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Cities are jumping on the social media bandwagon and creating Facebook fan pages as part of their social media campaign. But, what elements help fan pages build up large followings and what can cities do to emulate the success of others? Here is a list of specific elements to try:
Know Your Demographic. Looking at Quantcast statistics, the demographics of Facebook are focused on several groups: under 35, female, have teen children, more affluent and college graduates. An interesting note is that there are more African American visitors here than the internet average and the fastest growing group is women over the age of 45. Knowing your audience is a key part of building a successful Fan page. What kind of information can you post that will be of interest to these groups? For example, posting recreational activities for teens covers two areas: teens themselves and their moms.
Create Opportunities to Interact. Everyone loves a contest. Look for ways to allow your users to interact with you, including holding a contest. One idea is to have them add captions to a photo. In order to post a comment, they have to become Fans – so you increase your numbers. Another idea is to allow fans to post stories or photos of great places in the city. Hold special tours just for your Facebook Fans. The take-away is – make them feel special and give them a place to talk to you.
Network with Other Platforms. part of the key to social media is to go where people are. Some people like to look at photos on Flickr. Some like to watch videos on YouTube. Some like to read articles on your website. The key is to place content in each of those places, and then link them together. That way, people can find a video on last year’s midnight marathon or photos of the event on Flickr, which leads them to an article on your web page with a link to sign up for this year’s event.
All the people that choose to be your Fans are asking to receive information about your city or agency – so be sure and give it to them by updating your page frequently.
