Five Facebook Benefits for Your Agency

Posted by: Jacob Wolfsheimer, Search Engine Marketing Manager Sep 09, 2009 0 Comments

Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networks and one of the most frequented websites on the Internet. Though the network began as a way for students to connect, usage of the site now reaches well outside of the college campus and across generations. This creates a wide variety of opportunities for government agencies, businesses, and organizations that wish to connect with their target market.

Facebook pages allow brands – government agencies, companies, products, and organizations – to customize a presence on the network. Organizations with fan pages on Facebook are able to interact with individual users and with other groups that share their mission. Government agencies are able to interact with supporters to develop a strong sense of public perception, to identify opportunities, and to familiarize the public with their mission.

By creating a Facebook page, agencies, businesses, and organizations are able to utilize two primary “tabs.” The most important is the “Info” tab that describes the agency and includes relevant information about the organization, such as a mission statement; coming in a close second is the “Wall.” On the Wall, agencies can share images, links, current news, videos, notes, and other information – just as an individual would on his or her profile Wall.

Many government agencies, including the CIA and NASA, have embraced the opportunity that Facebook provides. And for government agencies utilizing the Facebook platform, there are a number of key benefits:

1. The opportunity to drive web traffic. By sharing pertinent information on your Facebook Wall and offering teasers about website content, when fans of your page find something that interests them, it’s easy for them to click over to your website to learn more. Additionally, because Facebook pages can be crawled by web spiders, having a page can improve your organic search engine rankings.

2. Your chance to make your content go viral. Facebook content provides viral opportunities; when something is posted to your Facebook Wall, your fans are able to see that content on their feed – they do not need to visit your page to see what’s new. Additionally, if there is something particularly interesting to them, it’s easy for them to share that content on their own page.

3. The ability to build a relationship with your users. Facebook allows you to easily send messages to one or one thousand fans simultaneously. The more you connect with your target audience on Facebook, provide information and resources that they can use, and address questions they may have, the more that you will be able to build your agency’s online brand.

4. Creating audience awareness, and finding new consumers for your products and services. The vast number of Facebook users all but guarantees that you will be able to reach out to members of your target demographic who are not yet aware of the variety of information and services your agency makes available.

5. Facebook provides brand reputation insight. Based on the number of fans that your page has and comments made about your offerings or services, you’ll be able to identify whether you’re meeting consumer expectations. You’ll be able to address concerns and keep track of positive feedback to be used in developing future marketing initiatives.

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Jacob Wolfsheimer

Search Engine Marketing Manager

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