PR Tip of the Week: Facebook fan vs. group pages

So I’ve been meaning to blog about PR tips for months, and on this snowy December day I am FINALLY doing it. I usually make everything I want to do happen..sometimes it just takes me a little longer to get started. So here I am, and here’s my useful PR tip of the week: “How using both Facebook group and fan pages can help you spread the word.” I’ve been asked by two of my clients, Philly2Philly.com & Lifepages.com in the past week about the difference between the two, and decided that there’s no better time than now to explain to you how they both can help in the social media world. Yes, that’s right- don’t use one over the other. Both can help you get what you want in terms of outreach to the relevant group you’re trying to target. Facebook fan pages are the most popular right now because they work just like your own wall in terms of when you update your status it goes in everyone’s news feeds. That’s a benefit because you can get all of your “fans” to see your latest news. Also, when you create your fan page, you can set the page to automatically tweet your updates on your twitter account. That’s a double benefit for you and your message. The more followers that follow you = the more people who will see your news! I also recommend uploading your company’s logo or photo of what you’re promoting within the fan page itself. A catchy image can get you far. Remember the old saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words!

Now for all of you active facebookers, you should now know what a group page is.. or at least have heard of them, or joined groups yourself. My clients have asked me if they should get rid of their group pages, and I tell them NO! Group pages are good to directly send your followers a message to their inbox. You can’t do that with fan pages. Fan pages just send updates to their members that users never really click on in my opinion. SO that is the main reason why I suggest that you have and keep both a group & fan page. Both are important to target your followers.

So in a nutshell, the main difference is that a group page allows you to send your followers direct messages while the fan page allows you to post updates that your followers will receive in their news feeds.

Please check out this useful list from TheCommsCorner for all of your social media/PR needs:

My picks for the 99 most useful Social Media (and PR) Blog posts of 2009

http://thecommscorner.blogspot.com/2009/12/99-most-useful-social-media-pr-posts-of.html

If you have any questions please email me at jsherlock@jennacommunications.com.

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