Facebook Reveals A Community Opportunity To Brands

Facebook Reveals A Community Opportunity To Brands
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine
SHARE
THIS



In this guest column, CEO of community management company Quiip, Alison Michalk (pictured below), says brands don’t need to spend big dollars to use Facebook to engage customers…

That thing fundamental to community and missing in most social media — many-to-many conversations.

Facebook’s push messaging has dwindled to a near zero organic reach rate, which has demanded brands increase their budgets to reach their audiences.

Alison Michalk - CEO Quiip SM

The fact that brands can now foster active and thriving spaces that don’t require the advertising budgets of pages is a huge opportunity. But don’t get carried away — you’ll need to divert that money into active community management!

What’s new?

The newest development will allow pages to interact with groups as pages, rather than a personal profile which is the current option and not viable for most organsations.

Whilst Facebook groups are currently very limited in their features, we can expect this to improve, with the much-needed ability to create sub-sections or sub-forums coming soon. In January Social Media Today reported that some groups had the ability to have sub-sections, seen here but we’re yet to see that appear in our much-loved Australian Community Managers group – ping Facebook!

Tips for starting a group

It’s not something to jump into without careful consideration. If you let the group grow rapidly without the right governance in place you’re in for a challenge.

Here are our tips for establishing a Facebook community:

  1. Establish a clear internal objective for the community along with a realistic timeframe for the community to be established. Avoid calling it a pilot or trial as axing it after 3-months is not an ideal scenario for you or your customers.
  2. Have a clear plan about where community ownership sits in your organisation and how various stakeholders will participate and on what terms.
  3. Establish clear boundaries around membership. Is it for customers only? How will you approve members and determine their eligibility?
  4. Do not create a community without clear guidelines on what will and will not be tolerated by your community. Create a risk and escalation framework for dealing with all potential issues. Include PR/comms team and anyone you might need to pull in urgently. Do not surprise them!
  5. Plan for scale. Unless you have hours and hours spare in your current role, consider resources for community admins or volunteers.
  6. Create a content plan to foster discussion and showcase the type of content the group is centered around (but be willing to listen to customers as they’re bound to have their own wishes!)
  7. Dedicate time to actively manage and nurture your new group. Making retroactive changes is very difficult once a culture and norms become established.

Alison Michalk is CEO of leading community management company Quiip and Co-Founder of Swarm, Australia’s premier community management conference – 30-31 August, Sydney.

Please login with linkedin to comment

Designworks magna global Online ads Shaun Anderson

Latest News

Eyeota Enhances Reach And Targeting Precision For RDA Research
  • Marketing

Eyeota Enhances Reach And Targeting Precision For RDA Research

Leading Australian market research data brand, RDA Research, provides actionable consumer intelligence to help businesses inform decision making and growth strategies. RDA Research wanted to make its unique consumer data available for addressable digital targeting and required a data onboarding partner to help activate their data in an online environment.

Enthral Strengthens Journalistic DNA By Hiring Channel 7 Reporter Sean Sowerby
  • Media

Enthral Strengthens Journalistic DNA By Hiring Channel 7 Reporter Sean Sowerby

Storytelling agency Enthral has appointed Channel 7 reporter and sports presenter Sean Sowerby as its new senior PR and content manager in Melbourne. Sowerby (pictured) started his award-winning career at 3AW before spending more than 15 years in television. Enthral founder and manager director, Cameron Smith, spoke of the significance of Sowerby joining the agency. […]

Blis Puts Its CEO In The Desert In Clever New “Data Drought” Ad
  • Campaigns
  • Technology

Blis Puts Its CEO In The Desert In Clever New “Data Drought” Ad

Ever since Google first announced it would be getting rid of third-party cookies on Chrome, digital advertising businesses have been actively sharing their plans for life after cookies. And now programmatic advertising company Blis might have come up with the most creative way to get the message across, in a new video which sees company […]

Agency Icon Sweeps The SABRE Awards
  • Marketing
  • Media

Agency Icon Sweeps The SABRE Awards

Integrated Melbourne agency Icon has taken top honours in the 2021 SABRE Awards, winning the coveted Australasian Consultancy of the Year for 2021 along with a host of category and craft awards. Icon led a large field of Australian agencies with a total of three major and seven minor awards, including gold in the cause-related […]

Former Agency Execs Launch Car Service Summon
  • Marketing
  • Media

Former Agency Execs Launch Car Service Summon

Former agency executives Tim O’Neill and Tim Fouhy have launched the auto technology startup Summon. Australia’s first full e-commerce service for prestige cars. O’Neill and Fouhy both founded Reactive, a digital agency, which was bought by Accenture in 2016. Following the deal, O’Neill and Fouhy ended up leading the company’s digital marketing arm, Accenture Interactive before […]