Photo by StonySteiner
Saturday I was my political alter ego, but social media followed me even there. Although it wasn’t why I was there I ended up sitting in on a training for political activists and one of the sessions was about using Facebook for small, local political clubs. I was tickled to see social media being promoted, but the presentation was vague on specifics. When I had the chance to grab the microphone for a brief moment I tried to explain the difference between Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages. This post is a continuation of that thought and what I’ll be sending to folks who asked for more information Saturday.
I break Facebook down into 3 types. Let’s call them the 3 Musketeers! Profiles, Groups, and Pages. Just like with Angry Birds, each have a unique set of tools and uses. I’ll give a short description of each and then talk about best practices for business.
Profiles
Profiles belong to people. It should have a real first name and a real last name. How do you know you’re looking at a profile? Look for the ‘Add friend’ button or a link that says ‘See Friendship’. Another hint is whether Facebook refers to them by their first name. If anyone other than a real person has one it’s open to suspension or deletion by Facebook.
Business Uses for Profiles
Feel free to talk about your business in your statuses, but I wouldn’t advise using your profile for business promotion. Facebook has tailored everything about profiles to be personable and people expect to see personal stories on a profile. I’ll stop there before I get all carried away about sharing options and psychological consequences of a compartmental life. 🙂
Groups
Groups are exactly what they sound like–they’re a group of personal Facebook users who have a common interest. They basically provide a private wall that multiple people can post to. You can either join an open group or be added to a closed group by a member. Anyone can create a group. No one speaks as or for the group. Every post in the group is from an individual member, so it definitely has to be a group effort (har, har).
Business Uses for Profiles
When it’s important to hear from individuals on a specific topic Groups are the ticket! Do you have a new product that you need feedback on? Ask your first 100 buyers (probably early adopters) to join your group and update you on their experiences with it! Do you need a quick way to communicate with employees who have forgotten to check their email? Make a private group, just be sure to drop members when they move onto a different job. Nonprofits can use a Page (coming up next!) to speak to the public and then a private group for all the logistics of volunteer shifts and supports. A particularly useful feature of Groups for volunteers is the ability to create and share documents. I still prefer Google Docs but some folks aren’t as familiar with it as Facebook.
Pages
Pages are profiles for businesses, bands, celebrities, and organizations. They have many of the same tools and apps as personal profiles (photos, statuses, notes, ability to like other pages, ask questions, etcetera), but have extra features such as the ability to run ads, track activity with Insights, and have custom tabs.
Business Uses for Pages
Everything. Pages are the #1 Facebook tool for businesses. Click on the Facebook tag at the bottom of this post and browse. And look for more to come!
