What if you had a whole segment of membership who used Facebook like you use Microsoft Outlook (guess what, you do!)? How would you communicate with them? Given the statistics above, these are very relevant questions for association marketers today. Fortunately, Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb.com shares insights about how, for those who have recently entered the workforce, Facebook has replaced conventional calendaring and other stuff that we consider the domain of Microsoft Outlook. And of course, you already knew that e-mail is for old people.
If you’ve decided to take your association into the Facebook world, your first inclination might be to start a Facebook Group for your association. Hold it right there! Don’t do it. Opt for Facebook Pages, a richer option for business users with features like statistics, embeddable flash or video, and more. Check out these two posts from FacebookAdvice.com for a primer on how to set up your association’s profile in Facebook Pages.
So you’ve got an association blog, and you’re active in Facebook. Maybe you’ve even begun streaming your blog content into Facebook using their Notes feature. Great! Read through Mari Smith’s 10 tips for leveraging your blog in Facebook. My favorite piece of advice? “After a certain period, use the Share feature on your Note (imported blog post) to post out the Note on your profile. e.g. say 3-5 days goes by and your Note has many comments – you could post to your profile (use the Share button) and include a comment to the effect there’s a great discussion going on and you’d welcome more input.”
As always, if you have feedback or a tip, e-mail me at bkmcae at gmail.
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Hey Ben – excellent post! Great resources and tips here.
And, thanks a mil for including mention of my top ten blog post.
Cheers,
Mari
@marismith