Now that admins of Facebook fan pages can comment on Facebook profiles and other fan pages as the representatives of those pages, not themselves, there is going to be a huge wave of unwanted content floating around. (If you want details, read this Mashable post.)
I’m going to go all out and call it a tsunami.
We are finally going to see the difference between true community managers who understand their craft and those who simply play one on the internet.
Do you know how tempting it is going to be for admins to post all over other fan pages and go directly to individual profile pages and start pushing their messaging?
VERY!
Think about it. You can now just trot on over to any profile page and start pushing all kinds of marketing messages. “Visit our page,” “Buy our stuff,” “Come download our coupon,” “We just posted a new brochure, you’ll love it.”
Get my drift? And that’s just scratching the surface.
It’s one thing to remove unwanted messages from your inbox, but constantly removing from your wall? The average Joe, non-marketing Facebook user isn’t ready for this at all. I think it will get ugly fast.
For those who have never learned proper etiquette for marketing through online communities, there is a real chance that they will crash and burn.
One horror story I always like to share at speaking events is about a guy who joined the online community I managed and uploaded 750 pictures of wrist watches. It was unbelievable. As you can probably imagine, he was marked as abuse and the matter was brought to my attention fast.
It wasn’t part of the culture. If he’d bothered to study how the community worked, spent some time observing other members, and avoided the temptation to pounce — he would have found a better way to get their attention. But I digress.
Because this is a new opportunity for Facebook page admins, whose experience and credentials run the gamut,there are no agreed-upon or established rules.I don’t doubt that this change will enable brands, businesses and organizations to build stronger relationships with their fans, as mentioned on Socialbakers, but I do anticipate a wild, wild, west mentality unless Facebook has some plans in place to keep it at bay.
I suppose that removing posts and hiding them could be sufficient. But that’s only if the tsunami heads in a different direction.
On this one, we’ll just have to wait and see.
With new Facebook fan pages, the rules of engagement matter more than ever
Are more relevant than ever.
Now that admins of Facebook fan pages can comment on Facebook profiles and other fan pages as the representatives of those pages, not themselves, there is going to be a huge wave of unwanted content floating around. I’m going to go all out and call it a tsunami.
We are finally going to see the difference between true community managers who understand their craft and those who simply play one on the internet.
Do you know how tempting it is going to be for admins to post all over other fan pages and go directly to individual profile pages and start pushing their messaging?
VERY!
Think about it. You can now just trot on over to any profile page and start pushing all kinds of marketing messages. “Visit our page,” “Buy our stuff,” “Come download our coupon,” “We just posted a new brochure, you’ll love it.”
Get my drift.
It’s one thing to remove unwanted messages from your inbox, but constantly removing from your wall? The average Joe, non-marketing Facebook user isn’t ready for this at all. I think it will get ugly fast.
For those who have never learned proper etiquette for marketing through online communities, there is a real chance that they will crash and burn.
One horror story I always like to share at speaking events is about a guy who joined the online community I managed and uploaded 750 pictures of wrist watches. It was unbelievable.
As you can probably imagine, he was marked as abuse and the matter was brought to my attention fast.
It wasn’t part of the culture. If he’d bothered to study how the community worked, spent some time observing other members, and avoided the temptation to pounce — he would have found a better way to get their attention.
Because this is a new opportunity for Facebook page admins, whose experience and credentials run the gamut,there are no established rules. I anticipate a wild, wild, west mentality unless Facebook has some plans in place. I suppose that removing posts and hiding them could be sufficient. But that’s only if the tsunami heads in a different direction.
Irrelevance isn’t always a bad thing
November 20, 2011 in Community management | Tags: "community guidelines", Community Engagement, irrelevant comments, online comments | 4 comments
Have you ever written community guidelines, or worked with someone to get them started? I’ve done both, and there is one word that often comes up: “irrelevance.”
Community managers, particularly those connected to a consumer brand do not want irrelevant conversations in their community space. If it’s not about the company, the product or the service, they want no parts of it.
You may not see a problem with that perspective, but I believe that you should.
If you’re really looking to grow and sustain a community, and you really want people to connect, you have to leave some room for them to do that. Is it really that bad if people go off-topic for a while?
If they’re doing it in your community, that means they feel some level of comfort there, which works in your favor.
It can’t always be about you. That may seem counter intuitive, but I am not speaking from theory, but practice.
People don’t connect on one topic alone. And the fact that other topics come into play from time-to-time proves that the wheels of true connections are in motion and good things are happening.
So, create your guidelines but don’t be so rigid that you miss opportunities for continued growth.
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