Creating Communities on Facebook
The idea started as a graduate school project for a qualitative research class at Marquette University. My group mates and I discovered a shared interest in social media, nonprofits, and, well, not research. We turned all that into a research project that we all actually enjoyed, and that we can now share with others!
We decided to use each of our undergrad schools (Marquette University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin – Madison) to study communication within Facebook fan pages. I’ll skip some of the in-between stuff. We did some research with a theory and it was awesome- all of our findings are backed by facts we can point to. Research can be COOL! But that’s not the point of this.
The featured character of each school is the voice of the university (which we called “The Narrator”). In addition to The Narrator each school has a small cast of supporting characters that fall into two main categories: the silent supporters (who voluntarily liked their school’s fan page) and the active cheerleaders (fans who clicked like and commented on the school’s fan page posts in addition to liking the page).
Now, how can this help you? We identified several strategies that can be used to maximize the effectiveness of current or potential Facebook pages:
- Facebook fan page administrators should post regularly to the page, more than once per week. Regular posts not only offer more opportunities to deliver key messages to the fan page, they also keep fans of the group engaged! And this makes fans more likely to make checking the page part of their daily routine.
- Post about topics that involve people, places, or events closely associated with your school/business/nonprofit.
- Use phrases that resonate with your audience. In our study we observed that phrases such as Go Marquette, Ski-U-Mah, and On Wisconsin, rallied fans of each group. Such expressions help to define a group as a community and illustrate the bond members of the community share.
- Pose questions to fans of the group, building opportunities for fans to be active members. When a question is posed and fans are encouraged to voice their thoughts and opinions, they may feel more essential to and active in the group dynamic.
Do these strategies correlate with what you do? Have you discovered any strategies on your own? We’d love to know! And if you’re interested in more about our research or have questions, let me know!
Erica Gordon is a Marketing Associate at Clear Verve and also works part-time at a Milwaukee area nonprofit. She recently received her Communication MA from Marquette University. Follow Erica on Twitter @erica_g.
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