I have had several colleagues ask me about the Facebook page our Barren County Cooperative Extension Service Office team has created. As I have considered the questions from my fellow Extension agents and their staff assistants, it has occurred to me that sharing what I have learned might be beneficial to others.
In this post, I will specifically address Facebook and in my next post I will focus on blogging. I have used Twitter on a sporadic basis. And while I find it to be an excellent resource for "keeping up" with people, I don't see it as a viable means for marketing a product or service. Of course, this is merely my opinion, but I find tweets to be a little on the obnoxious side and consider those who try to market with Twitter to be akin to telemarketers. Enough said!
Please be advised, the information provided in this post is from a purely experiential perspective and has not been researched or studied in a scientific manner! That being said, here is what I have learned.
Audience
First of all, before you begin, think about the audience you are trying to reach. When we considered this question, as Barren County Extension Agents, we decided that we wanted to reach people across all program areas (Agriculture, Family and Consumer Science, 4-H and Horticulture) which is the reason that we decided for a team Facebook page. Each of us had considered starting a page specific to our own program area, but felt that we could better cross market our programs from the team approach. Together, we have generated more interest in our total program, than any one of us could have done on our own.
Monitoring
Once you decide on the format for your Facebook page, there should be someone who will regularly monitor the page. While we are all “administrators” of our page, it is necessary that one person take the lead in attending to housekeeping duties. Selecting the “monitor” can be a concerted decision, or like in our case just come to one person by default. We have set our page up so that our clients can post questions, comments, etc. to our page because we want it to be an additional resource for them in communicating with us. However, this also allows other people to post "SPAM" to our page. Therefore, having one person monitor the page allows several things to happen. First of all, if a client posts a question or comment that needs further attention, then I alert the appropriate person so that our client will receive a timely response. Additionally, if a spammer posts sales or promotional material to our page, then I remove that before it creates the appearance that we are endorsing a product or service. And finally, not every person in our office has a Facebook account, so I make sure that items are posted to our Facebook page from all areas so that it doesn’t become a program specific page. It doesn't require a lot of effort, just a commitment to regularly check the page and channel things appropriately.
Posting
You must be committed to posting regularly. A dormant Facebook page is like an Extension Office where the lights are on but nothing is happening. Properly utilizing the page means, keeping your audience regularly aware of the programs, accomplishments, newsworthy events and activities that are occurring within your program. By the same token, don't become a nuisance to your Facebook friends. Keep your posts regular, but try not fall into the habit of "cluster posting". Remember, when you post something to your page, a notification goes out to everyone in your network. If you post six things in one day and nothing else for three weeks, you will annoy your "friends" on the posting day and they will forget about you by day six. This is the major pitfall of having a team page. If we all have something important to post on the same day, we run the risk of losing "friends." We haven't figured out a good method yet, for dealing with this issue, but I just want you to be aware. Spreading postings out regularly, over time, is going to enhance the effectiveness of your page.
Facebook Functions
Only utilize the Facebook functions that are generating traffic from your network. When we first started our page, we tried to open discussions and found that little interest was generated in those discussions. However, when we introduced “questions” on our wall, we saw much greater interest. My point is, use what works and don’t stress about what isn’t working. Posting pictures has generated a lot of conversation and traffic to our page and using the Notes section to post timely information has also been effective. However, just because something hasn’t worked in the past, don’t write it off forever. Go back every once in a while and give it another chance. When we first tried discussions, we had a much smaller network – now that our network has grown, discussions might be a viable function.
The Network
Finally, creating a Facebook network has been the easiest part of developing our page. When we first went “live”, we were amazed when we had 50+ friends overnight. And as time progresses, our page has continued to garner interest. Many of our original friends were personal friends of one of page administrators, but over time we have noticed that we are now being sought out from other sources. Providing a link to your Facebook page in your email signature line, from your county website, from your blog and even in your regular news articles helps to create excitement about your page. Also, linking to other sites of interest to your community and program areas will help to ensure that your network remains strong.
Hopefully, this post has been helpful to you. Let me know what you think and where you have had success or met challenges with your Facebook page in the comments area!
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