what works on their page. Try similar things on yours to see if they work with your audience.
  • Plug your website into Facebook insights to see the demographic that’s impressing against your social plug-ins. Who are you not converting to a Facebook fan?
  • Keep an eye on which posts get the most impressions – what time of day were they posted?

Stage 3: Time for a push

This is the stage where your page is doing ok, but could do with a boost. Consider some advertising. Facebook ads can cost as little as 60cents CPM. You may want to add your custom URL to any external advertising you have running as well.

This means you’ll be getting a lot of random likers – which can often mean trolling. Don’t be afraid to ban troublemakers – but be sure that’s what they are first! Often we can mistake grumpy customers as trolls and not treat them the way they deserve.

If you’ve done stages 1 and 2 well, your loyal fans will help weed out trolling, and be able to answer basic questions for users – Dell found this a useful tactic when coming out of their Dell Hell phase.

Tips for a page in stage 3

  • Lots of new people will be hitting your landing page – adjust it slightly so anyone can understand why they should like your page. “Like our page to hear about special offers” etc.
  • Create custom tabs – for example a FAQ section or latest news section might be a good start.
  • Logged in as your brand, like and write on the walls of any brands that compliment or partner with yours. Check with their page admins first if you can, and don’t be cheeky about it or they may ban your page.
  • Empower, support, and reward users who want to be brand advocates, and acknowledge them for their help.
  • Make sure your community mangers are equipped to deal with negative feedback – both professionally and personally.
  • Don’t run promotions where users leave a comment or upload a photo to enter. That’s against Facebook’s terms and conditions and you may come out with egg on your face.

Stage 4: Organic growth

At this stage your page should be pretty healthy and you should have strategies in place for processing trolling, negative feedback, suggestions, and answering questions you don’t always have answers for. There’s an interesting phenomenon that I noticed – and have had confirmed to me by other major account managers across multiple brand types and sizes – that you no longer need to run ads during this stage, and the page will grow exponentially.

Don’t be alarmed when the growth starts to level out. The size of your page when this happens depends on your reach, and the profile of your business. Your organic growth may slow to 1 – 2 % per week.

Tips for a page in stage 4

  • Don’t rest on your laurels. Set big engagement and impression goals. Continue to evolve your page, being lead by your fans and wider business objectives.
  • Keep an eye on hide rates and unlikes and moderate your postings
  • Crowd source. There’s likely to be some users with amazing ideas for your business, or some feedback trends going on.
  • Consider another ad spend.

 

This is by no means a fully comprehensive list of things to check off with a Facebook page, and may not be applicable to all brands. In fact, this is quite general, and somewhat oversimplified compared to reality and the curveballs that get thrown at you.

The main thing you need to keep in mind is to think like a page user. What do they want? Deliver that and you can’t go wrong.

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Best Tweets: August 2011

Animals and things

thisfog: How adorable is that little “Phew” sound cats make when you get your clothes back on after bathing?
AliIkram: Someone needs to feed the Cougars at the Viaduct before the RWC they might scare off the tourists

Children and things

kittengloves Back to school lunches. Against my advice 7yo has made himself a gherkin and jam roll.
DomHarvey Mum to kid on street in Vegas: “FUCK UP!” Black woman within earshot of the encounter: “daaaaamn” I love America
rosiecd It is horrible to look at your child and KNOW you will have to bail them out of jail one day
lilyandalma Went out with a mcdonalds toy pinned to my head. Forgot it was there until I looked in a shop window. #mummyfail

Snow tweets!

Tarquin_Death New theory about the ongoing extreme cold snaps: Happy Feet is a penguin wizard making NZ more like his icy home
jackelder Snowing hard in Miramar at the moment. A number of world-class VFX artists are running around the carpark going “woooooo” and waving arms.
leahisaninja Dear New Zealand, Hello. Love, Antarctica. PS, whoosh.
stephenfry NZ has, bless it, gone officially mad. First snow in Auckland since the 30s. Children running along with open mouths to taste the flakes 🙂
JenLongshaw Twin lambs born just a couple of hours ago in paddock next door. Poor little sods- they have no idea what they’re in for. #Storms #Stews

Politics

farmgeek Forget young beneficiaries, what about all the retirees wasting their dosh on small dogs, finance companies and NZ First donations?

The Big Pink Fist of Abstinence

LachlanForsyth This abstinence stuff is going to ruin the fine reputation that generations of kiwi backpackers have worked so hard to create.
watershitdown i wonder if the pink fist will end up on trademe on $1 reserve

Overheard

tanya OH: “Yeah Pak ‘n’ Save Mt Wellington, you don’t wanna pick up chicks there…”

From the ‘are you serious?’ files

bookemdanno Seriously – limited edition rugby world cup nappies? Jesus H rollerblading Christ.
annagconnell 9 times out of 10, ‘Wakey Wakey hands off snakey’ is the first thing that pops into my head in the morning. Thank you Grandad.
jinnee79 Glad I managed to miss Dad and his friends at erotica. Coulda been awkward, they came Friday night.

From the ‘everything went better than expected’ files

brenasmith LOLs at our teenage neighbours planning the big noisy party last night. About 9pm they were looking munted and never heard a peep.
juhasaarinen Always feel surprised that I cheated death and injury after each Auckland commute.
SpeelyFreaking @cadetdory but you tweet really well for a retarded person. Good going 🙂
RobSuisted “Come around & we’ll take it out on a 12 year old” set me back a moment until I realised it was about scotch

First world tweets

vaughndavis My colleague in Switzerland has just confirmed she can make our meeting in Rome. I’m James fucking Bond, me.
sachalnf: Whoa. My brother just called me (on my cellphone) from upstairs to tell me to turn the tv off downstairs. LAZY.
mitchyyyyy There’s no honey for my toast. Brb crying.
richirvine I CHALLENGE ANY FECKER TO HAVE MORE CAT HAIR ON THEIR CLOTHING THAN I! I DO NOT THINK IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE!
robkidd that awkward moment when you realise someone actually read one of your tweets.

Herp Derp

kiwieric Ah crap. My brain just Rick Rolled itself.
NanaJ9 It has become very obvious that my personality doesn’t actually start to formulate until that first cup of coffee in the morning.

NZGeekGirl‘s Very Bad Day

Oh no, just been called, we’be been burgled. Holiday may be over.
Aiming to drive back tonight, police to fingerprint. I wish this was a joke. Think my wedding rings are probably gone.
Hey everyone, yes thankfully we have insurance. My wedding rings and meds are also safe. On our way home now.
Dear car in front, When the cop overtakes you then it’s a safe bet you’re going too slow.
Hmmm. We’re suddenly not spending a whole lot on accommodation. Perhaps a post burglary cheer me up pressie? Yarn? Maine Coon? Both?
If they stole the laptop, how long do you think until the discover the keyboard don’t work from a rat peeing on it?
Oh boy, another devastating thought….what if they found our “naughty” draw? 
OMG they did find the naughty draw.
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Kiwi Nyan Cat

Nyan Cat isn’t a new meme, but it has just recieved a delightfully Kiwi twist.

For those of you who don’t often visit the meme-world, Nyan cat is pretty much just a cat, made of pop tarts, racing across the sky, leaving rainbow trails. That’s it. Seriously, that’s it. And it’s annoying, and it’s addictive.

Here it is:

I WARNED YOU.

Anyway, it’s had several incantations…

Nyan Cat metal version:

Nyan Cat meets Lady Gaga:

Nyan Cat killing Peter Griffin:

The Rebecca Black version:

And now, a New Zealand version! Featuring a version of Dave Dobbyn’s Slice of Heaven, here is Kiwi Nyan Cat!

If you’ve got a favourite Nyan Cat, please pop the link in the comments – I’d love to see them 🙂

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5 reasons to love Kimbra

Kimbra is a 21-year-old Kiwi artist who has recently found mainstream fame after online gossip king Perez Hilton labeled her as one-to-watch.

She’s been signed to Warner Brothers, and her debut album Vows is due for release in New Zealand on August 29.

Meanwhile, here’s five clips showing just why you should be paying attention to this young Hamiltonian.

Kimbra’s second single Simply on My Lips gave her her first taste of success – you may recognise it:

Kimbra covers Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet:

The first single off Vows – Settle Down:

Miami Horror – I Look To You, feat Kimbra:

Finally, my personal favourite: Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know, feat Kimbra:

I hope you enjoy her as much as I do! x

UPDATE: After being harassed by Chris Philpott, I’m including a bonus track – Cameo Lover.

BOOM.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Then there’s this.

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Cat Gone

I love memes. Here’s one I’m really enjoying right now. There’s no words to explain how awesome it is: It’s a cat and it’s freaked out. It only got uploaded a couple days ago and already has over a million views! Check it out:

And the Thriller remix!

I look forward to seeing heaps more videos and remixes of this kitty in the coming days!

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Best Tweets: July 2011

July’s been a big month for Kiwis online. NZ gained another global meme, thanks to Cameron Leslie. Top Model continued to take over the Twitterverse. @BexieLady gained Klout in “sausages” – wait, what?

Cos being online is awesome
BexieLady Klout still says I am influential about sausages. Wonderful.
MoataTamaira Everyone in office now looking up their unicorn names. My work here is done.
iamkateharley I got banned from trademe because I took more than 3-5 working days for me to send a 60 yr old man his marykate & ashley dvd.
tarasutherland search terms to find my blog: getting high off codral, auckland fucking city, why is masturbation called masturbation, the letter p. :-/
Nightwyrm If anyone hears uncontrollable sobbing, it’s just me opening my work emails.

Some old school media
nzmovieguy Taxi driver is telling me about his letter to the editor. He’s pulled out the newspaper to look for it. Yes, the car is in motion.
danslevin Just bought my first newspaper in weeks. The fire needed lighting.
iChild Lots of crying on #NZNTM tonight. Anyone else think the girls have synchronized their cycles?

New Zealand, owl!
DavidSlack What you must always do is blow on your pie, finish your set and cook the man some eggs. #NZRulesToLiveBy

Oh, life
nzmovieguy A man just walked by me and said to the lady with him “some by birth, some by choice”. Not entirely sure what he meant by that.
andrealessi That awkward moment when you can no longer tell the difference between artfully styled hipsters and unwashed engineering students.
Nightwyrm People who book 12.30 meetings deserve their own special place in hell.
Vegrandis If you have 10E/10F boobies there are some good $3 bras (marked down from like $80) at BNT at Dressmart lolol, also, congrats on the body.
kittenypentland This year I have taken to wearing a scarf so it needs to be stated for the record: if I’m found strangled it was clumsiness not auto-erotica
TheNoemi Getting legs waxed. #ouch why do I do this again? That’s right, I don’t want to scare the children when we go to thermal pools.
vaughndavis Just texted my wife: “Fucking nanny!” do I need to follow up and explain this was a grumble and not a status update?
elpie Who knew that SkyTV boxes could catch fire if cats sleep on them? I didn’t, but do now.

Parenting
fleurtee Got a little worried when reading Mr6’s story “Spiderman you cunt….” pretty sure he meant can’t, should probably correct him on that one!
SpeelyFreaking Currently stuffing cold mashed potato into an envelope addressed to Africa. Why? Because stubborn parenting is how I roll.
SheldonNesdale My 2yo son has taken to yelling across the house using my wife’s first name. Who the heck did he learn that from?
MrsKateLincoln I think we’ve turned the smallchild into a JAFA. Only 20 months old & has requested to go out for coffee.

Some people are a worry!
PebblesHooper is cocaine a carb?
AdageBusiness oops neighbours just asked me to turn music down … told them I will when the move their bedhead away from the wall got a blank look
ryansallan Royal Oak roundabout is dangerous as fuck. Especially when trying to tweet.
tauhenare Do not lick the knife that you used in the hot hot fudge until it has cooled down. #recipes #fudge #hotknife

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How to write a brand Facebook post

Writing a great Facebook status update for a brand is so much more than a simple formula. If it were that easy, we’d have a whole bunch of amazing pages and a lot of happy brand managers. You can’t just pick up a marketing plan and implement it, word-for-word, into a Facebook page.

I think there are three layers to creating a brand’s Facebook update.

The Users

Your tone, subject matter, even the kinds of words you use should be dictated by the users of the page, who are attracted to your existing brand. If your brand is marketed correctly outside of Facebook, those who ‘like’ will reflect that.

Who are these people? Use Facebook Insights to learn basic demographics – age, sex, location. Check their profiles to see what else they ‘like’ on Facebook. Do they like polls? Photos? Links? What do they want from your branded page? Read what’s been posted to the brand’s wall already – there’s often a wealth of feedback in what’s there – or not there. Which leads onto point two:

The Page

What is the current state of your brand’s page? Neglected? No engagement? Is every status update a link, and no one’s clicking on them? Conversely, is your page vibrant with feedback and users chatting to one another? You can expect to adjust your next status according to the current state of the page. This may mean scrapping a status you hoped to pop up, and going with something completely different. Content calendars must be fluid, even for this reason alone.

The Brand

What does the brand actually want out of their Facebook page – and if it doesn’t serve your ‘fans’ then why are you doing it? Does it serve the marketing gods? The website hit gods? Or is it there to enrich peoples lives – however you interpret that.

If your brand is not thinking “people first” then you probably need to re-assess why you’re on Facebook. You may as well take out a TVC. (No disrespect to TVCs, you know I love them, but they’re broadcast. Facebook is not.)

So once the brand knows where it stands on those fronts – and has any issues addressed, it’s time to get writing! Here’s a few nuggets of gold from around the weberverse:

  • Spelling and grammar must be audience appropriate. No matter how great your point if you can’t spell ‘their’ right you’ll crash and burn. – Stephanie Robertson
  • Know your audience – and don’t drink and post! – Wendy Thompson
  • Ask for photos. – Claire Huxley

And here are mine:

  • Keep posts short. People read less online. They probably won’t click “read more” on your update.
  • Keep it friendly – users are looking at brand’s status updates amongst their friends, so it’s easy to appear advertorial.
  • Give people multiple reasons to interact (make it ‘like’able, ask a question, seek feedback).
  • Don’t always do the same type of status. Mix it up with photos, polls, and links. Pay attention to which types get your audience going!
  • Act on feedback. For example, if someone’s asked for a “caption this” photo, give it to them! And say something like “you asked for it, so here it is!” – acknowledgement is really important.
  • Above all else, THINK LIKE A FAN. Do they want to see this status update? Really?

So it’s not a simple formula, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. But by firstly coming at it from a user’s perspective, you’ll end the majority of Facebook status woes.

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Madeon live mashup

Just… watch.

Madeon is this 17-year-old French DJ who has mashed up a bunch of his favourite tracks. This clip’s had over 200,000 views in a couple of days, and I think it’s set to rise higher than that before the journey peaks.

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Walking a mile might save a friendship

There’s an old saying: Don’t judge till you’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes.

It’s true. And we often forget it.

Today I spent a little bit of time with a friend who is in a rough place. Her work, home, and love life aren’t quite going to plan, and she’s struggling to stay positive.

And because of her general lack of cheer and smiley-facedness, she’s being judged harshly.

Rather than people saying “Oh, you’re having a hard time right now, I’ll show you a bit of grace,” they’re calling her out on it, adding to the pressure she’s feeling to stay in control, and suppress the bad feelings.

I can relate.

I felt I started the race ten paces behind everyone else, due to my more unusual upbringing. The anxiety I felt to cover up my “deficiencies” – as well as perform to an above-average standard – would build up and cause some terrible hurt.

It is really easy to sit on the peripherals of someone else’s life and call them out on all the mistakes we think they make. They’re not as nice as they should be. Not as patient. Not as tight-lipped or rational as we say they should be.

But little do we know what they’ve overcome – or are currently dealing with – just to be where they are right now.

Think of it this way: Identical twins are wearing backpacks. From the outside, the packs – and the muscles holding them up – look the same. But it’s not till you lift the packs yourself that you realise one weighs 20kgs more than the other. You’re not going to begrudge the twin wearing the heavier backpack the occasional complaint, are you?

How about this situation: A car accident happens, and one person is able to shrug it off, whereas another isn’t. Should they judge each other for their reactions? No. Perhaps the person who is able to shrug it off has had several accidents before, and this is minor in their scheme of reference… But for the other person, it’s a Big Deal. Neither is right – or wrong – just different.

It’s so easy for us to judge another on their reaction to something, but our ability to cope with things is dependent on many factors.

Communication. It is the glue that holds relationships together. If you’re struggling to cope, one of the best and bravest things you can do is reach out and tell someone what’s going on. Explain to your family, friends and workmates that you’ve got a lot on your plate, and ask for grace. Confide in someone you trust, and seek professional help if you need it.

There is no shame in admitting you don’t have it all sorted. You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last.

And if you’re on the other side of the fence, try to not judge someone because they react differently than you would. You never know how many miles they’ve walked just getting to where you already are.