Just One Page

As I continued to investigate the 2 page issue , I asked myself "what do I want from a Facebook page".
The answer became very clear,it was to be used as a way to get our message out there without a cost and not consume all my waking hours!!!
Maintaining the 2 pages was not easy as they both work differently .
One important feature the "like" page has is "Insights" this gives you all the data on who is visiting your page.Very useful as you can start to see what posts are looked at more than others and what gets people talking about you.
So I decided to close the page that was in risk of someone else closing it ,I spent a week asking all the "friends" to go over and like us.They would still receive all the posts made to the "like" page.
About 70% did this and I am not sure why the other 30% didn't make the switch.


I also made this decision around privacy,people who "like" your page  can not be seen by anyone other than the administrator.


While you get a "vanity" URL , a "like" page cant be searched for in the same way that you look for friends,so you rely on your "likers" to do this for you.

 www.facebook.com/LakesEntranceNHouse

The Pros & Cons,understanding it all

I recently attended a couple of workshops on Social Media with our local Tourist & Business Association.
The first session was about marketing your business / organization using Facebook.


I thought to myself "this will be a non plus" as I had set up not 1 but 2 Facebook pages for us. Thinking I was one step in front of the others in the room as 90% didn't have one.
My marketing strategy was all ready developed ,how wrong could I have been.


You may wonder why I would do that , have 2 pages.. this was what I thought at the time

• extra exposure
• 2 different types of audience
• 2 different communication platforms
• for those who would like to be hidden from others (our a "like page") a bit of privacy

While the presenter began asking us one by one the usual questions "why we were there & about our organizations", I was feeling pretty confident and pleased with my efforts.
It was when I finished my whole spiel that our presenter had that look, you know the one , the worried, confused look.
She went on to explain a few Terms & Conditions of Facebook use, "had I not read these? "
It was at this point I had a mmmm moment.
This is why

• A business can not have a Facebook page & invite friends.Under their terms & Conditions I was running the risk of my page being shut down. 
• I had named our page "Lakes Entrance Neighbourhood House" not a real persons name

So there it was ,all the hard work I had put into inviting friends, tracking down potential friends of the house.


All in vain,I had not been clever at all.


I was reminded that social media is very new in the marketing arena and even more so in the community sector and has been embracred and encouraged at a very quick pace with changes almost daily.
I was sent away with a list of research tasks for the following weeks session

• why did we want / need a facebook page
• read up on the Terms & conditions
• look at other business pages