Chris Syme, chair of the New Media/Technology Committee, authored this article on how a brand can get exposure and publicity without using Facebook, as Facebook is getting ready to require brands to pay for exposures to their own fans.
You can follow Syme on her website and Twitter account.
While reading a piece from Jay Baer’s blog, I was reminded that Facebook is slowly but surely adjusting their algorithm to require brands to pay for exposure to their own fans.
Recently, a blog piece from Weber Shandwick mentioned that a Facebook vice president had announced that the free ride for brands is over.
Frustrated by the lack of reach Facebook was allowing on the Dallas Mavericks Facebook page, owner Mark Cuban tweeted that he was looking for another alternative for the popular giant.
This has been a long time coming, and I’ve been hearing the rumblings of smaller schools talking about leaving the platform for a while now. Many just don’t have the budget to invest in promoted posts and Facebook ads, nor do they want to take a chance on investing in something that so many claim don’t show a measurable return.
What’s a small brand to do? If you’ve been thinking that Facebook is not worth your time and efforts, here are three ways to boost your brand without it.
1. Step up your brand advocacy strategies on and offline.
Most small brands thrive on word-of-mouth. Companies such as Zuberance are dedicated to the message that spending time finding and cultivating people who already love your brand has a much higher pay-off than broadcast or reach strategies. Learn about advocacy strategies and implement the mindset into your marketing strategy.
Data indicates that the vast majority of people never visit your Facebook page after they like you. Brands are struggling to build effective online communities on Facebook. How proactive are you at encouraging your fans to talk about you to their friends? People can talk about you to their Facebook friends whether you’re on Facebook or not. You can embed a “like” button on your website that will allow people to share your website content on their Facebook page. The protocol isn’t drag and drop, but it’s doable.
2. Concentrate on making your website more advocacy- and engagement-oriented.
Your website should already have a social look and feel. If it doesn’t, there is your first disconnect. Do you have a photo gallery that showcases events and fans at those events? Have you got a video player on your website? A small video camera can capture comments from coaches and players after games, or stories of student-athletes volunteering in the community. You can run polls, contests, guest blogs, story-telling micro sites, and many other customer-oriented features on your website. The more you can get people coming to your website engaging and sharing with others the less you need to worry about Facebook.
3. Experiment and engage more with other social media channels.
Have you registered your event venues with geo-location social media yet such as Foursquare? How about adding a blog to your website? Do some research on other social media channels like Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, or Google Plus. Experiment and see where you get some traction. Make sure you apply good engagement strategies wherever you go. Take some time to school yourself on engagement strategies.
Even though Facebook claims to have a billion users, getting the attention of the fans you need to reach is a difficult task, and now, possibly an expensive one. You have alternatives. You can be successful at creating loyal brand advocates without Facebook. Maybe it’s time to consider the alternatives. What do you think? Do you need Facebook to thrive?