With more than 600 million users, Facebook tops the charts as the world’s largest social network. Members build conversations with their friends, neighbors, and coworkers through personal profiles and interact with organizations and brands through pages and groups. After completing this workshop, participants will understand basic Facebook terminology, steps for creating a personal profile and a page, keys to posting engaging content and interacting with target audiences, and ways to measure success. This presentation was an Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) workshop for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech on July 12, 2011.

1. Building Communities Online:in 30 Minutes presented by: Lori Greiner, Communications Manager Michael Sutphin, Writer Information and Communications Technology Professional Development Series, July 12, 2011

2. Overview What is Facebook and why be social? Steps for creating a profile and a page Keys to posting engaging content and interacting with target audiences How to measure success

3. Facebook By the Numbers: Facebook was launched February 2004 As of July 1, there more 750 million active users, 151 million in the U.S. alone 50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day The average user has 130 friends People spend over 700 billion minutesper month on Facebook Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events More than 30 billion piecesof content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States Source: Facebook.com

4. Impact of Facebook Media Social Political

5. About Facebook Free to users Users can develop profiles, groups, and pages Users can communicate through public or private messages News feed – “wall” Upload albums and photos Third-party applications

8. Privacy In the upper right, click “Account”and then select “Privacy Setting.” Control how your friends can find you Customize who sees what information on your Facebook profile Bottom Line: Do not post content on Facebook that you would not want the world to see

11. Groups can be kept open, closed, or secret

14. Pages never display their admins’ names

15. Vanity URL

16. Promotional widgets

18. Vanity URL The URL of your Facebook page is randomly generated until you reach a certain amount of fans (currently 25). Then Facebook lets you pick your own vanity URL http://www.facebook.com/username

19. Invite and Promote Send a personal message to your friends; don’t ask everyone Make posts on other pages to invite others to your page Insert the image on your website home page and link it to your Facebook page Link your Facebook page to Twitter

20. Invite and Promote Promote your page on other social media sites, websites, presentations, fliers for events, email signatures, Wikipedia, print materials, etc. If you are addressing a live audience, encourage people to join your page via SMS. Facebook users can send a text message to 32665 (FBBOOK) with the words “fanyourusername” OR “like yourusername” (without the quotes).

21. Facebook Ads Target by keywords, interests, age, gender, college, and more Geographic radius Drive audience to online content, whether Facebook page or other website Cost per clicks vs. cost per impressions Daily price caps

22. Develop Engaging Content Update your page regularly and frequently Keep content fresh and conversational Provide exclusive content Pay attention and reply to fans Your page should be social – not just an outlet for news releases

23. Interact Show your friends/fans that you care about them. Answer their posts and at a minimum, “like” their posts. Ask fans to post content on your page. Interaction keeps people connected. Every time someone interacts on your page, if may appear in that person’s news feed, promoting your site to their friends.

24. Post and Tag Photos Post event photos and tag participants Encourage fans to tag themselves

25. Tag Your Page Use the @ tag. As long as you “like” your own page, you can “@ tag” you page on your own personal profile. If Facebook does not automatically link to a friend’s name or page name, start typing the “@” symbol and the first few letters of the fan page name and it should appear in a drop- down menu. This can also be done when you post messages to other people’s walls or fan pages.

26. Measure Your Success Track readership and learn Use Facebook Insights Get statistics on your audience, demographics, page views, interactions and much more Measure feedback Monitor global discussion and sentiment Measure click-throughs

27. Keys for Success Post regularly with high quality content Use visuals Ask questions Show your passion

28. Questions?

29. Sample Facebook pages @Virginia Tech www.facebook.com/vtagricultureandlifesciences www.facebook.com/VirginiaCooperativeExtension www.facebook.com/VCEAAMasterGardeners www.facebook.com/virginiatech www.facebook.com/vtesarecpp www.facebook.com/hokiesports

30. Resources & References Beginners Guide to Social Media in Extension http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_to_Social_Media_in_Extension Virginia Tech Social Media – Guidelines and Procedures http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/social-networks/index.html e-Xtension professional development website http://www.extension.org/learn

31. Resources & References www.facebook.com http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/ Secrets of a successful and effective Facebook page, presented at the 2011 ACE/NETC Conference by Peter Tögel, Clemson University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook