Posted by The majority of businesses have a Facebook page where news updates are routinely posted. Some posts are more creative than others. They can range from a simple new product announcement to a new customer story or case study. They can include photos, videos, recipes, coupons, and much more.
For example, Newman’s Own Facebook page has “An Oral History of Newman’s Own Salad Dressing,” starting with the founding of the company in 1982. Guideposts’ Facebook page is a place where people post and request prayers for loved ones; and report on uplifting quotes and announcements. There are as many types of content as there are pages!
Facebook as an Entry Point to the Company
Yet in many cases, the primary goal of the Facebook page is to bring customers from the Facebook page to the company’s website for product information and – hopefully – an order. So…how is that working?
All of these are very positive steps toward encouraging the customer to keep your brand top of mind. But what if you could do more on your social media site? What if you could find a way to integrate a regular visit to your page into the everyday life of your customers? What if their interaction with your social media site could make it possible for your customers to accomplish one or more of their everyday tasks more completely, more quickly and or more easily?
Facebook is a Public Forum
One of the benefits of the Facebook page is also it’s biggest drawback: it is, for the most part, a public forum. Because of this, it is not necessarily a place for customers to post their most pressing thoughts and needs. Not only that, but if one of your customers wants to bad-mouth your company, that will be public too. And although there are more and more tools available to keep track of all of the numerous locations where your product and company are mentioned, it can be a time consuming task to stay on top of it all.
Have You Considered a Gated Social Platform?
Enter the gated social community. A place where customers can come to have discussions with each other, one to one or one to many, in a protected, private environment. Sounds like a place for candor, right? It’s also a place where you, as Social Media Manager, can easily monitor everything that’s going on, without having to watch what’s going on all over the web. And if you can determine what the most pressing needs of your customers are, and give them a place to satisfy those needs, they will have a great reason to keep coming back.
All of the Above 