There is much confusion expressed by clients and friends of Connection Graphics who are just immersing themselves in social media. Since Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages look so similar, and indeed have many similar features, some companies have created a Facebook Group instead of a Facebook Page which would serve their goals better. The two essentially serve different purposes on Facebook and it is important to know the features of each before jumping in.

The purpose of a Group is to encourage interaction of members.
They are typically built around a particular topic or cause. Members can brainstorm ideas, group chat, post new information, photos, videos and links, etc. Whenever a new entry is made by a member the entire group is notified via email (unless a group member has specified to opt out of emails) and it will be added under the notifications tab. This is one of the best features of the Group option. Another is the ability to restrict access and create an invite only group. This keeps the correspondence in the group directed to group members online – not posted to the public News feed. Keep in mind however messages are restricted once a group reaches 5000 members.

Create a Page when you want to build an official company, public entity or brand page.
The Facebook Pages or company fan pages are tools for companies and public figures to connect with their customers and followers. Customers on Facebook can ‘like’ and then interact with a brand by posting Page updates that are fed to your News feed. By liking the page users will then receive the Facebook company fan page posts directly into their News feed which will also then be viewable by that users friend. Facebook Pages have stronger SEO capabilities and the biggest is their ability to include applications. For instance the static FBMI application that allows people to create graphics, custom tabs and code that essentially simulates a website within their company page. Facebook Pages also provide administrators with post insights which are essentially tracking devices to count hits, etc. Official Pages can not be restricted or hidden like the invite only group mentioned above, there is no option to make them private. The whole idea with the business Pages is to increase publicity and draw interested friends. Page administrators can also access a widget that can be posted on their corporate website to promote their fan pages, this is another feature groups do not have currently.

When creating your Facebook custom business page it is wise to get a vanity URL for the page name. Please see my previous blog entry for details.

I tend to use the features of the Facebook business fan pages and use them even with my non-profit businesses and groups. I don’t implement any member restrictions and I have other tools to mass message and send event notices outside of Facebook. The ability to utilize applications and Page Insights out weight using the Group choice for me.

If you have other questions please let me know, I am happy to help. Facebook covers this information very thoroughly also. Otherwise, if you are ready to create a fan page go to facebook.com/pages/create.php.

Stay connected!

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Creating a Facebook vanity URL of your Facebook business fan page is one of the first steps you should take while it is under development. A clear and easily linkable URL will aid in your marketing efforts on your website and your print materials and social media promotions.

It’s really very simple to create a vanity url for your Facebook fan page whether it is a Group or a Page. The only prerequisite is that you have at least 25 fans. Hey, if you don’t have 25 customers that have liked it yet, recruit your family and friends!.

Other considerations when choosing your name:
Facebook doesn’t allow common terms such as Hockey or Weather to represent page names. The best approach is to choose a vanity url that is closest to your personal or company name. We were fortunate to secure our actual business name for our Facebook business page facebook.com/connectiongraphics.com. We own the name Connection Graphics and wanted to secure it quickly so nobody else would. Rules are you are suppose to own the name you choose but some people have been known to try and get around these rules and it is best to protect yourself and secure it.

Keep in mind that a name must only contain letters and numbers, punctuation marks or glyphs do not work (%*^, ) etc. You also want to be very careful with your spelling! Double check your words because there is no going back once it is created and accepted. Check with Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities for more details on all of this information.

Secure your Facebook custom company fan page user name here.
Contact me with any questions, stay connected!

Combining Facebook Fun With Business Building

Since Connection Graphics has started offering Custom Facebook Landing Tabs and Fan Page Designs we have been receiving a number of questions about creation of Facebook pages. How do you set them up, what are the benefits to having a custom fan page, what types of fan pages are best suited to your clientele, etc. Since there is so much content in Facebook’s help section I will cover a few of the frequently asked questions here. Please feel free to connect for additional questions and visit the help page in Facebook for more in depth instructions.

What is the Difference between Facebook Pages and Facebook Profiles?

Your Facebook profile is a personal account of you as an individual. Facebook Pages are your professional presence as a business, band, organization, etc. Pages can only be set up by the owner or authorized representative of the company. You can not set up a page with the name Motorola Xoom if you are not authorized. You can not set up a group page called Zac Effron if you are not Zac or an authorized representative. I can set up the Facebook.com/connectiongraphics page because I am an owner. My staff can also if they have been given permission.

This is an important decision for a company. If the position responsible for developing these items has a high turn over rate it may be wise to have the page under one of the owners profiles instead of an employee. The updates can always be handled by the employee if desired but the page will always be associated by the company owner or director. In case an employee leaves the company there is no question of control. Keep in mind  you can not create a page without already having a facebook profile.

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Wow, nearly a full month without an entry. Funny, right after my last post I found other subjects right away I thought would be appropriate blog posts. Now here I am nearly a month later and I am having to remind myself to do a blog entry before the end of the month.

As you can easily see I haven’t embraced the blog-sphere. For me it is a reminder of the many tasks we all strive to meet each hour, each day, each month, each year. I do like the idea of sharing new ideas and expressing my view point. What I don’t like is the challenge of fitting yet another item onto the monthly list. Does it seem to you like more items get added than get taken away?

So, how important are blogs and social media for Web site marketing? Some people are saying they are spending upwards of 20 hours a week with their LinkedIN, Facebook and Twittering. Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A. Stelzner, March 2009, as reported by WebProNews, outlines the value of social media in regard to SEO.

Statistics show this little blog has helped to bring our Web site numbers up. No doubt dedicating regular time to social marketing each week would help increase SEO as well. The bigger question I am posing when it comes to SEO is what is the amount of time required for service businesses to reap the reward – actual buyers to the site? We’ve all recognized that social networking marketing helps in other ways besides SEO, it is worthy of dedicated time. It needs to be added to the monthly list – ugh! More likely, it is tIme to determine what I can turn over to a staff specialist! That’s the ticket, don’t add anything new to your list, find a reliable resource to handle it and save your precious time. And now I get to take “make blog entry” off my list – at least for this month.