Why use Facebook at Notre Dame to promote my program, class or dept or even myself?
I get this question a lot.
And the answer depends a lot on your target audience. For instance, the agency does not have a Facebook page. Why not?
Because the audience I want to attract and engage with is not on Facebook to learn about me. The agency decided to use another platform (Linkedin Private Group – Notre Dame Campus Communicators) and we use that platform along with Brown Bag Lunch and Learns (two new ones in Feb – blogging and content strategy, find them on the Linkedin Group) and OPAC’s Campus Communicators Summit to do outreach.
So analyze that first – is the target audience using the platform?
For most depts, programs, classes, and colleges, your target audience is using Facebook. So should you use it or not?
There are two things that I believe you should look at before starting your FREE Facebook page.
- Does anyone in our office use Facebook consistently and understands how people communicate on Facebook?
- Can we make Facebook part of our overall marketing strategy?
If no one in the office uses Facebook, then don’t start a page. Why?
As oaknd1 likes to say, “Bad social media is worse than no social media.”
He’s right. There are a ton of dead Facebook pages, profiles, youtube channels, twitter accounts, old blogs, etc… When no one is monitoring them, how do you think that makes people feel about your program. Not great. It causes them to second guess how you are running things if your communications suck that bad and that hurts your branding.
So make sure there is at least one person who understands Facebook and is committed to doing it. And adding it onto someone’s job without explaining why you are doing it, doesn’t help either. Which brings us to number two.
If you are going to do Facebook, then it needs to be part of your overall plan with time and resources committed to it.
A lot of ask how much time Facebook should take. To me, it shouldn’t be more than a half hour a day in the beginning and even less later unless it starts to get really active. And you want an active page – people talking back and forth, people talking to you.
So if you have both of those requirements set and you are ready to go, how do you use Facebook to attract and engage your audience?
Well, I’ll get back to you on that. Next post. I promise.
Do you think I’ve missed any requirements for you to have a Facebook page?
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