We manage Facebook profiles – the wall, events, photos and custom tabs to inform, entertain, mobilise, sell and drive awareness of the act and their activities.
Consider the environment: If your fanbase is young they’ll be on Facebook lots and will expect regular updates, including throughout the evening. Be considerate of this. Facebook Insights will tell you how your updates are performing – use this to enhance the tone and timing of your messaging.
Use events and photo tabs: Ensure these tabs are regularly updated to both inform fans, story tell, and create the impression of a busy ‘out there’ act. Encourage people to tag themselves in photos and attend events as this will then show in their friend’s Facebook Stream. Event listings can include release dates, live and TV performances, radio interviews, signings and birthdays. Photos can include albums of fan uploads, press stories, events, twitpics, and – very importantly – branded tag-yourself photos such as these.
Promote Facebook from the real world: And your other online platforms. Use compelling and vivid reasons to like the band on Facebook. Bad: Check us out on Facebook please. Good: We’re replying to all comments on our Facebook at 7pm tonight, come on, leave a comment and get a free download too.
Out of ideas? Facebook posts can include: Personality posts from the act, replies to people thanking them for their support, posting of news and gossip such as interviews and reviews, curation of creative fan content, buy and pre-order links, promotional links for commercial partners, and updates tasked with driving subscriptions for YouTube / the act’s mailer / Twitter.
Implement custom tabs and apps: Custom tabs allow you to focus on, and drive more traffic to, important campaign assets. Consider setting these up for videos, mailer subscription forms, introduction articles and other flagship content, and then making it the default tab. For bigger acts, consider the build of social applications that exploit the Facebook functionality to drive more awareness of the act.