Social Media Best Practices

Facebook & Twitter:

Management tactics

About Facebook

• 300 million users worldwide.

• 50% of active users log on daily.

• Surpassed MySpace in the U.S. in May/June 2009.

• Diverse demographics.

• Average number of friends: 130.

• More than 10 million users become fans of pages each day.

Facebook page/public profile

• A page is a Facebook profile for a brand (business, institution or public figure). Pages allow an organization to converse and interact with users as a single entity.

Pages vs. groups

Pages:• Only represent a

real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity.

Groups:• Can be created by

any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject.

Pages vs. groups

Pages:• Will never display

their admins' names. Any action taken will carry the identity of the brand/page.

Groups:• Will display the

admins’ names. Any action taken will appear to come from the individual admin.

Pages vs. groups

Pages:• Have no limits on

fans/subscribers.

• Pushes content posted by admins out to the fans’ news feeds. Notifications of fan activity appear on the fan’s profile wall.

Groups:• Have a 5,000

member limit.

• Displays posted content on its wall only. Notifications of the poster’s activity appear on the poster’s profile wall.

Pages vs. profiles

• A page is a Facebook profile for a brand (business, institution or public figure).

• BUT there are differences that address the needs of brands.

Content and posting patterns

• The goal is to arouse an action from subscribers.

• The action shows on the walls and news feeds of the page and the subscribers, which fosters viral marketing.

Content and posting patterns

• Establish a regular posting schedule.

• Identity the optimal amount of content.

• Variety works.

• Conversational tone.

• Use Web writing style, especially on the page wall.

• Become a participant.

Facebook username

• Personalize the page: http://www.facebook.com/username/

• Public entities can promote a Facebook presence with a shorter URL.

• Requirements: > 25 fans, must be at least 5 characters long

• Periods are not counted: johndoe, john.doe are considered the same.

Updates

• Pages can send messages to either their entire fan base or a specific demographic. The messages will appear in the "Updates" tab of a user’s Inbox.

• Targetable demographics: Location, sex, age.

Sharing content

Outside Facebook:

• All content has unique URLs that can be linked to.

Inside Facebook:

• The share link facilitates posting on profile walls and within messages.

• Use the like link.

About Twitter

• Micro-blogging: 140 characters or less.

• Fresh content galore: Real-time searching.

• 14 million U.S. users (April 2009)

• More push than social: 10% of users account for 90% of the tweets (Harvard Business School).

Twitter tactics

• Use it as a pointing device. Link to more substantial content that lives behind a URL. Shorten URL with services like tinyurl, bit.ly, or ow.ly.

• Follow the information leaders.

• Utilize the #.

• Re-tweet: It’s efficient and adds value.

Twitter tactics

• Utilize the @.

• Follow the feed’s mentions.

• Check out the available Twitter tools.