Below is a great post by one of my company’s (Social Media Solutions) interns, Casey. Enjoy!
Facebook emerged as a social media platform that connects people. Quickly, we began to see how powerful social media can be and businesses rapidly developed social media marketing plans. Now, Facebook serves more than just people. It serves businesses by providing them with an interactive platform where they can engage the audience in communication and information. With that being said, here are five Facebook applications that will help your business communicate and interact with your audience more effectively.
1. RSS Feed: Social RSS
Social RSS is a useful application for Facebook pages because it will automatically pull content from RSS feeds and post it directly on your fan page. According to Facebook, it is the most popular RSS reader application offered by Facebook. This is great if your company has a blog or something similar so that users can have access to the blog while on the Facebook page. It also eliminates the hassle of having to manually republish content to the Facebook page after it is posted to your company’s website or blog.
2. Poll: Poll Application
Social media is all about interacting with your audience. Facebook’s poll app not only gets your
audience engaged, it also provides you with direct feedback from consumers. If managed effectively, polls can provide unique insight into your readers allowing you to learn more about them and their needs. Facebook’s Poll App easily lets you post a question, set answer options, and then publish to wall or news feed if desired.
3. Video Content: YouTube for Pages
YouTube for Pages is an application that allows users to link their YouTube channel with their fan page. Any time new videos are posted, they are automatically pulled to the fan page for users to view. Not only is this more convenient for your audience, it also increases the likelihood that they will watch the videos. It also features archived thumbnails of older videos and also allows users to denote their favorite videos. YouTube for Pages is a developer based app using involver. All you need is to create a free account and set it all up!
4. Promotional Marketing: Promotions Application
Everyone loves free stuff or great prizes. The Promotions application easily allows companies to create a promotional Facebook campaign for giveaways and contests. Promotions are a wonderful way to engage the audience and create interaction between the brand and the consumer. The application is set up for special deals, coupons, giveaways, and contests. It is also a developer app produced by Wildfire.
5. Advanced Customization: Static FBML
For those especially tech savvy businesses, the Static FBML app will allow you to personalize your page by creating a box or tab that is blank. You then fill it with whatever content you want using HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language). Static FBML gives users the ability to completely design their own box instead of using the generic look Facebook has. In a world of uniformity, Static FBML gives you a chance to break out of the mold and set yourself apart from other fan pages.
facebook, facebook apps, small business
