Hardly a day goes by without one of the major social networks rolling out a new program, altering an algorithm or adding another search tool.
Last week, for example, Facebook introduced Graph Search, a new feature designed to help users search for information that has been shared with them. Facebook, which now claims more than one billion active users, continues to periodically launch new applications in its efforts to generate revenue. Yet however things shake out in the next few years for the social networking giant, Facebook may hold the most promise for PR execs who want to position their brands for the future.
“I like to say Facebook is the storytelling trifecta,” says Wendi Leggitt, director of DKC Connect, a division of PR agency DKC. “It’s the platform that seamlessly merges photos, videos and written messages to create powerful, compelling stories for brands.”
Unlike its social networking rivals, Facebook “allows consumers to become part of that story to shape the brand narrative, which also makes it very powerful, very adaptive and unique in the social space,” Leggitt adds.
DKC Connect’s communications efforts on behalf of Paradisus Resorts helps to illustrate the impact that Facebook can have on PR campaigns. Last February—timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day—DKC Connect created The “Paradisus Love Story” contest on the resort’s Facebook page. The contest encouraged the brand’s target audience and fans to upload images of their favorite romantic moments for a chance to win a four-night stay at the Paradisus Resorts location of their choice.
Fans shared images of their dating, engagement and wedding stories, many of which happened at Paradisus Resorts. Fans also commented on each other’s photos, complimented stories and shared their own feelings on love. The two-week contest resulted in 8,339 new Facebook fans and 15,445 page views.
The contest brought more fans into the fold by enabling Facebook fans to share their special moments with the brand and become a part of the Romance storyline, Leggitt says.
THE POWER OF ‘PINNED POSTS’
As communications executives shift more and more of their budgets to social networks, Facebook may offer PR pros the largest canvas with which to paint a compelling picture.
Krisleigh Hoermann, social media strategist at the American Heart Association, says AHA/ASA’s communications department now devotes roughly 25% more of its time to communicating via Facebook, compared with the same time period last year.
“We’re really having to beef up our content creation,” Hoermann says. “Instead of just writing out a post, we have to find videos, photos or a link that compliment the post or find a link that goes with it; we’re going that extra step.”
Hoermann stresses that Facebook’s “Pinned posts” have played a key role in helping the AHA/ASA to get its various messages out and expand its reach. “Pinned Posts” are items that stay at the top of your page’s Facebook wall for seven days and highlight posts, which expand across a page’s Timeline.
For the AHA’s year-end charitable campaign in 2012, for instance, the AHA created a “Pinned Post” each week to tell a story about someone who has survived heart disease or a stroke.
“It automatically stays at the top of our page and we don’t have to worry about it falling down the page, after we post something new, and it stays in our community’s news feed longer,” Hoermann says. “The PR benefit is you’re going to be able to continually tell one story that remains relevant over a period of time [and] you’re going to be able to get more action out of one post instead of having to come up with five or six [posts.]”
The Facebook strategy has worked well for the AHA/ASA, which now has 300,000 followers on Facebook, up from 129,000 in December 2011.
TURN AND FACE THE CHANGE
Although Facebook offers a multifaceted approach to messaging there’s a growing onus on PR pros to create content that can distinguish itself amid the constant maelstrom of information posted on the site.
“Content has always been ‘king,’ but it is no longer enough,” says Joy Hays, worldwide manager, digital and social communications for Texas Instruments. “It is how we tell that story that determines if it will be ‘liked’ or shared.”
She says that Facebook is designed to foster dialogue. “Facebook allows for a non-filtered view into your world,” Hays says, adding that the social network “is best when you use it as an engagement tool instead of a billboard.”
To try and maximize your Facebook content, Hays recommends that PR pros use EdgeRank, an algorithm that decides which stories appear in each user’s newsfeed (and is another way of saying, “Don’t Be Boring”). “We started paying attention to our Edges and our engagement rate has risen 140% in the past year,” Hays says.
Aside from being quasi network programmers, PR pros need to wear other hats when it comes to recognizing the value of Facebook.
“Everyday when a consumer goes to Facebook and asks a question, it’s our responsibility [as PR execs] to make sure we tap into that and answer those questions to the best of our ability,” says DKC Connect’s Leggitt. “They’re getting full service from us; we’re not just posting messages on Facebook. We’re become that ‘virtual concierge’ and making sure that consumers’ needs are being met.” PRN
(Learn more about Facebook and catch Krisleigh Hoermann presenting at PR News’ Digital PR Summit on Feb. 27 in San Francisco, prnewsonline.com/digitalsummitsanfran13.)
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CONTACT:
Krisleigh Hoermann, [email protected]; Wendi Leggitt, [email protected]; Joy Hays, @joyhays.
Follow Matthew Schwartz: @mpsjourno1