Many newspapers are experimenting with using Facebook to engage younger people who are not traditional newspaper readers.
The hope is that we can provide enough interesting “teases” on Facebook – evidence that we DO have material of interest to them on our sites – to lure them to our sites.
Facebook Page is a unique experience where users can become more deeply connected with your business or brand. Users can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos, and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers. Add applications to your Page and engage your users with videos, reviews, flash content, and more. Creating a Facebook Page is easy, free, and great for all types of businesses.
Several GateHouse newspapers have setup User Profiles in Facebook already, but Facebook’s Terms of Use stipulate you can only have one account and it must be in your own REAL name. Not your business, or in our case, Newspaper name.
Facebook does, though, provide a place for you to setup up a page to give your newspaper a presence on Facebook, Facebook Page, often called a ‘Fan Page.’
With a Page, people can find out about your paper; the pages also get indexed and are searchable inside and outside of Facebook; you can add people to follow your page by inviting them to become ‘fans’ of the page or people can become ‘fans’ by clicking the ‘fans’ link on your page.
Unlike a profile in Facebook, the number of ‘fans’ you can have on a Facebook Page are unlimited (on regular user profiles, the ‘friend’ limit is 5,000).
Here’s a short video on how to sign up for a Page in Facebook:
How To Create Your Facebook Page
- To create a Page scroll to the foot of any Facebook web page and click on the “Advertising” link
- Click on ‘Pages’ link at the top of the ‘Create an Ad’ page
- Then, click the ‘Create Facebook Page’ button
- Fill in the type of business page it is (in our case, click ‘Brand or Product, click ‘Web site’)
- Fill in the title for your page (Note: In addition to providing the name of your Web site or Paper, include key words that are meaning for people for SEO search engine optimization(SEO) purposes.
- Click ‘Create Page’
- Fill in new login information/or use your existing login information for an existing Facebook Profile.
Edit Your Page/Add Applications
Facebook Pages come with several default applications to get your page started, including:
- Notes – where you can provide short updates on news, or updates on your site, or import feeds into your page.
- Photos – allows you to load and tag photos.
- Videos – where you can load your videos on the page.
- Posted Items – where you can share links with your fans.
And, like a Facebook Profile, you can add other applications to your page. Here’s one recommended app you may want to add:
- Links: Let’s you share content links with your fans - and allows linkage back to your Web site.
Promote Your Page
- Advertise your Facebook Page on your Web site, e-mail signatures, and Newspaper.
- Use Twitter to let people know about your page, providing the URL in your tweets.
- Provide exclusive content on your pages, photos, news alerts, etc.
- Invite your Fans to participate in your page, by uploading their photos and videos, etc.
- Provide a place for your Fans to interact by starting threads on your Discussion Board.
- Submit your page to social networking sites like delicious.com, for example.
Examples of Facebook Pages started by GateHouse newspapers:
The Register-Mail
New Hampton Tribune
Articles:
http://www.editorsweblog.org/multimedia/2008/03/using_facebook_to_gain_y...
http://www.niemanlab.org/2008/11/nyt-claims-success-in-facebook-push/
RESOURCES:
Facebook Pages Official Page
The official Facebook Page about Facebook Pages. Good resource to look for tips and tricks about how to get the most out of this service.
Facebook Pages PDF Manual
Download this PDF created by Facebook to help you create a Facebook Page, instructions on Facebook Page applications, and a very helpful Q&A about Pages.
