500 million users. That’s 500,000,000 accounts on a single social network. That’s more people on a single social network than the entire population of the United States. 500 million people doing anything is a big deal.
Facebook is a large set of small circles.
The average user has 130 friends and interacts with them more, and knows more minute details about them, than the people they typically see day in and day out. Not only that, but with a growing amount of our lives taking place online, things like the Facebook Like button have become some of the easiest ways to share information with our friends.
“Have you seen the Old Spice videos?” would have been followed up by, “No? Then, I’ll email you a link,” just a year or two ago. Now, it’s, “Have you seen the Old Spice videos? No? Check my profile. I posted one earlier.” Just now, I overheard an officemate saying, “Did you see that picture I posted this morning on my drive in?”
How do we break into these circles?
Facebook is a great place for photos and videos. Try posting an engaging video sometime on YouTube and Facebook at the same time. While YouTube might give the video the longest life, I guarantee that Facebook will have the strongest initial reaction.
We can go paying creatives to make us fancy videos, slick graphics, and eye-popping photos, but many of us do not have the budget. As a result, you really have to demonstrate as a brand, product, company, etc that you can provide some value to Facebook users.
You have to be more human.
Plain and simple. You can go the mass media way and pay for attention, get those slick videos up, dominate Facebook ads, or you can start a Facebook fan page for free, start posting and conversing like a real person, and draw in a group of people that responds to your message.
With 500 million people on there, even the smallest nonprofit, small business, or wannabe internet celebrity has to be able to find its own small circle, right?
Have you found an effective method of using Facebook for yourself or your organization? Or, is it completely a social channel devoid of any business purpose?
As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.
EDIT: Usually, I write a post, let it sit for 30-60 minutes, read it one last time, and then post it. While I was letting it sit, I came across a similar post from Mitch Joel. Being a thinker in this industry and a blogger/podcaster I happen to follow, it is only fair to point to his post: 500 Million.
Tags: facebook for nonprofits
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Heroic Destiny, Grizzard Comm Group. Grizzard Comm Group said: New on Grizzard.Com Facebook Hit 500 Million This Week: 500 million users. That’s 500,000,000 accounts on a single… http://bit.ly/ady1ex [...]
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Hadn't thought about that number being higher than that population of the US. Very eye opening!
I love the interactions on Facebook and the ability to connect with a huge audience. I've found what works for me as a personal brand is to be human (post videos, photos, random thoughts) for the majority of the time and then post branding-minded updates only once or twice a day.
However, that is ONLY for my personal account. I do almost the opposite for my fanpage. I view people clicking “like” on my fanpage as permission to talk more about the brand and what I'm doing. I still don't spam them to death, but I post more updates about my blog and other connected niches there.
I've found that the strategies I use have worked really well. To date, Facebook is my number one referrer of traffic. I absolutely recommend people use it as a tool in their branding. (Plus, I still think it is a ton of fun!)
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:45 pm
You bring up a really good point about permission. That is a big deal and something that I haven't talked explicitly about recently. Honestly, I find Facebook to be a bit constraining, but I think that is more my perception or prejudice as opposed to a reality.
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
It's interesting the difference that permission dynamic makes. I have over 600 people on my personal account. Whenever I post a personal update or something funny, I responses 100% of the time; when I post a link to my blog or something business related, it's rare to get any responses…though I can tell that a lot of people click through to read the post. However, I get a much higher click through conversion from the fan page crowd.
It can be constraining at times, but that never has really bothered me. Twitter is much more constraining with its 140 characters, but it's now second nature to use; Facebook has become the same way with me and its constraints.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:47 am
Sounds like you could probably give me a Facebook lesson then
As I go through and try to learn new things, brush up old skills, etc, I've realized that I need to come back around to Facebook soon. It's been changing so fast that, even just a re-familiarization with the technical side, would be beneficial for me.