Do you have a Facebook page?
What about your WordPress website — is there a page that integrates your Facebook community with your own online outpost?
Let me be clear, when I refer to ‘Facebook Page’ I am talking about creating a page on your WordPress site or blog, with a title like ‘Facebook’, that combines a ‘Like Box’ with some original content you write for visitors.
I’ll go into the specifics about the building part in a minute, but first here are a few reasons you may want one:
- Community — Bring your fans onto your own website where they can search content
- Content — Each new relevant, high quality page increases the value of your site
- Curate — Driving visitors to your page ensures that you control the user experience
Don’t Send People Offsite
People love social networks. There is so much buzz around them that the top ‘unofficial’ blog covering FB has over 60,000 fans (Side note: Read the post about developing a wildly popular Facebook presence).
So let me play devils advocate here for a second by suggesting that sending people to your Facebook property is a very, very bad thing. Yep, I said it. Sending visitors off your website to a fan page usually results in status checks, chatting with friends, and other activities that don’t result in a deeper relationship with you.
To clarify, my position on how people find your page is this:
The Facebook Funnel
When people come to your Facebook page, it’s likely they are a casual visitor (at least on their first visit). Maybe users read your posts and comments, until the point where they click the link to your website and read content as you want to present it — on your home turf.
You can help speed the process along by creating thought provoking content.
Hint: If you want to make the most of your FB page, you can even add forms and applications that let people sign up for newsletters and become part of your email list.
These are all positive steps to growing profitable relationships online: Sharing valuable information in a way that encourages a percentage of your audience to submit a lead, become a more active fan, or otherwise help you succeed (like you’ve done for them).
So don’t go sending people who happen to land on your WordPress website first to a third party social media network, even if it is the most popular one in the world. You’ll catch more fish keeping all those swimmers in your own pond!