Today’s blog comes courtesy of Nicole Black, an attorney and writer of a weekly column for the Daily Record and four legal blogs.
Facebook Fan Pages Offer Credit Unions a Ready-Made, Effective Social Media Presence
The most effective and economical way for a business like a credit union to engage in social media is to set up a Facebook Fan Page. The reason for this is simple: a Facebook Fan Page is not difficult to set up, fans can be harvested from the credit union’s employees’ ready-made Facebook networks, and Facebook Fan Pages are a great way for a credit union to connect with current and potential customers by interacting and engaging with them.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a Facebook Fan Page, you’re not alone. Facebook Fan Pages are a relatively new concept that allow businesses to create a public profile on Facebook.
A Facebook Fan Page is simply a public Facebook profile that can be used to share business and product information with other Facebook users. Facebook Fan Pages are becoming increasingly popular and more and more small businesses are using them to establish a social media presence because Pages allow them to easily stay in touch with customers.
The key to a successful Facebook Fan Page is to create an active community around the Page. The first step, once the Page has been created, is to invite other users to become “fans” of the business’ fan page. One way to do this is to ask your employees to invite their friends and family to become fans of the Page. You can also publicize the Page on your website, at your branches and via emails to your current customers.
Then begin engaging with your fans by: 1) publicizing promotions, educational seminars or charitable events that the credit union is sponsoring, 2) posting photographs from work events, 3) posting photographs and biographies of employees, 4) conducting polls and surveys and 5) encouraging your newfound fans to participate in contests and giveaways.
Many believe that Facebook Fan Pages show great promise for all types of businesses, given the large number of users and the huge amount of traffic that Facebook gets on a daily basis. You can learn more about setting up Facebook Fan pages here: HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page (Mashable).
Nicole Black, an attorney, is the co-author of Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise, co-authors a book with Carolyn Elefant, Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and is currently writing a book about cloud computing for lawyers that will be published at the end of 2010. She also writes a weekly column for the Daily Record and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law, technology and social media. She publishes four legal blogs, including “Practicing Law in the 21st Century.”
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Yes, setting up a Facebook book fan page could be one of the most inexpensive ways to get started in social media, but getting engagement on a page is very difficult. While Facebook does get large traffic, that doesn’t mean that your Facebook page will. You must have a specific reason and goal in mind when creating a fan page and a very thorough strategy to pull it off successfully.
Hi Nicole. Great post. You make excellent points about the pros of fan pages and they are accurate, for sure. But, I would agree with Robbie and I think “Ready-Made, Effective,” as part of your title, is misleading. I like your ideas for FB posts but even if your content is good, it doesn’t necessarily mean people will find you. Relying on your staff’s networks can only go so far. Other social media platforms may offer better prospects depending on the CU’s goals.
This is a great article on Facebook fan pages. Law firms should use this article to set up their fan page, substituting “credit unions” with “law firm.”