Why Have A Facebook Fanpage?

Filed under Building a social network, Facebook, Proactive Writer.

BubbleCow FacebookHere at BubbleCow, we are experimenting with our Facebook fanpage to try and add value to writers.

The current approach is to extend what we offer on Twitter by posting ‘bonus’ links to writer resources on a daily basis.

This may change and morph as we get feedback from fans as to the best and most effective way to add value.

One reaction to our focus on Facebook has been simply – Why?

We already blog nearly every day and have over 5000 followers on Twitter…

So why Facebook?

The first reasons for using Facebook are that it provides an additional channel, and it would be stupid not to! Facebook has become the number social tool for most people, and is the most visited site for many internet users.

In addition to this, Facebook is here to stay. It is my belief that users have become so invested in the site (thousands of friends and hundreds of pictures), that they will not just stop using the service when something new appears. Facebook is here to stay.

This means that building a following via Facebook just makes sense.

The second reason is that I don’t feel the same about Twitter. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter and value the contentions the service has allowed me to build. However, at some point in the future they will need to make some money. When this happens, I can’t help thinking that users who value the service for their business (i.e. BubbleCow) will be targeted as potential cash cows (pun intended). I also can’t shake the feeling that once Twitter seeks to become a paid tool, or is crammed full of ads, the users will drift away.

This thought does leave me in a cold sweat…

So, for BubbleCow Facebook just makes sense – what about you?

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  • Anonymous

    I agree with you Gary. I don’t think its a good idea to restrict oneself or business to one network. There are a lot of networks out there, where it would be possible to find your audience if you looked right and Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the big ones to give a shot to!Cheers of the new page… Have added it to our favourites on our BookBuzzr Facebook fanpage http://bit.ly/9ZRsq5 :) FreyaSuggestion: A nice page like this as a landing page would be great – Shufflr – http://bit.ly/crMCAA or Mari’s – http://bit.ly/dB8xFL :)

  • freya3377

    I agree with you Gary. I don't think its a good idea to restrict oneself or business to one network.

    There are a lot of networks out there, where it would be possible to find your audience if you looked right and Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the big ones to give a shot to!

    Cheers of the new page… Have added it to our favourites are BookBuzzr. :)

    Freya

  • garysmailes

    Thanks Freya – for all you writers, please check out he excellent and free http://www.bookbuzzr.com/

  • Guin

    Interesting; I’m a very recent convert to twitter, and I am interested in the ways in which publishers, agents, writers (and others) use it as a networking and marketing tool. I see twitter as separate from my work life, but it is not quite a fully social space either as it is part of helping me forge new contacts as an early-career writer (so there’s a sense in which this is mediated). I have noticed that many groups/businesses have both FB and twitter profiles, and some do quite different things with each – so twitter tends to be much chattier, and FB slightly more formal. I follow SALT on both FB and twitter and they tend to post the same content to both spaces – but FB also has its limitations, and the Director of SALT recently posted that he could no longer accept new friends as had maxed out the 5k limit on this.

    I see my FB profile as a private space though, and although I use this daily, I find myself gravitating to twitter and the relative anonymity of my twitter name to make links, new contacts.

    So, I agree that it is sensible to look at the longer term … but at the moment both twitter and FB are useful to me, but for different reasons.

  • AightThenSolid

    “Facebook is here to stay.”

    LOL, no it’s not. How much did people invest in MySpace? Facebook is DONE this time next year.

    • garysmailes

      I would be fascinated to hear your reasoning for this statement. It seems to me that MySpace is still up and running (or way when I checked 30 seconds ago)…

  • Guin

    Interesting; I'm a very recent convert to twitter, and I am interested in the ways in which publishers, agents, writers (and others) use it as a networking and marketing tool. I see twitter as separate from my work life, but it is not quite a fully social space either as it is part of helping me forge new contacts as an early-career writer (so there's a sense in which this is mediated). I have noticed that many groups/businesses have both FB and twitter profiles, and some do quite different things with each – so twitter tends to be much chattier, and FB slightly more formal. I follow SALT on both FB and twitter and they tend to post the same content to both spaces – but FB also has its limitations, and the Director of SALT recently posted that he could no longer accept new friends as had maxed out the 5k limit on this.

    I see my FB profile as a private space though, and although I use this daily, I find myself gravitating to twitter and the relative anonymity of my twitter name to make links, new contacts.

    So, I agree that it is sensible to look at the longer term … but at the moment both twitter and FB are useful to me, but for different reasons.

  • AightThenSolid

    “Facebook is here to stay.”

    LOL, no it's not. How much did people invest in MySpace? Facebook is DONE this time next year.

  • http://www.jessiemac.com Jessie Mac

    Thanks for the reminder to get my Facebook page sorted. It’s there but nothing else has been done with it. I’ve linked my website to it so it makes sense to refurbish and make it at least presentable.

    • garysmailes

      I have just worked out I can post to me facebook pages from Hootsuite – it is a revelation!

  • http://www.jessiemac.com Jessie Mac

    Thanks for the reminder to get my Facebook page sorted. It's there but nothing else has been done with it. I've linked my website to it so it makes sense to refurbish and make it at least presentable.

  • garysmailes

    I would be fascinated to hear your reasoning for this statement. It seems to me that MySpace is still up and running (or way when I checked 30 seconds ago)…

  • garysmailes

    I have just worked out I can post to me facebook pages from Hootsuite – it is a revelation!

  • Pingback: What to have on your website (part 3)? « jessiemac.com

  • Karen Inglis

    Hi – I set up two FB pages for my children’s books a few months back.  I’m now about to self-pub Amazon (proofs for my first book, The Secret Lake, are now in the post to me – and have signed up for your info on e-pub formatting, by the way…).

    However [back to FB...!!] I’ve had a nightmare trying to get a reply from FB on how to create friendly URLs for each page. I know what needs to be done, but the problem is that I’ve been asked to verify my account by text in order to access the FB username page where you apply for a friendly URL, but the verification code they text to me when I  input it is not accepted and there is no way to contact them.  I’ve even tried emailing the ads dept on the basis that I spent £40 with them on ads a few months back – but sitll just get automated responses.  And to add to my woes I’ve today found that I no longer seem to have admin rights on my 2nd book’s page.

    So, as fellow writers who have clearly more experience FB than I do, have you any idea of how I can contact  human being in FB to sort out my FB page problems.  Any suggestions gratefully received!  Karen Inglis (@kareninglis:disqus ) London

    btw the pages have 65 and 85 fans so think they meet the required quota for a friendly URL?

  • http://www.thesecretlake.com Karen Inglis

    Hi again – I have now finally had a reply from FB!  But only managed to get help b/c I emailed the ad team whose address I had from running some low level advertising before. After 3 standard replies from them – followed by an email ***ALL IN CAPS*** with lots of stars I finally got them to read it and sort out my problem!  My point here is, I agree that FB pages are great and you can do loads with them – but be aware that if you have a technical issue it is really hard to get help!  I’ve given them feedback on this – whether they will read it is another matter!