Social media has accelerated into the business arena with no driver’s handbook. Some well-known brands, however, have found the road to socializing with their customers very successfully, while others aren’t able to sustain the effort required to get significant traction. Here’s a peek into some winning social media practices from those who are doing it well.

In August 2010, Forrester¹ analyzed the Facebook pages of some of the top national brands and concluded those with the most fans:

• Make their pages easy to find by creating multiple pages and cross promoting between those pages.
  

Disney, for example, has many pages (Disney, Toy Story, Dory, Disney Pixar). Not only do they add all the company’s pages to each page’s Favorites section but they provide would-be fans an easy way to “like” all their pages by including the top five on their Disney page. They also include a combined total of Disney Worldwide fans (currently over 143 million).




• Use vanity URL’s such as www.facebook.com/disney, www.facebook.com/cocacola, making their pages easier to find in search results.
  


• Update their pages at least once a day. Pages that are updated twice a day average four times as many fans.

Other notable practices that deserve a PowerMark mention:

• Add a welcome tab to your Facebook page that, by default, is the landing tab for all non-fans. There, a simple call-to-action encourages fans to “like” the page.
  

Microsoft not only directs you to a welcome tab with a clear call to action but also cross promotes all their other pages there as well.




• Promote user interaction with a creative and unique experience.
  

Coca Cola’s branded YouTube channel features “The Secret is Out There” video with bottle links that open to the Facebook "Ahh Giver” app. This app allows you to send a video message to a friend, delivered by a polar bear and sometimes includes a $.99 coupon. Bottle links also open Coca Cola’s Smilizer microsite where you can upload your laugh and share it with friends.

Whether you’re creating an all-new social media strategy for your organization, or whether your program has been underway for years, it doesn’t all have to be trial and error. Apply these three common sense best practices from the market winners:

1. Make it easy for your audience to find you
2. Encourage your targets to be followers
3. Provide interesting and engaging content regularly

And you’ll be on your way to social media success.

¹Forrester ,“How to Create an Effective Brand Presence on Facebook”, August 12,2010

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