As podcasters, any social media strategy we choose to use to help us better connect with our audience is all about OUR unique and individual audience.
There are certain podcasts whose audience is primarily voice feedback and emails, others are all about twitter conversations, for others audience engagement is solely within the podcast webpage and comments on the blog, while others have their own social network communities (ning sites, forums) that are highly active.
Each podcast and its audience is unique.
In this post we’ll talk about podcast audience engagement via Facebook as another opportunity to develop deeper relationships with your current audience and perhaps facilitate a wider reach for your podcast through examples and general tips.
The main focus will be on Facebook Pages.
This in no way means that you MUST have a Facebook Page as a podcaster. This is a uniquely individual decision that matches your workflow and your existing audience engagement. In a later post we will focus more on the differences between Personal Profiles vs Pages vs Groups.
Key Ideas For Facebook For Podcasters
Here is a bite size synopsis of the basic key concepts to keep in mind using Facebook Pages. As you delve into the post, we’ll address each of the following bullet points a bit more fully.
- Be authentic: Don’t get a Facebook Page if you hate Facebook. Don’t get a Facebook Page if your audience is not there! Use your time effectively in a way that aligns with your workflow.
- Use what’s there! Fill out as much information as you can. Use all the functionality of the Pages before you start to get creative.
- Put in the time: The beauty of a social network is that you participate in it. Be engaged. Do it up. Don’t expect to get tons of folks to start Liking your page just because you put it up. Like anything else, you have to put in the time to see the results.*
- Facebook changes all the time: Be willing to roll with the punches.
- Have fun! If it’s not fun, don’t do it.
Who Is Your Audience?
In the Twitter for Podcasters blog post I asked one main question: Why are you podcasting? In this post I ask another: Who is your audience?
This is particularly important for Facebook if you plan to invest some time developing that community. Even though almost the entire world is on Facebook, is your audience active on Facebook?
Some podcast’s audience want nothing to do with Facebook. They would rather gather anywhere else but there. Those podcasters although they may have a Facebook Page are not really engaged on their Page. Any extra time invested in Facebook would take away valuable time they could apply elsewhere to cultivate audience engagement.
Before you invest your time and effort on Facebook, either do some research yourself, or ask your audience if they are active on Facebook. It doesn’t hurt and it could absolutely save you tons of time.
It’s not only about your audience but about yourself: are you comfortable on Facebook? Are you willing to delve into and make this a place to have your community live? If you cannot stand Facebook and never go there, then don’t start now. Be authentic to yourself!
Take the Time To Effectively Use Your Facebook Page
Your Facebook Page’s importance relies on your willingness to take the time to fill out all the necessary information, including the optimal tabs that are relevant to your podcast.
Add Your Proper Information
Edit your Basic Information from the left hand navigation. Please fill your podcast info. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve gone into a podcaster’s Facebook page only to find this Basic Information such as email and website missing. If you are not going to fill this out, at least put a link to your podcast’s main site! Here is the top information needed:
- Website
- Email address
- Voice mail feedback
- Twitter feed
- Smartphone App link (if you happen to have an Android or iOS App for your podcast)
You can add all that information and more within your Page on Basic Information on the left hand side navigation.
What Is Your Podcast About?
A quick summary of your podcast will do so much for potential listeners (filling out the About section on your Facebook Page).
It’s always great to be introduced to a new brand/person/business in the form of a quick description on their Facebook Page.
You can let folks know about your podcast in these places within your Page:
- The About section within Basic Information
- The About section from the left hand navigation on your Facebook Page
- A customized landing page (we’ll talk about this in another post)
Facebook Photos and Videos
Uploading media to your Facebook Page is a gold mine for your audience. You can supplement your existing content or add Page specific content for your audience.
Here are some ways to leverage your media:
- Upload your logos and artwork to your Facebook pictures. (Great way to have folks steal your information). You can always add a hyperlink to each pic to drive back to your site!
- Share any pictures where you have in some way engaged with your listeners face to face.
- If your listeners send you pictures ask permission to post them to your Facebook page.
- Post pictures of events, workshops, meet-ups relevant to your podcasts’ subject matter.
- Create screencasts, tutorials or how-tos specific to your Facebook Page
- Create Facebook Page specific videos engaging with your audience.
Testimonials/Reviews
(Update: in true Facebook fashion they removed the testimonials/reviews tab as a feature for your page. C’est la vie.)
You know how important iTunes reviews are for your podcasts. Even though Facebook reviews are not quite as important in terms of getting your seen more they are an excellent way for folks to share how great you are! If people want to know more about what others think of your podcast, you can simply link straight to your Testimonials Page on Facebook.
There is no real “Testimonials Page,” it’s actually called Reviews, and you can add the ability for your fans to review you simply by adding that tab to the left hand side column as you are editing your Page. I don’t think many podcasters use this functionality very much. It’s so easy, especially if your audience is already active on Facebook.
How do you get people to review you? The tried and true way, you ask them 🙂
Get Them Landing Where You Want!
If someone who has not Liked your Page lands on your Page, what do you want them to see?
- Your information?
- Your wall posts and links?
- Everyone’s wall posts and links?
- A specific landing page
This is strictly up to you. You can also choose to have folks land directly on your information page, or even perhaps design your own iFrame fancy pants landing page. The sky’s the limit! Those settings are accessible via your Manage Permissions settings within your admin panel of your Page.
That’s just the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to the power of Facebook, or should I say what’s possible with Facebook 😉
Facebook is CONSTANTLY Changing.
Before even beginning to delve into Facebook practices, know that they will change. They always do. Usually Facebook settings, Pages, Groups, Profiles, permissions, applications, usage, privacy, whatever you can think of regarding the platform will change, more than likely just as you finally got the hang of it.
Whenever researching Facebook practices on your own, make sure you pay attention to the date tutorials/tips where posted.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FACEBOOK TEAM BLOG
Being podcasters we know about RSS, right? Using your RSS reader of choice subscribe to the Facebook blog. You will get a head’s up regarding up and coming changes, and at times you may have the ability to beta test possible new features. You’ll be in the know before a vast amount of people about Facebook!
If you wanna get crazy in the know, subscribe to the Facebook Developers Blog.
There’s a lot more to come, so I hope you come back to check out Facebook for Podcasters Part 2 + more! We’ll be covering: automation, tagging, growing your Likes, customizing your Page and Profiles/Groups/Pages.
If there’s anything else that you’d like to learn about leave it in the comments, we’d be happy to serve!
