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Facebook Marketing Bible

The following is an excerpt from the Facebook Marketing Bible, the comprehensive guide to marketing your company, app, brand, or website using Facebook. The full version includes an a description of the benefits to your brand of enacting a successful replying strategy, and a walkthrough of how to reply to positive commenters, disruptive commenters and trolls, and spammers.

Facebook isn’t just a broadcast medium, but a two-way conversation between your and your fans. Communicating directly with those who Like your Page by replying to their wall posts and comments on your Page updates can help fans feel appreciated, increasing their loyalty and the likelihood that they’ll follow your calls to action. It can also inspire them to leave more comments on your Page updates, increasing their news feed optimization — the level of visibility your posts have in the news feed.
Here we’ll explain how to formulate a reply strategy for your Page that offers the greatest benefits for the level of resources you can devote to your Facebook Page’s community, and explain how it can improve brand loyalty, avert customer service disasters, and keep conversation on your Page productive.
When To Engage
Comments fall into four broad categories:

• Positive comments – Those that thank your brand for the value it provides the commenter.
• Constructive negative comments  – Those that criticize your brands for flaws in your product or service.
• Disruptive negative comments (Trolls) – Non-constructive insults to your brand or other members of your fan community, and non-sensical comments designed to distract and interrupt the conversation.
• Spam – Links or mentions of unrelated websites or brands.

Constructive Negative Comments
Constructive negative comments are the most important to respond to because if these fans aren’t appeased they can start evangelizing against your brand and cause customer service and public relations disasters. In a famous example, a man who rode a certain airline had his guitar broken in transit. When his attempts to contact the company through social media were ignored, he created a video criticizing the airline that received millions of views and hurt the company’s business.
In most cases, the best strategy is to apologize for the fan’s negative experience without admitting that there is a flaw in your product or service. If you’re sure there’s a simple solution to their problem, kindly explain it in your reply.
For example, if they say “I don’t enjoy your website because you require an account to upload photos, but I don’t know how to create an account”, you could reply “Sorry to hear you’re having trouble creating an account. You can create one by visiting this link www.examplesite.com/create or by clicking the ‘Create Account’ button at the bottom right corner of the home page.”
If it’s not exactly clear what their problem is, you aren’t exactly sure of the solution, or the solution may be complicated, refer them to your customer service department or provide contact information for someone they can privately communicate their issue with. You don’t want to have a negative customer service conversation in public where it might give other fans the impression that there are problems with your brand.
For example, if you received a comment saying “I bought your food product but it tasted rotten”, you could reply “Sorry to hear you had an issue with our food product. Please contact our customer service department here www.examplesite.com/service and we’ll see what we can do for you.”
Conclusion and Priorities
Every organization needs to decide how many resources they will devote to community engagement. In general, though, you should prioritize replying to the different kinds of comments in this way:
1. Replying to constructive negative comments to keep the authors of those comments from causing problems for your brand in the future
2. Deleting the comments of or banning trolls and spammers
3. Replying to the best positive comments to create brand evangelists
4. Replying to the remainder of positive comments
Walkthroughs for replying to positive comments and dealing with disruptive commenters, as well as Page management and moderation strategies  can be found in the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network’s complete guide to marketing your brand using Facebook.

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Featured Facebook fan page: Subway, Samsung Televisions, Stoli Vodka, NBC & Bravo and More

Brands used health as a draw for users to Like their Pages and purchase their products this week in our featured Facebook campaigns. Subway asked users to commit to a healthy lifestyle for a chance to win cash; NBC and Bravo also tried to bring users into a healthier lifestyle. Free Samsung television products, free concerts, the creation of an alter ego and some inside scoop about an upcoming fight match round out our featured campaigns.
We’ve excerpted two of the campaigns below. You can see the full week’s coverage in the Facebook Marketing Bible, which also includes detailed breakdowns of dozens of other featured campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

Subway’s Commit to Fit Sweepstakes

Goal: Page Growth, Engagement, Product Purchase
Core Mechanic: A sweepstakes on the landing tab allows users to make a commitment to be healthy for a chance to win $25,000, a Subway gift card or Champs Sports gift card.
Method: Users select what type of healthy commitment they want to make, enter their address and email, then have the chance to invite friends to enter.
Impact: In a week the Page grew from 6.6 million to 7.5 million Likes. A successful campaign with more than 1 million new Likes.

Samsung Television’s Like It, Reveal It, Win It Contest

Goal: Page Growth, Network Exposure, Product Purchase, Engagement
Core Mechanic: A weekly product giveaway that incentivizes users to invite their friends to participate and to check in on the Page regularly.
Method: The Like-gated contest from Ignite Social Media asks users to unlock a certain amount of pixels each week to reveal a photo of the Samsung Television prize for the week. Users can win instant prizes, or a grand prize.
Impact: Users enter by unlocking a pixel, thus, the more pixels unlocked the easier it is to see the prize, creating an incentive for users to share with friends. Ignite Social Media tells us that the Page has grown 12,000 new fans to 64,300 Likes in just about a two week run.
How are top brands in the industry designing their Facebook marketing campaigns? See the Facebook Marketing Bible for detailed breakdowns of dozens of Featured Campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

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Harry Potter fans, Potter Parody Fuels Frenzy Of Facebook Wall Posts

Hardcore Harry Potter fans went up in arms over a parody that people misunderstood once it became a popular share on Facebook.


The Onion, a publication that satirizes news items, printed the “Final Minutes of Last Harry Potter Movie To Be Split Into Seven Separate Films” and all heck broke loose when people began sharing the story on Facebook.
Diehard Pott-heads began protesting to no end. Hudson Hongo, a writer, thought that he should capitalize on this debate and countless others, many of which are fanned on the popular social networking site, so he just created a website called Literally Unbelievable.
Hongo’s website interprets stories that The Onion runs that are then become misunderstood when shared on Facebook. The impetus for his site began with a May 18 story “Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex.“ The story also featured a picture of young teen girls and with a looming sign overhead that read “Abortions, 8,864,902 Terminated.”  Folks were outraged over the fake story and a no-holds-barred debate began on Facebook from both genders. Many were convinced the article was real which talked about a sprawling abortion facility that would terminate pregnancies with rapid-fire results.

“When I found out that people were reacting the same way to many other Onion articles, I felt the phenomenon was worth documenting and put it up my blog.  Y’know … for science,” Hongo told CNN.
But is he mocking the gullible? Hongo admits that he is somewhat sympathetic to those individuals who might be satirically impaired.  “I think folks are willing to believe Onion articles because the real news so often seems unreal these days,” he explained in an email to CNN.
Meanwhile, back on the Potter front: I’m sure that I do not stand alone when I say, “End it already!”  Poof, be gone!  I would love to wave my magic wand to bring the curtain down on the coming-of-age fantasy series that has frankly run out of steam.
Readers, what do you think about the rise in Facebook users misinterpreting humorous fictional stories?

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The popularity of religious, Justin Bieber, pages has lost some ground this week

The popularity of religious pages has lost some ground this week, while a certain pop star has moved closer to the to the top spot on our ranking of engagement.

Name	Fans	Interactions
1. Jesus Daily	5,336,725	1,738,155
2. Justin Bieber	27,538,023	1,165,147
3. The Bible	7,132,145	1,096,263
4. Manchester United	14,070,407	1,018,771
5. Mario Teguh	4,042,470	860,829
6. Lady Gaga	34,737,127	775,896
7. FC Barcelona	14,981,412	568,703
8. Necip Fazil Kisakurek	1,014,819	539,712
9. Jesus Christ	2,500,949	509,425
10. Harry Potter	23,874,795	464,320
11. Kemal Kilicdaroglu	1,240,443	442,130
12. Educate Yourself	1,199,241	424,618
13. Dios Es Bueno!	3,543,471	372,617
14. Leo Messi	14,113,075	370,923
15. MTV Roadies	1,443,054	358,527
16. We are Khaled Said	1,291,682	343,274
17. Mehmetcik	1,970,299	328,905
18. NBA	8,745,042	320,020
19. Müzik Keyfi	1,417,240	318,183
20. Werevertumorro	1,882,595	294,395

Religion

Jesus Daily has spent most of the month resting comfortably in the top spot, and with 1,738,155 interactions the popular hangout on Facebook will finish May there as well. The Bible gets knocked back a spot; the text lands in third as it sparked 1,096,263 comments. Also within the top ten, you will find the page dedicated to Jesus Christ finishing in ninth this week thanks to 509,425 talkative fans.
God is Good, or Dios Es Bueno in Spanish, lands in the 13th position with an interaction total of 372,617.

Music

Covering all sorts of random topics in his updates throughout the past seven days, an abundance of fan responses helped Justin Bieber put up quite the competition. The page had a notable week as it lands just short of first with 1,165,147 thoughts added to the discussion.
It was presumed that the release of her new album for under a dollar on Amazon last week would have the masses buzzing over at Lady Gaga‘s social networking home. The pop superstar does take a surprising fall this week though landing in sixth with 775,896 interactions tallied.

Sports

The competition was sizzling overseas on the football field. While Manchester United may have lost the championship, they did manage to outrank competitor Barcelona as a more engaging page. The team moves forward to fourth this week as 1,018,771 diehard fans cheered on Manchester.
FC Barcelona took home the championship — as well as the seventh position on our countdown; 568,703 likers added to the conversation. Star forward Leo Messi page skyrocketed over the past seven days; 370,923 talkative sports fans helped propel the FC Barcelona player into the 14th position.
With the two teams heading to the championship were finally decided last week, NBA‘s social networking hub is a busy place filled with trash talk and championship banter as 320,020 interactions helps the page stay in the 18th spot for another week.

International

Mario Teguh successfully finishes the month in the top ten; the Indonesian motivational speaker splits the first half of our countdown as the content posted has sparked 860,829 responses. Educate Yourself takes a step back to 12th with 424,618 posts added to the page. We are Khaled Said nabs the 16th spot with a seven day interaction total of 343,274. Werevertumorro takes a big fall as the comedic page rounds out our list with 294,395 comments.
In Turkey, Necip Fazil Kisakurek comes in eighth with 539,712 thoughts added to the discussion. Politician Kemal Kilicdaroglu finds his way back to our countdown with 442,130 engaged fans moving the page into the 11th position. Mehmetcik also returns this week to the 17th spot with an additional 328,905 voices partaking in the discussions. Müzik Keyfi slips six spots; the page hangs in 18th with 318,183 interactions.

Movies And Television

Excitement is building for the seventh Harry Potter film set to be released this summer. The upcoming blockbuster explodes in fan hype this week as it cuts our list in half with 464,320 excited posts added to the mix. Facebook continues to be the go-to place to discuss “MTV Roadies” as the show hangs on to 15th place this time around with 358,527 chattering fans.
If you want to measure interactions on your own page and compare them to others, take a look at all article about Facebook , which allows you to track and compare your pages in different dimensions. The tool is available in a free version, along with multiple business packages.
Readers, which pages have you engaged with the most this week?

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The House GOP conference says the challenge spawned 11,000 new Facebook likes for participants.

We told you about the New Media Challenge that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives launched to increase member participation on social media platforms, including Facebook. Well, round two just wrapped up and we’ve got the winners and losers hot off the press. The envelope please…

The House GOP conference says the challenge spawned 11,000 new Facebook likes for participants.

• Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV), simply asked (er, pleaded) outright for more friends in a video post on Facebook. The straightforward approach shouldn’t be surprising, since politicians have to ask for things all the time, right? Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work as her competitor, Rep. Allen West (FL), moves on to the next round.
• Or, there’s the “all for one and one for all approach,” as these Texas Congressmen shared on their respective pages (neither made it past Round 2.)
• Congressman Steve Womack (AR) posted a photo from his recent trip to Arlington National Cemetery, along with storm and tornado tips for his constituents in Arkansas.

Worth noting are the number of freshman GOP members who have taken to the challenge, since they have only been in office since January.  More than half of the remaining players are new to Congress. The challenge started with 106 players and after today that’s been cut down to 24.
So, what’s the secret to increasing engagement? There may not be a tried and true formula, but here are a few highlights the Republicans learned about it during the week.
Leanne Goodman, who handles social media for California Congressman Howard McKeon’s office, said, “The strategy is straightforward- engaging our constituents on Facebook through relevant, consistent content that integrates different new media platforms. The Congressman is fully engaged in the process, regularly recommending articles and opening his doors to ‘behind the scenes’ views for constituents back in California.”

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about Facebook profile photos

Did you know that the average Facebook user will change their profile photo 18 times this year? That’s three times as often as in 2006. Check out these interesting stats about Facebook profile photos!

Pixable has put together a pretty informative infographic that details some interesting statistics about Facebook user behavior as it applies to their profile photos. Check out the stats compiled from the company’s more than 500,000 Facebook users below.

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