6 replies to this topic

[AmyClark]

Hello,

I've been working for a few months with a company on their Web marketing. I recently set up a Facebook fan page for them, and we're working away at posting relevant content, and trying to engage and start conversations with their customers on a more informal level. When I came on board, everyone in the business had Facebook profiles already established for their own personal use, but didn't want them connected to their business page. I thought that was fine at first, but as I'm trying to promote their page, I'm realizing that not having a personal profile connected to their business page is quite limiting. I can't join groups and become fans of other businesses, etc. So I feel like I'm just waiting for people to find us and not giving us a real shot to grow in this network.

When I presented my concern to everyone, they asked if I could setup a fake profile with a name that's perhaps a spin-off of one of their products. I immediately was against the idea. The purpose of social media is to be yourself, be real, and genuine. If we create a fake profile, I'm concerned we may be penalized by Facebook, or just not taken seriously by potential fans and customers using the network.

Am I overreacting? Would it make sense to create a fake person or should we just keep the fan page and leave it at that? I thought it would be nice to have a profile page for the entire family (as it's a small family-owned business) but I'm not sure if you're able to clump more than one person into a profile either. Guess I'm just trying to weigh my options right now, and am not sure which direction to go in.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks,

Amy

[Jill]

Am I overreacting?

No. Fake is always bad.

[rolf]

I can see both sides here, in fact I have the same problem, although it's entirely self imposed in my case.

My business is what I do, not what I am, and I learned in a previous pre-internet occupation that I like to be able to be me away from business and don't want my work to follow me into my social life, so I don't let the two cross if I can help it.

It does mean that I don't/can't use Facebook etc. for marketing my business, but it also means I can interact with friends and associates, join groups, make comments or whatever I like on Facebook without worrying that my customers might not like it.

My solution, which I'm sorry to say may not help much, is to accept that this is how it is and not worry about it - although do let me know if you find a better option

[Mhoram]

I'll admit I don't really 'get' Facebook, but I'm especially confused about the fan page thing. It seems like businesses and groups that I'm connected with already had profiles, and then they got fan pages, which just splits up the conversation about them so I have two places to look for things. It would make more sense to me if fan pages were specifically for things that don't have their own profiles, but that's not how I'm seeing it in practice. What am I not getting here?

[bobmeetin]

Read anything by Mari Smith. www.marismith.com. She has some vids as well which talk about the fan page.

[Mhoram]

Thanks, that helps. If I'm understanding it right, a fan page is pretty much the same thing as a group, right? Before there were fan pages, people created groups like St. Louis Cardinal Fans, so fans of the Cardinals could join the group and have forums and a wall and so on. Now you can make a fan page for the St. Louis Cardinals, which people can join to have forums, a wall, and so on.

I think that's why I got confused: the first fan page I saw was for something that already had a group. A local guy started a blog for the town I live in, and then created a Facebook group to help promote it and give people a place to discuss it. Then when fan pages started, he created a fan page too, and now the conversation about the town is divided in two places on Facebook. I asked him what the difference was between the group and the fan page, and his answer seemed to be that they were two ways of doing the same thing.

[nuttakorn]

I have found one conclusion about Facebook Fan page and Group page, Pages are generally better for a long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers; In Fan Page , you can check Visitor Statistics and you can added more application.

Groups are generally better for hosting a (quick) active discussion and attracting quick attention.

You can see the comparison table for Pages and Fan from here : www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-group-vs-facebook-fan-page-whats-better/7761/