Back in June, Mashable posted a great article highlighting five Facebook fan pages, and what they’re doing right.
Killer Facebook Fan Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies
There are so many great things to take away from these five examples that apply to any fan page. Here are a few that really struck me.
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Videos Are Your Friend
Videos can be a great way for your fan page to get attention. They can be fun to watch, easy to make, and more importantly, they can go viral. Using your fan page as a distribution hub can give you another level of engagement and conversation with your fans. It also gives your fans the opportunity to “Like” your videos, thus sharing and endorsing your fan page to all of their friends. This can be great if you’re promoting a conference or event to students involved in your ministry. Post fun videos about the event before, during, and after the event actually happens to generate buzz and awareness about your ministry.
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Encourage User Participation
Coca-Cola has found some really innovative ways of letting their fans own the fan page. Their fans don’t just comment on updates and share random videos from the fan page. Their fans contribute content (videos and photos) to the fan page. Coca-Cola fans aren’t just fans, but engaged members of a community. Fan pages for ministries can do similar things by hosting photo and video contests, and by letting fans post pictures and videos of events.
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Status Updates: The Double Edged Sword
The Starbucks fan page is a great example of how to get the most out of your status updates, and a lot can be learned from how they’re using their status updates to engage with fans rather than just blasting them with shameless self-promotion. Be warned though: Use status updates the right way and you can create a great environment for two way communication. Use status updates the wrong way and people may start ignoring you, or even blocking you from their news feeds. Don’t use your status updates just to promote your ministry to the masses. Ask your fans questions, listen to their answers, and share other sources of content that are relevant to them.
Be sure to check out the full article on Mashable.com. There are so many more great examples of how to engage your fans that anyone can implement, not just fortune 500 companies.
