An increasing number of nonprofits are expanding their social media efforts with Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups.
And for good reason:
Facebook is one of the largest social media sites on the web:
- More than 200 million active users
- More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
- More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
- The fastest growing demographic is 35 and older
And their users are very active:
- Average user has 120 friends on the site
- More than 4 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day
- More than 30 million users update their statuses daily
- More than 6 million users become fans of Pages each day
Hubspot, an Internet marketing company in Cambridge, Mass., recently published a free book for businesses looking to use Facebook.
I was curious how useful How to Use Facebook for Business would be for my typical nonprofit client, so I downloaded it (no email required!) and read through the 22-page guide.
The ebook includes the following topics – all very useful for any nonprofit:
- Why you should be on Facebook – business value overview (also applies to nonprofits!)
- Facebook’s ad builder can be used to research potential supporters by filtering on age, location and interests.
- How to create an engaging Facebook Page to encourage wall comments – seen by all of commenter’s friends.
- How to use the FBML application to add HTML content to your page (also see this video tutorial).
- How to get search engine credit from Facebook with the HTML application.
- Using Facebook’s analytics to measure traffic on your Facebook Page.
- A Facebook reference guide and glossary.
I found these two pages particularly useful:
And a one-pager on the difference between Facebook Groups and Pages (also see this post).
Download the ebook here: How to Use Facebook for Business
John Haydon delivers social web strategy solutions for “the quick, the smart, and the slightly manic.” Curious? Then connect up: Contact John by email, see his profile page, visit the John Haydon blog, follow him on Twitter and Google Plus or leave a comment.
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