Posts Tagged ‘Managing Facebook Friend Requests’

Who are you and why should I care? 3 ways to boost FB Fan Page “likes” and draw the right prospects.

Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Creating a Facebook Fan Page (or Group page) can be a valuable tool for any business – small, medium or large – to not only connect with potential customers, but also to attract, communicate directly with, build relationship and introduce your product or service to prospects. One way to attract new Fans is to invite Friends of your Friend Page to “like” your Fan Page. Another is to ask Friends to suggest your Fan Page to their Friends. Well, if you`re anything like me – you get hundreds of these invitations each week. But even if you only get a few invites each week – we simply don’t have time to spend researching who it is that is asking us to “like” their page.  As Fan Page administrators it’s also in our best interest to have people who WANT to be there and are interested in and will participate in the conversation.     

It all starts with how you set up and brand your Fan Page.  The two most obvious branding opportunities are your “thumbnail photo” and “page name.”      

Here’s how most people brand their Fan Pages – they use their photo or logo and name the page their personal name or business name.  Well that’s great if you are a famous person like Tony Robbins or business like Starbucks.  But what if you aren’t well known or your business name doesn’t say what you do?       

And I should like your Page … because? 

Sorry Roger – I don’t have time to do the research. Ignore. NEXT!

Nice logo – but, please throw me a crumb. What’s your product? Ignore. NEXT!

Just not getting it and can’t read the tag line. Ignore. NEXT!

Keep it Super Simple

Your goal is to make it as SIMPLE as possible for people to quickly identify with what you have to offer and “like” your page. You ONLY get a couple of seconds to grab attention, so make it count.    

Simple Way #1

Write your name and then a definition of what you have to offer. Example: Charlene Brisson (my name), Marketing and Communication Specialist (what I have to offer). Be careful, because once you’ve created your Fan Page name, you can’t change it – so get it right before you start getting too many fans. I had to redo mine three times. If you’re a business and your business name doesn’t spell out what you do – add it to the business name. Here’s a good example of a woman who tells people who she is in her Fan Page name. I can decide immediately if I’m interested in what she can provide me with.

You just can't mistake what Judith is offering with the description after her name.

Simple Way #2

Choose the descriptive identifier that will help people decide if you are worth following. If you selected the wrong description when you created your page, oh well – that just means that your name and photo will have to make up for it. I haven’t found a way to change it after the fact. 

To create a page or group scroll to the VERY BOTTOM of your FB Friend Page and click on Advertising - click on Pages on the left menu and then +Create a Page on the top right.

Simple Way #3

Use a photo that represents the image you want to portray or a bold graphic that is readable and has impact. You can update and change your photo anytime, so if you don’t get it right the first time, try, try again. I LOVE this example from Jennifer Cloake and you can’t miss what Stephen has to offer.

   

The Good, The Bad and the Unreadable

Here are some Business Fan Page Invites with GOOD graphics.

Not zoo animals - but if I was looking for a photographer for my pets - I would be attracted here.

The tag line can’t be read on the graphic – but the graphic and large text of “entrepreneurial moms” says it all to the right prospects.

There's no question what this page has to offer foodie prospects.

Nice strong graphic that stands completely alone, even without reading the name.

Here are some Business Fan Page invites with BAD graphics – but GOOD names.

Most seniors simply can't read small text! Because the graphic is horizontal, it reduces VERY SMALL into a thumbnail. Redesigning into a vertical logo will allow for larger text and easier readability.

The photo is very difficult to decipher an image from. Would suggest a much more simple graphic that is clearly identifiable when reduced to a thumbnail.

Another difficult to read graphic when reduced down to a thumbnail. I'd take out the bottom strip and increase the top section to enhance the size of Virtual Author Assistant. The name is GREAT as it really zero's in on their niche!

And it all starts with …

Managing your FB fan and friend pages all starts with knowing who your IDEAL customer is – Step One of the 3-Step Marketing Model. Unless you know exactly who your market is, it will be impossible for you to position yourself on FB (or any social media) in a way that will attract the right people that are interested in what you have to offer.

All the best in your marketing success …

Charlene Brisson, 3-Step Marketing Pro 

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Posted in 3-Step Marketing Model, Social Media, Step One - Know Your Customer | 2 Comments »

“Women Collectors” Need not Apply: My Secrets to Managing Facebook Friend requests.

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
 
A colleague contacted me last week asking if I had any tips on how I manage my Facebook Friend list, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share them here with you.

Come On - Brad Pitt? Don't waste my time.

Many businesses using Facebook started with a friend page, maxed out their 5,000 friend limit and then migrated over to a fan page which accepts unlimited fans – now called “likes”. In fact, at the beginning (not all that long ago), you couldn’t have a fan page without first opening a friend page, but thankfully that has changed.  

Each FB Friend “Confirm” has Value.

As you probably already know, your customer and prospect lists are among the greatest assets a business owns. It’s all about lists. Lists of qualified people to sell to and upsell to. If you have a list of FB friends that don’t respond, don’t interact and/or are generally uninterested in what you have to say or offer, it’s a worthless list. On the other hand, having 5,000 targeted friends on a FB friend page can be extremely valuable for professional networking and sales conversion – but ONLY if they’re the right people. A fan page, if titled correctly (unless you’re an instantly recognizable brand like Starbucks or the Nike swosh) will naturally attract people who are interested in your product or service and because there is no limit, it’s unnecessary to filter who joins or “likes” the page.  

Suddenly, Everyone Wants to be Your Friend

So, if you’re a small business like me and set up your friend page first before you figured out the fan page – and have been working your friend page list – you’ve noticed that when you hit around 1,500 friends suddenly people come out of the woodwork requesting to be your friend. I think it’s because FB starts seeing you as an active user and begins suggesting you to others more often – which then starts the process of having to manage your requests.   

If you’re sitting on a friend list of 2,000 or more and want to maximize the opportunity of the list to its fullest, here are some tips I use to manage my FB Friend page.  This isn’t foolproof, but it will help weed out some of your unwanted friend requests.   

How Many Friend Requests Do You Have?

Set the Boundaries

Step ONE: Clearly identify the goal for your FB Friend list. Is it to build relationship, to introduce yourself and your product/service to the market, to build an opt-in list off of the FB Friend list that you can eventually sell to, to share information with, to extract information from, or simply to create your personal brand? Decide, so that you can focus your actions.     

Step TWO: Visually profile your IDEAL customer. In my case, I’m looking for people who are serious about their business and although I know that business people come in all shapes and sizes – particularly on Facebook – I have a clear picture of what mine look like – and so should you.  

Step THREE: Schedule a designated amount of time and specific time/days to manage your list. It is so easy to become completely immersed and when you look up 2 hours have passed.  

Be Descriminating

 Here’s my criteria to deny a friend request:   

  •  No Photo – I want to know who I’m letting into my circle.
  •  Pet, Child or Inanimate Object Photo of some kind – again, I want to see who it is that I’m letting in and I want them to be seriously into business, not using FB to share cat or children stories. But some FB users WANT animal and children people. I know, what you may be thinking. FB users are more casual than LinkedIn connections, so I may be overlooking a good business contact because they’re showing their casual side. That may be so, but time does not allow me to go through every person’s site to determine their eligibility. At this writing I have 936 friend requests (and growing) waiting for my reply and only 700 friend slots left. WOW – that can be really timely.
  • Women Collectors – yes, it’s true. There’s a whole lot of men on the internet that are collecting women and they’re quite easy to pick out. In the Friend Requests list, I click on our mutual friends – if all of our mutual friends are women I immediately ignore their request. If they have one or two male mutual friends I’ll take a look at their site to see if maybe they have a product or service that relates to women. If I get there and see that a) they don’t have a business b) there’s a bunch of nonsense on their wall or c) when looking at who all their friends are, they are indeed collecting women. I ignore their request. I will also block women collectors (they come back like a bad cold) or I mark them as not knowing them.   
  • People Who Try to Sell me in their Request – unless I’m interested in what they’re selling. This is a red flag that you’ll be bombarded with emails to buy their products. 
  • Religious or Political Extremists – these people tend to write very polarizing posts on my wall. I don’t have time to be removing these posts and it’s not worth alienating others. Just not my target.
  • Weird Name/Photos – anything that is strange.

Establish Ground Rules

Here are my ground rules for friend removal (again, because I’m looking for business people) … 

  • Application invitations from
    • Mafia Wars
    • FarmVille
    • CountryLife
    • Any new game requests that show up. 
    • Most hugs, kisses, mushy stuff like that.
    • Anyone who sends me any kind of inappropriate emails.
    • People who annoy me by sending me selling, selling, selling, selling emails.
    • People who poke me is always a heads up to check out their site and see if they really are involved in a serious business.   
    • Any behaviour that is unprofessional.  
    • Friends that immediately post their sales links on my wall without permission after being confirmed or without a connection to the conversation or the general feel of my page. Friends that engage in conversations by commenting on posts on my Wall and build relationship are always welcome to post links on my Wall.

Save Your Time

Years ago I learned from my Time Text Priority Management Training to only touch a piece of paper on my desk once. Look at it, decide what to do with it and do it.  It’s the same with FB friend requests.  Make the decision to confirm or ignore and then move on.

I hope this helps!  I’d love to hear any tips you have.

Charlene Brisson, 3-Step Marketing Pro

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Posted in Social Media, Step One - Know Your Customer, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »