Attracting fans with flash is great, but maintaining and supporting a vibrant online community requires deep self-evaluation and a lot of hard work. How will you communicate with your audience? What kind of content do will you give them? How will you inspire conversation? At Story Worldwide, we’ve managed Facebook accounts for some of the world’s biggest brands, and we’ve figured out a few things along the way. We’re proud to announce that a summary of our strategic learnings is available in our very own “Best Practices for Audience Management Thru Facebook.” It’s a living, breathing collection of wisdom on the world’s most popular online social network. We’ve designed this document to help brands build real and thriving online communities of interested, excited brand loyalists and advocates. With instructions on how to publish content that people really want and how to manage audience interaction in real time, it will take much of the guess work out of implementing a social media plan.

1. Best practices for
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
THROUGH FACEBOOK.
STORY WORLDWIDE.
Version 1.0
March 2011
Developed by Story Worldwide
Strategic Document
BECAUSE BRANDS
ARE STORIES.

2. The only way to reach
audiences is to create media
that is entertaining,
informing and engaging.
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3. CONTENTS
Introduction to Facebook 2
Express Your Brand Identity 3
Build Your Facebook Page 4
Create Content that Carries 5
Develop a Posting Strategy 6
Engage Your Audience 7
Respond in Real Time 8
Inspire Likes and Fans 9
Promote Your Efforts 10
Measure and Adjust 11
Look to the Future 12
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4. INTRODUCTION TO FACEBOOK
600 Million Active Users.
JUST: WOW.
But Facebook is no longer simply a growth phenomenon.
It’s literally reorganizing the way humans communicate.
Are you an “average user?” If so, you have 130 friends, are
connected to 80 community pages, groups, and events,
and create 90 pieces of “content” every month—links,
photos, videos, and so on. Multiply that by 600 million
active users, and the result is a truly massive web of shared
thoughts, dreams, friendships and moments, building and
reinforcing at the speed of light. A good portion of humanity
is interconnected now, recording the history of the world
in real time.
Facebook is integrated into the fabric of human life now.
It can be a tough nut to crack for brands—it’s hard to aggregate
all that tasty data, hard to track conversation, hard to find
advertising real estate. Which is no small part of why it’s so
popular. But brands have to find a way to master Facebook...
it is, truly, too big to ignore. Managed well, Facebook is also
the gateway to hyperefficient micro-targeting, deep customer
engagement, startlingly honest audience insights and other
magical powers.
Here’s how it’s done!
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5. EXPRESS YOUR BRAND IDENTITY
A quick look in the mirror before you go public
For Chrysler, we developed Before crafting your Facebook presence, it’s important to settle
on who you are and how you want to represent yourself. Will
Dodge and Ram identities that
you be sober and helpful? Friendly and lighthearted? Corporate
artfully combined their colors, and aloof? Will you speak with one company voice or as several
logos, and product shots. employees? What will your audiences see when they come to
your page—and what will keep them coming back for more?
TONE AND VOICE
Facebook is a conversational medium, so your brand will need
a human voice. The details should properly be decided by all
your brand stakeholders, not just your social media director,
but whatever you decide should be expressed in a tone guide
document so it’s consistent…even a team of brand page
administrators must work in concert to ensure responses are
internally consistent, so audiences can build expectations, and
accords with your presence in other social media channels.
LOOK AND FEEL
Facebook’s pages are rigidly templated, and there are few places
to express yourself visually, so it’s important to make the most
of them. On the Wall, where most of the action and conversation
happens, you control two spaces that typically don’t change: the
large logo block at the upper left, and the small square icon that
accompanies each of your posts. Facebook’s new page format
also puts five of your uploaded photos at the top center. You
can change them frequently for freshness, in line with weekly
content updates or other spotlights, or you can fix them in
order (as your five most recent uploads) for a vivid visual effect.
Consider affixing useful captions to these images: If they’re
photos of food, consider linking to recipes; if they’re photos of
products, link to full product details.
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6. BUILD YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE
The basic elements of an ever evolving site
The basic architecture of Facebook is constantly evolving
in small ways, such as the new tab structure issued in March.
But the basic elements don’t change too much.
WALL
The Wall is where virtually all conversation takes place.
Your friends’ posts appear here, in chronological order, and
whenever you post here it shows up on the Wall of anybody
who’s "Liked" you. This design is standardized and there isn’t
anything to modify, but occasionally Facebook will tweak the
look and appearance (for example, adding embedded videos to
video links).
WELCOME
A Welcome Tab is a fully customizable landing page for
first-time visitors. (Returning visitors are typically brought
straight to the wall.)
TABS
Tabs are the home for any content your fans may want to
engage with—features, apps, photos, videos, recipes, articles,
maps, schedules. There are also a few default tabs—the Wall
is a tab, and an Info tab logs the basics of your site. But the
others are fully customizable. Before the recent update to
Facebook pages, “Tabs” appeared at the top of each page, and
were limited in visibility and nameability. Now they appear as a
navigation bar on the left, and permit longer names and longer
tab titles. We recommend taking advantage of this by treating
them more like a Table of Contents, giving key features their
own “tab,” and writing longer, more descriptive tab titles.
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7. CREATE CONTENT THAT CARRIES
And give your audience reasons to congregate
The best way to kick-start and sustain conversations around
your brand is to create great original content. It’s unlikely your
existing commercials or brand messaging will fill the bill—
we’re talking about new content that is genuinely informative,
entertaining, and on-brand. Content your audience actually
wants, that will inspire them to “Like” your page and share it
with their friends. Facebook is very flexible in this regard: You
can produce interviews and features, Google maps, videos and
photo contests, polls and quizzes, and almost anything else you
can think of. Remember to create with an eye to brand truths
and business goals, so the right stories will spread.
FACEBOOK APPS
Original, Facebook-specific applications can be great for
entertaining, engaging, and spreading your brand on Facebook.
But they can require a large investment of resources, and require
users to “allow” them to access their private information via
a warning screen, a distinct turnoff. And they’re not as visible
on Facebook as they were. So make sure any app you decide to
build combines functionality and great viral potential to justify
such an undertaking. Today, a simple contest calling for fans to
share a photo or video of themselves might work better as an
editorially driven campaign on your Wall than as an enclosed,
privacy-protected app.
LEVERAGING OUTSIDE CONTENT
Finally, make sure you leverage content you’ve already created
in other channels. For example, brand-created videos uploaded
to YouTube can be hosted under a Facebook tab and linked to,
repeatedly, from Wall posts. When your audience shares them
with their followers, they can click and watch the video without
leaving Facebook. And your story spreads!
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8. DEVELOP A POSTING STRATEGY
What kind of netizen will you be?
GENERAL
The Wall is where you speak to your audience. Each of your wall
posts is experienced two ways: as an individual message on your
fans’ own Walls, and in the context of all your other posts and
brand conversation, when people visit you on your brand’s wall.
TIMING
When’s the best time to post? Hard to say, especially if your
brand is relevant in multiple time zones. But lunchtime is great
for engagement; in America posting between noon and 1pm EST
gathers East Coast lunchers and West Coast breakfast. Consider
when your specific brand is most relevant and attractive to users:
For a wine brand, for example, evening engagement will be
easier, and you won’t want to post anything before 2pm. For a
food brand, try posting dinner recipe recommendations when
your audience is leaving work). Programs like HootSuite can help
you easily preload posts to be deployed at preset times.
FREQUENCY
Consider posting three times a day as a maximum. Unlike
Twitter, posting too frequently on Facebook can have a negative
impact on "Likes" and MAUs (Monthly Active Users)—tipping
the ratio of brand-dictated posts to user comments and user
postings makes for an unattractive Wall when first glanced at
by a prospective fan, because it looks like a one-way broadcast
rather than ongoing and diverse engagement. Separate multiple
posts over the course of a day…consecutive posts on somebody’s
Wall, no matter how nice, mark you as an invasive nuisance.
When a brand gets involved in the
conversation in real time, an empty
room becomes a party with a host.
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9. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE
Create posts that inspire conversation
GETTING THE RATIO RIGHT PROMOTIONAL POSTS
You can do business on Facebook, but if every post is an ad, Promotional plugs can move the needle on brand
a brand quickly turns its audience off. That’s why it’s important understanding, can lead to offline behavior like tune-ins and
that the majority of posts engage users in a way that isn’t test-drives, and can guide to the great content living in your
strictly promotional. In general, we recommend a mix of 1/3 tabs. Remember, you’re still trying to drive conversation: Your
Promotional and 2/3 Conversational posts; you can use a promotional posts should still be entertaining and engaging,
higher-octane promotional mix if the brand is beloved; less if not ad-salesy. Ask a sincere question at the end to inspire
it’s new or has image issues. further conversation in the comments section.
CONVERSATIONAL POSTS MULTIMEDIA ENHANCEMENT
These can be polls, questions, caption contests—anything Whenever possible, attach relevant audio or video—these
that’s lively and inspires discussion. Ask simple and succinct posts perform better in terms of both “Likes” and comments.
questions, and consider framing them within a theme (e.g.: Attach content that lives within Facebook, so people don’t have
“Salad Talk”). Talk about current events when relevant; call out to leave the space; upload and attach photos (vs. guiding to
great content/pages not produced by you that you think your a web-based gallery) and choose embedable YouTube videos
fans would like. This “good netizenship” makes you seem less (vs. unsupported video sites). Consider using an app like
corporate and more like a person worth knowing. Selective Tweets to pipe in specific messaging from Twitter.
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10. RESPOND IN REAL TIME
Staying involved in the conversation
GENERAL
Once you’ve posted, it’s important to monitor the conversation
that results, and chime in when appropriate to clarify, amplify,
fix misperceptions, and so on. How fast you can respond will be
limited by your social media staffing commitment, but 24 hours
is too long, and the faster you can do it the better—managing
conversation as it happens will foster an appreciative, genuinely
attentive audience.
BE A PERSON, NOT THE FACE OF A CORPORATION
The goal’s to answer any and all questions and concerns with
well-informed, timely responses. Even if you can’t answer
right away (e.g., you have to check with a company lawyer or
sales rep), tell the commenter you’re working on it, so anyone
reading the comments can see they’re being paid attention to.
Show a genuine interest in a commenter’s specific issue and
express thanks for bringing it to light.
AMPLIFY THE POSITIVE; TAKE THE NEGATIVE OFFLINE
Curating your brand’s conversation means doing what you
can to make positive statements spread, and to stop negative
threads before they can gain traction. Example: Ask users to
create and share content related to your brand; once uploaded,
these are valuable assets, and become naturally shareable with
the larger audience. Similarly, while you can’t squelch haters,
you can correct misperceptions, and try to take negative threads
offline. Example: Invite an angry detractor to email you offline
so you can personally deal with his issue (and where nobody
else, conveniently, will see it).
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11. INSPIRE LIKES AND FANS
Getting audiences to opt in to your brand conversation
LIKING IS SHARING
For a user, choosing to “like” a given page can be about showing
allegiance (“Jane Likes Coca-Cola”) or it can be a statement of
identity (“Lizzie Likes Justin Bieber for President”). Whatever
your motivation, when you click a “Like” button, Facebook
automatically alerts your friends, in their feeds…and if what
you like has a video or photo attached to it, they see that too.
In this sense, the “Like” button has functionally absorbed and
replaced the “share” feature.
LIKES COME FROM ALL OVER
There are many kinds of “Like.” Users can “Like” content you
share on your Wall, or a comment left by someone else on
content you’ve already posted. “Like” buttons can be found
elsewhere on the Web, outside Facebook, through embedded
widgets. Most crucial, though, is encouraging “Likes” for your
overall Facebook presence. By “Liking” you here, a user is
effectively subscribing to all of your content. Your posts show
up on his wall, and he is now a new member of your audience.
LIKE TO UNLOCK
The most efficient way to generate “Likes” is to “Like-Gate” your
page. Whenever a newcomer arrives, whether driven there via
a targeted Facebook ad or lured through shared content, they
are welcomed by a “Like this to access the content” message.
Technically, they can bypass this and click straight through to
your content, but, in practice, they accept this as an easy “toll.”
And presto: a new customer is born.
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12. PROMOTE YOUR EFFORTS
Three ways to attract new crowds to your content
EDITORIAL OUTREACH
Don’t be afraid to reach beyond the confines of your own page. The
new rules of Facebook let brand pages post, “Like,” and comment
on other pages. Participating in relevant discussions elsewhere
increases exposure for your own page, and posting trails back to
your own Facebook content can be a powerful tool for recruiting
new fans from related or even competitive pages. (Imagine Coke
posting to Pepsi's Wall: “Okay, your last ad was pretty funny. What
do you think of ours?” with an embedded video.)
INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIPS
Every brand category has its influencers—bloggers, forum
admins, power Tweeters, and so on. Often they’ve already
coalesced large and relevant audiences, and reaching out
to them with an offer of partnership can be an efficient way
to enhance your authority to publish and kick-start your
own audience. There are many possible ways this can work,
including linking to one another’s content, or even entering
into content production partnerships. Importantly, this is
an editorial outreach, not a pay-for-play scheme—that risks
inspiring influencer backlash.
HYPER-TARGETED ADVERTISING
Facebook’s limited paid media space is part of its charm, but
what it has can be powerful. Hyper-targeted ads (right-hand For Constellation Wines, we draw in
panel) let you tailor your spend to very specific keywords, audiences with a combination of smart
and you pay only for clickthru. Paired with "Like-Gated" FB paid media and editorial outreach.
landing page, they can achieve as much as five likes for a dollar.
Facebook Stories, an evolution of this concept, lets brands
sponsor organic, consumer-generated activity, so the call to
visit (and "Like?") your page feels like it comes from a friend…an
approach infinitely more engaging than the typical banner ad.
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13. MEASURE AND ADJUST
The metrics of efficient, effective engagement
FACEBOOK’S "INSIGHTS" TAB
“Likes” are only the beginning. The “Insights” button at the right
of your brand’s page links to a set of helpful metrics tracking the
demographics of your fanbase, their activity on your page, and
engagement rates for particular posts. Some examples:
News Feed Stream Impressions: How many views does each Wall
post generate, from fans and non-fans in news feed streams?
(You can also just see page views.)
Wall Post CTR: Are your Wall posts driving positive response
from your audience? Which engagement methods are most
effective, and which should be modified or scrapped?
Fan Interaction Rate: How many total responses ("Likes" and
comments) to your Wall posts?
Individual Tab Views: Which pages are your fans engaging
with…Are they playing games? Watching videos? Viewing
photos? Looking at product info?
Dislike Attrition Rate: Once someone has “Liked” you, do they
“Unlike” you later on once they’ve finished with your content?
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Figures like Daily Active User and Monthly Active Users are
frequently leveraged by brands, because they are usually large
and impressive numbers. But they provide little insight into the
most important thing: engagement. There’s simply no metric
that can replace reading the conversations, interacting with your
audience, and watching the sentiment and mood change. For the
first time in history you can read your consumers’ minds…and
isn’t that why you got involved in social media in the first place?
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14. LOOK TO THE FUTURE
“Sustained Facebook is a dynamic relationship web that fulfills the ultimate We’ll keep you on top of these and all the other changes in the
social media promise: It enables people to stay connected to works as they develop. But don’t hesitate to contact us if you
success depends everyone and everything they care about through conversation have any questions, concerns, thoughts or ideas. In fact, post
on content and content sharing. them to our Wall at facebook.com/storyworldwide.
creation and Its footprint for individuals is unique and deeply personal,
which can make it hard for brands to get traction within
conversation Facebook. But only when they limit themselves to old-
Hope this was helpful!
curation." world broadcasting techniques. As everywhere else in social
media, sustained success depends on content creation and The Story Audience Management Team
conversation curation. Give people something to talk about,
make sure they can share it, and get involved in the micro-
community that results.
Facebook is necessarily in constant flux, trying to keep up
with evolving technical possibilities, emerging business
opportunities, and accelerating user demands. New features
in the works or in the process of being rolled out and absorbed
include Facebook Messages (combining email and instant
messaging), Facebook Credits (a virtual currency), and
Facebook Platform (redefining Facebook as a suite of services,
rather than a product with functionality). Privacy and safety
concerns will continue to ebb and flow as the service responds
to consumers.
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