Facebook, with more than 750 million users worldwide, has become the biggest social network of our time, and analysts predict this may be just the beginning. It is now a well-known fact that if Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd most populated country in the world. Imagine a place which has the 3rd highest population in the world and its inhabitants were diverse and well connected. From a marketing perspective, you would call this the mother lode. It is no wonder that businesses are using the Facebook platform to reach out to a larger audience.
The focus of the discussion today will be to find out the best or the essential applications a business or brand should use to make it’s mark via Facebook ‘the social networking giant’. We will start with the basic applications, which Facebook offers by default to new Pages and continue to move on to more advanced applications.
Facebook’s Default Applications
1 – Photos
Brands can entice its fans to share their photos and images (especially if the image consists of the product being promoted). Incentives can be provided to the users to encourage sharing in several ways, the most popular of which is with a contest such as “Best photo of the month” with free gifts and prizes being offered to a few winners each month.
2 – Notes
Notes are not often used as it simply provides the users the ability to write text (similar to blogs) and tag/share with their friends. This is a simple functionality that has been provided for the sake of having the feature available, however, it is something that is not used enough. Notes, if used correctly, can be quite useful. For example, people’s creativity can be sparked and they could be asked to submit their favorite chicken dish recipe with users commenting and liking the different submissions. It is open for experimentation.
3 – Events
One of the most widely used applications provided by Facebook is Events. This allows users to create, manage and organize events, create guest lists, invite guests, manage an RSVP list, provide directions, photos and a whole lot more. The Events application from Facebook also has an API through which these Events can be integrated into external Pages or web sites as well. Simply put, if you are organizing an Event in this day and age, it better have a presence on Facebook, otherwise you are losing out on a lot of potential attendees.
4 – Discussion Boards
This application enables the users to share their views and comments. It opens the floor up for debate and other users of the Page may also participate in providing a response if they wish. This also helps businesses get feedback from customers and allows brand advocates to step up and contribute knowledge based on their experiences interacting with the brand. It promotes communication between the users and the brand and that is always a good thing.
Custom built Applications
1 – Contest
One of the most effective ways of gathering users on your brand page is to use contest applications. The user is self-motivated to use the application as the brands normally provide giveaways. For example, Magic Freebies UK has created a brand identity in the UK for giving away the prizes in contests. They have recently developed an application in which users have to guess the weight of a jar filled with candy. If the user is correct or close to the guess they win a prize. In exchange for entering this contest, the user must provide an e-mail address and ‘Like’ the Magic Freebies Facebook Page.
2 – Quiz
Quizzes offer a higher level of engagement than contest applications. They also gather better insight from the user. A quiz can be themed according to the brand and users can be asked questions regarding popular topics of discussion surrounding the brand. The answers will reflect the user’s perception of the brand. Quizzes also promote a level of competition between friends as some people might score well on a quiz and challenge their friends to beat that score if they can. This promotes viral growth.
3 – Story Sharing
This application’s purpose is to gather users’ perspective or the experiences they have previously had with the brand. It can be good or bad, the main point here for businesses to understand is that they are interacting with their customers (or potential customers) and gaining valuable insight. An example for such an application is the Cleveland Browns Fanographies app designed and developed by Cygnis Media. This application allows users to share their Cleveland Browns story, tell everyone how long they have been a fan for, post videos, pictures and more, all the while earning a chance to win Season Tickets to the next Cleveland Browns NFL season.
Click here to read more about custom facebook page applications
