Can you relate to this picture?
If you, like me, didn’t grow up with Social Media and you object to the caption that came with this image “Active seniors having walk with bike in autumn nature. They are having romantic time outdoor,” then this blog is for you.
In this blog I’ll share my very personal journey with Facebook in both a personal and business capacity. I’m not referencing any research in this blog that’s in the Facebook tutorial, I’m just sharing my learnings and thoughts.
My introduction to Facebook
Like many of you, my introduction to Facebook was to keep up with the children and what they were up to, as they only “grunted” at me. It was in an effort to be a responsible parent. I soon learned that creating a fake persona as an attractive teenage girl (not recommended) was the best way to keep track! That said, the children grew up and my Facebook journey continued without my teenage alterego.
This is what I learned from my Facebook friends
My friends come in a number of categories:
- Those that share everything, where they check in, what they eat, what’s happened today, their achievements, basically they brag about everything, to everyone!!! And sometimes you know it’s not an accurate reflection of their lives
- Those that always share those memes about improving yourself, casting off the people that drain you, seizing the day etc
- Then there are those that are extremely proud of their offspring, sharing photos of every step of their lives, and don’t forget the holiday snappers, those who only post when away on holidays
- Finally, those that are always providing advice on everything!
- Then there are people like me, who rarely post, but like reading what other people are up to.
This is what I’ve learned about Facebook for business
My journey with the Tourism Tribe’s Facebook account has been a little different. Firstly, I would recommend reading this tutorial “Social Media and the Law” then read the tutorial “Facebook”
Now you know “what not to do” and “how to do it” it’s simple isn’t it? Well not really.
I kept thinking what do I post, how often do I post? How do I know if people like my posts? ah..the solution is a content calendar! I can schedule everything in advance and tick the box! Well in my opinion, that doesn’t quite work either.
Our Tourism Tribe friends like…
- Things that are funny and they can relate to
- Anything cute, furry or not
- Food, they really like food!
- Links to valuable resources, research and articles
- Events that they can attend
- Special offers
- Examples of great work by other members i.e. videos, images, websites etc
- Anything new and interesting on our website
My “Golden Rules”
- Try not to make your Facebook page all about you, our guests doing this, our guests doing that all the time. Instead share local events, attractions, points of interest etc on your page
- Go through your news feed and see if there is any content you’d like to share with your Facebook friends
- Don’t oversell, only promote a direct action about 20% of the time
- Post about 3-4 times a week only when you’ve got something interesting to say and be consistent
- Share images and videos that friends can relate to and that tell them something out your personality
Use Facebook to show off your own personality and share the experience they are likely to receive.
And my final tip, if you’re unsure about the post you’re about to post, trust your instinct, sleep on it and revisit it in the morning.
If you need more help with Facebook, don’t forget to join us!
Wendy
