Facebook Fan page gold fever

It is not easy to ignore 600,000,000 Facebook users, all of whom are someone’s customer. So, over the past few months a gold rush has not so quietly begun for companies to claim and develop their Facebook Fan pages. To quote a famous philosopher, it is truly “deja vu all over again.”This reminds us of the internet gold rush of a decade ago to develop a web page (remember when that was hot?). 

 So, we have recently offered our clients an expanded kit of picks, shovels and other tools to join the Facebook Fan page gold rush. But, before we all get dizzy with Fan page fever, some practicalities:

• Content Development. As I have said before and believe, all brands have become publishers. The social media is, to one extent or another, “media,” and as content is consumed it must be replenished. Consumers will soon tire of a Fan page, regardless of the graphics, if it remains same old, same old for too long. Once the Fan page is launched, is there an easy-to-use interface that allows the content to be changed? Updated? Is the time and money inherent in technical resources – or third-party developers – required? 

• Promotion.  Building a Facebook Fan page does not seem to me to be an end, but a beginning. Once the Fan page is launched, what are the plans to build a fan base. Are the applications naturally viral? Are there opportunities to reach prospective fans through other platforms?

• Creativity. The whole point is to be engaging and interesting. No doubt what appears “engaging” today will prove boring tomorrow as it is copied and reused. How will new ideas be developed and implemented?

• Measure. What’s working? What isn’t? The best way forward is to measure and do more of the former and a lot less of the latter. It is far more efficient to integrate all measurement so comparisons can be made over time, across different Fan pages and different applications. 

These and other valid questions need to be asked – and answered. What do you think?

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