On Facebook, brands and bands and other organizations can create a page account that draws fans rather than friends. Fans of a page subscribe to its news items and can post on the page.
The Wordsupply page has just joined the 95% of sites that have more than 10 fans. (Become a Wordsupply fan on Facebook—update your status and help us break 100! :o)
But even for B2C brands—which may seem more likely to draw numerous fans—it’s tough to lure Facebookers away from the comfort of their Home page news streams.
But rather than be discouraged by these stats, we are intrigued. Millions of people are using Facebook, fanning pages, joining groups, reading news, and spreading the word. Whether you work as an individual or organization, offering a service or a product, you must create a page and offer your stream.
You can create a page yourself—and claim your brand name: Just go to Facebook and follow the instructions to create a page.
(And if you need help, Wordsupply is ready to start the news stream and keep it flowing!)
Professor Michael Wesch created the following video – it’s “Web 2.0 in five minutes” – using “CamStudio for the screen captures and Sony Vegas for the panning/cropping/zooming animations.”
Beyond the content itself—remarkably current for a March 2007 release—we should study this use of media. It represents an emerging (if not “new”) way for businesses and thinkers to present information.
In “Marketing Small Businesses with Twitter” [NYT, 7/23/09], Claire Cain Miller profiles some small businesses that are using Twitter’s free platform to communicate with customers and peers. See the New York Times site: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/smallbusiness/23twitter.html.
When we strip away the hype around Twitter (hype that is already normalizing a bit), we can see Twitter as a platform that is
simple: Twitter is constrained in a good way. The focus is on message, not format—the character limit brings focus.
open: Through search, hashtags, @ replies, and visible follow lists, Twitter is built for discovery. The network effects are almost strong enough to let you sit back and succeed.
Twitter deserves a place in most companies’ communication portfolio. It’s a limited user set, and there are dangers in diluting a brand’s voice, but the benefits are strong.
Are you using Twitter for business? Have customers found you through Twitter?
Contact David for a free, no-hassle consultation on your next writing, publishing, or social media project. Call or text (718) 864-5080 or e-mail david@wordsupply.com.
In a post on MediaBistro’s PRNewser (Nov. 30, 2009), Joe Ciarallo cites a study by Sysomos that asserts that only 23% of Facebook pages have more than 1,000 fans.
