17 Fabulous Facebook Strategies for PR Pros

by coach

Facebook and PR can work closely

Is your Facebook presence working with your PR?

Sometimes a face is like a book. And then there’s Facebook. In this fourth of our PR and Social Media series, we’ll explore how Facebook can be an important communications channel for public relations.

Is your organization already on Facebook? If you’re like most, you’re thinking about it but wondering how to move forward and make sure that you do so effectively. We’ve got 17 fabulous Facebook tips and resources to help show you how to put your organization’s best face forward.

There’s a reason that Facebook now has more than 550 million active members. It’s easy to use, it was built for social interaction and it’s proving to be a very effective media and marketing channel. So much so, that major brands, large organizations, nonprofit groups and government are starting to embrace it just as enthusiastically as individuals.

But for non-personal use, there are a few things you need to know to make Facebook work well for your organization.

Download HubSpot’s free ebook, “How to Use Facebook for Business”, and get started!

Here are my six Facebook tips to think about before diving in:

  1. Recognize that Facebook is a unique media and requires a unique approach. One social media size definitely does not fit all.
  2. Start by listening to and looking at what other successful businesses and brands are doing on Facebook. You can learn a lot from others’ success.
  3. Define your goals and what results you want to achieve with your presence.
  4. Consider how you can integrate this channel into your existing PR and marketing programs.
  5. Don’t be afraid to experiment but like any media, remember that anything you say and do online could appear in the newspaper or on TV the next morning and online forever.
  6. Explore the potential of using Facebook for investor relations, employee communications, media relations, customer interaction, community relations and crisis management.

So let’s have a look at our PR and Facebook resources.

Amy Porterfield provides seven of the best Facebook tips you’ll find anywhere including how to integrate it with your website, test advertising, leverage new Facebook friends, generate leads and build a thriving community.

Facebook’s three newest features are reviewed by Laurel Miltner with a close up look at Groups, Profiles and updated applications.

For PR professionals, Craig Pearce offers an excellent set of Tactical Tools to Help PR Professionals Create Facebook Communities while Barbara Rozgonyi suggests ways to spice up your FB page. Brian Ward gives us 10 Facebook Pages Every Public Relations Professional Should Follow.

You’ll learn a huge amount by looking at these examples of top Facebook pages. Jake Hird shares 25 brilliant examples of Facebook brand pages. The 25 largest brands with the most Facebook “likes” include: Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Oreo, Skittles, Red Bull, Victoria’s Secret, Disney, Converse, iTunes and MTV. Each shows how to use Facebook to full marketing advantage.

SpeckyBoy looks at 40 very creatively designed and effective Facebook business pages by the likes of Britney Spears, Fox News, BMW, Kleenex, Playboy and Avon. Some make excellent use of video like Oxelo, Miley Cyrus and Budweiser UK.

As John Haydon shows, nonprofits can benefit by using Facebook and he also offers 13 Useful Facebook Page Applications for Your Nonprofit.

Many are looking closely at the ROI of social media. Jeff Bullas speculates that sharing on Facebook is six times more valuable than Twitter while Forbes presents the value of Twitter by comparing Twitter followers with Facebook fans.

Just in case you’re head over heels in love with Facebook, Jay Baer adds a cautionary note in Ra Ra Wrong. How Facebook’s Cheerleaders Are Blowing Smoke. He reminds us that “likes” don’t necessarily convert into actions or sales.

Despite Jay’s rant, as PR pros we need to do an about-face. We must explore Facebook and other social media to help our organizations make best use of new channels where they make strategic PR sense. That doesn’t mean using every “shiny new thing” that comes along but rather choosing social media channels that contribute most to meeting our goals.

You’ll find the first three of our five-part social media series here: 99 Super Social Media Tips, Social Media Crisis Management and PR Online Influencers.

Looking for more PR and Facebook resources? Visit our PR Library where you’ll find more than 850 social media and PR resources including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and a fresh bunch of the newest social media tips, tools and applications.

Author:  Jeff Domansky is Editor, The PR Coach

Photo credit:  Scott Ogilvie via Flickr

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PR Book Gifts

Holiday season is approaching. If you’re looking for media relations, strategic PR, crisis management, social media or other public relations books for your favorite communicator, just drop into our PR Bookstore. We have more than 230 PR books to choose from.

PR & Facebook Resources

7 Facebook Marketing Tips From World’s Top Pros [Social Media Examiner]
7 Ways You Can Improve Your Facebook Page Now [10,000 Words]
13 Useful Facebook Page Applications for Your Nonprofit [John Haydon]
25 Brilliant Examples of Facebook Brand Pages
[eConsultancy]
25 Largest Brand Facebook Pages with Most Likes
[TNW Social Media]
40 Highly Effective FaceBook Business Pages
[SpeckyBoy]
Facebook Fans Vs. Twitter Followers: Which Are More Valuable?
[Forbes]
How Can Your Nonprofit Benefit from Facebook Places?
[John Haydon]
Integrating Your WordPress Website with Facebook
[Talk About Local]
New Facebook Features
[PR 20/20]         
Ra Ra Wrong. How Facebook’s Cheerleaders Are Blowing Smoke [Convince and Convert]
Sharing on Facebook is Worth 6 Times More than a Twitter Tweet [Study]
[Jeff Bullas]
Social Media Study Shows Brands How to Spice Up Facebook
[Wired PR Works]
Tactical Tools to Help PR Professionals Create Facebook Communities
[Craig Pearce]
Ten Practical Steps for Improving Your Facebook Presence
[Hypertext]

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