Fans or Groupies?

Are you still confused about the various tools available to you on Facebook? Between Pages, Profiles and Groups, there is definitely room for confusion. Plus, this whole social network marketing thing couldn’t actually work, could it? Be confused no more with this simple explanation of which you need!

Profiles

The Profile is your personal activity on Facebook. You have great control over who can see what as well as the greatest ability to “enhance” your account (if Farmville is considered an enhancement). This is what the majority of people have and can be the most powerful tool in your toolkit. I’ve generated far more SCUBA instruction business from my personal profile than any other online tool.

If you are an independent SCUBA instructor, this can be your most valuable tool because you are marketing yourself through personal relationships. So get a profile, share some fun stuff (be sure to include SCUBA-related content from time to time, but not constantly) and start making online friends.

Groups

Groups were a natural evolution on Facebook and have been around quite a while. Direct from Facebook, a group is explained as:

Facebook Groups are the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. Groups allow people to come together around a common cause, issue or activity to organize, express objectives, discuss issues, post photos and share related content.

Groups are not the place for Nick’s Independent SCUBA Instruction or Florida’s Best SCUBA Store, LLC!

I went in search of good examples of a Facebook Group being used correctly for SCUBA and after several pages of search results, I came up empty. Lots of businesses and organizations, but not really meeting the true definition of a Group. Something like “Divers for wreck discovery” or “Instructors for better buoyancy” would be great (and appropriate) Groups.

Pages

Pages are a relatively new weapon. There even was a period when Facebook would migrate large Groups to Pages, thereby demonstrating that most Groups should actually be Pages. Again, from the horse’s mouth:

Facebook Pages enable public figures, businesses, organizations and other entities to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook.

If you own a dive center, that’s a business. If you run a dive club, that’s an organization. Even if you’re an independent SCUBA instructor, you’re a business. Inso facto, you are far more likely to need a Page than a Group.

A Simple Test

Ask yourself this question:

Do I want a presence for my general SCUBA business or some very small niche of the SCUBA diving industry?

If it’s for your business, go with a Page. If it’s for some very small niche, you may want to go with a Group. If you’re not sure, be sure to contact me and I can help sort things out.

By establishing the wrong presence on Facebook, you could be wasting a great deal of time, plus running the risk of being shut down for not adhering to the “rules” of Facebook. By understanding the correct usage of Pages and Groups, you can avoid this problem. So get out there, clean up your Facebook presence and beat your competition to your customers.

(H/T to Rich for this post idea)

Photo via Balakov