At 321 Takeoff, we’ve been building online experiences for 15 years, and we know there are proven best practices. The Facebook experience, by contrast, is a relatively new concern, and best practices are only emerging. Below, I discuss how we see things; afterwards, I hope you’ll weigh in with your own comments and opinions. I’ll put together a follow-up post in two weeks with your comments.
Facebook: The Microsite
When it comes to building Facebook experiences, we use methodologies that are quite similar to the ones we use when building websites—creating wireframes, assembling a copy manuscript, and delivering a look and feel that answers to our strategy. The environment, however, has a completely different context, because Facebook objectives inform an entirely different experience than a website does, in particular, the need to drive “LIKE”-ing and news feeds. This means we have to create a strong brand identity that encourages content sharing. At 321, we like to do this through a mixture of application and engagement tools that drive news feeds and offline participation like special events and coupons.
If your company also has a microsite, the Facebook experience is going to overlap with it, and we think that’s ok. Why? Well, Facebook is a destination and people are already there, so it’s smart to duplicate content that is key to your brand, like, say, a current campaign. Our philosophy is that people viewing your Facebook presence are already inside Facebook, and they generally want to stay there rather than linking out to microsite. So we do as much as we can to keep the experience within Facebook’s own boundaries.
Of course, we do link out when we need to do data collection or e-commerce; there are also some larger initiatives that cannot be accomplished in Facebook due to data integrity. The problem occurs when Facebook experiences are built without any tools or features to drive engagement or sharing, and rely on static posts that don’t answer to the same strategy that the experience was built upon.
Facebook: The Aggregator
To build a compelling Facebook experience, take your brand assets (whether that’s an overarching identity or a specific, campaign based identity), and customize tools and apps that drive engagement and answer to not only your FB objectives, but also support your brand.
The beauty of the Facebook experience is that you can aggregate all of your social media in one place—from YouTube and Twitter to blog posts and RSS feeds—and promote your brand inside of the experience. That isn’t actually powerful on its own. It’s the LIKE feature that makes it powerful, as users see who in their community also shares your good taste. LIKEing makes loyalty tangible. But when we think of Facebook as aggregator, we often think about it as the equivalent of the About Us and Contact Us pages on a website, that is, not the primary content, but standard.
Using Facebook as a mere aggregator is like making an intern out of a Rhodes Scholar. Instead, we work with our developers to create interactive features like brand-focused quizzes, virtual gift sharing and cause petitions that drive News feeds. It’s content that goes beyond showboating to benefit the user and drive LIKEing and the News feed.
Facebook: The One Hit Wonder
It’s not enough to be LIKED. One of the biggest problems with Facebook happens when companies build a compelling experience, build some momentum along with a strong LIKE base, and then simply leave it to die. Pipelining fresh content into your Facebook experience—content that relates to your brand initiatives—is very important, because you don’t just want your LIKE audience to come back. You want their friends to like you too. Chances are, you already have an agency and resources with which to update your web content. Treat your Facebook page exactly the same way. Your Facebook experience is not a one-hit wonder.
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