Why should I migrate/convert my App Profile to a Page?

Late last year, Facebook announced that they will remove all App Profile Pages on February 1st 2012.

If you own an App Profile page like I do, then you would have seen this banner across the top of your page:

If you don’t respond to the prompt before the 1st of February, your App Profile page will be deleted automatically and any traffic will be directed straight to your app.

How do I convert my profile to a Page?

Step 1: Create a new Facebook Fan page that has the same name as your app.  You need to make sure that you are an admin for the new Facebook Page and that the the page is under the “Product/App” category.

As you can see above, I have named my page “Piggybanker” which is the same as my Piggybanker app.

IMPORTANT: 

• During migration, only Likes and your vanity URL are transferred (with the exceptions explained below). Make sure to save all the photos and any text you have written in the Description and Information fields.
• If you are creating a new Facebook Page for migration purposes, DO NOT customise the vanity URL. The vanity URL from your app will be migrated automatically to the new page.
• If you are using an old Facebook page as the target for migration and it has an existing vanity URL, that URL will STAY THE SAME after migration. In this case, your app’s vanity URL will be lost.

Step 2: Log in to the Facebook Developers site and select the app that you want to migrate.

Step 3: Click on “Edit Settings” and under “Related Links”, click “View App Profile Page”

Step 4: You should now see the yellow banner at the top of your app profile page informing you of the imminent changes. Click “Click here to migrate to an existing Facebook Page”

Step 5: Select the target Facebook page from the choices in the drop down menu and click “Migrate”

You will then see a popup dialog informing you that the app profile page has been migrated. Facebook states that the migration takes up to 7 days. However in my case, the migration happened immediately.

Once the migration is complete, the original app page will be removed and will redirect to your new Facebook page. Check out the new Piggybanker page here.

What’s the difference between an App Profile and a Facebook Page?

Though similar in appearance, the automatically generated App Profile Pages differ in features from traditional Facebook Pages. The two types of pages offer different Insights, APIs as well as the available distribution channels or advertising options.

I’ve converted my App Profile to a Page. What should I do next?

You might add additional admins to the Page and begin to add photos and other bits of relevant information.

If the vanity URL has changed, you might want to inform your fans about this change as well as making sure any links from your website or distribution channels are amended to reflect the change.

Related posts:

1. Converting Facebook Profiles to Fan Pages: What you really need to know!
2. How to set-up a Google+ brand page
3. Rule No. 4: Sign up for a LinkedIn profile

What does this mean for search?

In effect, the search engine will take into account and give prominence to the information available on Google+ and tailor search results according to that information. However the changes in how the search engine works currently will only affect those who have Google+ accounts and are logged in whilst using the search engine.

Google is introducing three main features:

• Personal Results – this basically lets you find your own photos and posts as well as content that has been specifically shared by others with you. This information will only be made available to you.
• Profiles in Search – this feature will help you to search for people on the internet. Google+ accounts will start coming up in the autocomplete and in the results for people you are searching for and would enable you to add them to your Google+ Circles.
• People and Pages – this enables you to find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest. The results will also include the most prominent community or most active and influential individual in relation to your specific interest.

Basically, if you have a Google+ profile, your results will be curated by the search engine according to the people and contacts you have on Google+. If you search for a holiday and one of your friends happened to have been to that destination before, Google+ will include their posts or photos from Google+ or Picasa in your results. Alternatively, if you decided to search for an individual, the new feature will analyse your relationships and potential connections to make sure that the top result is the person you are indeed looking for.

Google promises “unprecedented security, transparency and control” with regards to Search plus Your World (aka Search+). They promise that as long as you are logged in to Google, your search results are protected by the same high standards of encryption that Google Mail currently offers.

So the innovators at Google now offer us the opportunity to enhance our online browsing experience by promising us highly targeted and very relevant results dependent on our social circle.

So what is my problem with this leap in technology?

I used to love Google in that their search results were very relevant and yet unbiased. Their algorithm chooses high quality results from the thousands available on the internet and ranks them according to their accuracy and the credibility of the publishing site. However, with the new feature, Google has chosen to put their business growth ahead of the user experience.

They promise to improve search by including personal recommendations from our friends. Great. But that also means that the search engine is effectively making the decisions for us over what we want to see online and what we will find interesting, to the detriment of other higher quality results. Suddenly, the search engine is biased.

Currently Google+ is still a niche social network catering to early adopters with very slow growth among the general public. But what they are now trying to do is to stimulate growth within this network by leveraging their best product – search results. By making their social network more prominent during your browsing experience, Google aims to persuade more users to join its networking platform.

Forget about SEO, it seems that it’s all about friend recommendations. The quality of the results you will be seeing will no longer be about the content but would be ranked according to the +1 ranking signals that your friends award it.

What does this mean for SEO and online marketing?

Effectively, SEO ninjas will have to come up with two very different SEO strategies, wherein one caters to those who choose to have “No Personal Results” and those who choose “Search plus Your World”.

In the past, links were the strongest ranking signals. Now, instead of relying on SEO, marketers will have to rely on individuals who have a high influence over a large portion of their followers. All a marketer would then have to do is pick a highly influential individual who has a sizeable online following. For example, let’s say that Lady Gaga loves to stay at the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas, can you imagine how many her fans will suddenly see the Bellagio at the top of their search results when they research a holiday to Vegas? Suddenly, results for other competing hotels are pushed down despite their quality in favour of Google’s proprietary ranking signal.

No doubt, this is a scenario that marketers will use and abuse when the time and opportunity arises.

More than ever, who you have in your Google+ circle is important as they will affect your search results. However, it appears that who HAS you in their circles will be of far greater importance as you will then have influence on their browsing experience in the future. It appears to me as just one other way for a handful of individuals to push their message and their agenda onto others, albeit in a deceivingly “organic” way.

If this current enterprise takes off, Google is effectively creating a “walled garden” within its own search engine. One can only hope that Facebook and Twitter continue to resist opening up their sites to Google searches in an effort to maintain the complete openness and freedom that the Internet once offered.

In our quest to create an über personalised browsing experience and by allowing ourselves to be subjected to hyper-targeted content, we risk containing ourselves in smaller and smaller boxes; thus leaving no room for anything but our own constantly reaffirmed (sometimes flawed) beliefs.

Many people will disagree with my point of view and see Google’s step as a move towards a more user-centric approach as a good thing. You might ask, what’s the big deal when you can turn off all the new functionality anyway with a click of a button? My point is, what happens when you can’t switch it off anymore?

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Earlier this year, they faced a great challenge in Norway. Traditionally, the company has been associated with low profile jobs despite the fact that they also dealt with high-paying corporate ones. The challenge was to change this preconception, especially among university students and young professionals, and to attract ambitious individuals to join the company.

What did they do? Adecco Norway offered university and college students the best summer job there is.

The Campaign: “Adecco: Be The Next CEO” 

Between January and April this year, 2300 college and university students from diverse social and educational backgrounds applied for the chance to become CEO of Adecco Norway for 1 month with an approximate salary of 100,000 Norwegian Kroner, as well as living and travel expenses.

The applicants were screened through telephone interviews with the top 90 candidates receiving a logical reasoning test.

The top 10 candidates were then put up for a public vote through the campaign’s website.  In order to win votes, the 10 candidates started running their own campaigns and ads. Some of  the stunts during the personal advertising campaigns were then covered by newspapers and on social media sites. Some candidates raffled off iPads while one even offered a vacation in the French Riviera.  Throughout the voting process, the candidates themselves courted the traditional media networks to cover their story and garner more votes.

When the public vote closed, the 4 candidates with the highest votes were selected to compete at the “Assessment Centre”. During the live event, the candidates solved a variety of tasks in front of the audience and a jury, which included dealing with a difficult employee.

At the end of the day, Kine Stirler Alm was announced as the winner and her experiences as CEO was documented in a blog and various social media sites.

Adecco was determined not to let the campaign devolve to an expensive publicity stunt in the face of a media storm following the scandal in February surrounding their business practices.

What they set out to do was capture the attention of young people and offer the winner valuable workplace experience by undertaking various CEO responsibilities. Kine Stirler Alm’s tasks included planning and leading a national executive meeting, preparing budget negotiations, evaluating the marketing plan and following operational processes within the company.

On top of the sizeable salary, Anders Øwre-Johnsen worked closely with the vicarious CEO during her month in office and stayed on as her mentor for a further 6 months after the summer job was completed.

How did Adecco execute their online and social media strategy?

Website: They launched a custom built website on http://www.konsernsjefen.no/ which had details of the application procedure and contest details. In addition, they had an interactive CEO test as an application pre-screening tool on the site. 11,000 people took the interactive CEO test and 2300 proceeded to apply for the position. The public were then given the chance to vote for the top 10 candidates through the site. Adecco received 120,000 web votes and 8000 SMS votes (the SMS was limited to one vote per phone number) during the life span of the campaign.

Facebook: Adecco created and posted on a dedicated Facebook fan page for students – Adecco Student which was launched in tandem with the campaign. They updated their status with brief profiles of the top 10 candidates and online articles from various websites mentioning the contenders. They also interacted with the general public’s reactions to the contestants. The group currently has over 1,100 fans.

Twitter: @AdeccoNorge tweeted relevant updates with the hashtag #Konsernsjefen. The twitter account was used to spread the word about the application process and even interacted with the applicants even before the top 10 were announced.

As seen on the graph above, AdeccoNorge tweeted actively during the campaign.

Youtube: Adecco live streamed the Assessment Centre event to enable students outside of Oslo to watch the final challenge. They also posted a follow up video (http://youtu.be/RUzJdATrF1U) providing insight into the entire recruitment process and the Assessment Centre, featuring Anders Øwre-Johnsen and the rest of the team involved in hiring the summer CEO.

Blog: When the campaign ended, Kine maintained a blog detailing her time as CEO and started tweeting as @KineStirlerAlm to further interact with the general public and sustain interest in the campaign.

What happened after the campaign ended?

Google Search Traffic: A quick look on Google Insights says that the search traffic for Adecco in Norway did not change dramatically after the campaign culminated in June. However, it would be interesting to see whether the search volume increases in the run up to summer next year, among students and young professionals to reflect the effects of this year’s campaign.

Youtube Views: The Youtube video featured at the top of the article was uploaded a month ago. Since then it has been seen 2,451 times around the world and has been featured in several social media sites. This retrospective video could be the key in capturing more attention and sustaining the interest in Adecco beyond Norway’s border.

In contrast, the behind the scenes video which was uploaded 4 months ago has only been seen 498. I suspect that the low number is due to the video being shot in Norwegian. If the video had English subtitles, there would be a lot more interest as I don’t doubt other companies would be keen to replicate this campaign in their local markets.

Twitter: The Twitter account is growing at a relatively constant pace. In the run up to the Assessment Centre live event on the 8th of June, @AdeccoNorge saw a quick increase to their follower count (see graph below). This increase has since levelled off.

Personally, I think that the campaign was brilliant and innovative. It was gutsy in a way that it attracted the attention of young people who are so used to being bombarded by traditional marketing campaigns. Furthermore, it offered them a chance to stretch their creativity and work for something that was a genuine opportunity for them. Unlike on the UK’s BBC Young Apprentice, the candidates on Adecco: Be The Next CEO were motivated by something more than 15 minutes of fame on television.

A recent study by Universum after the campaign ended showed that Adecco.no is the first choice for students when looking for a job.

What would you need to do to improve on this campaign?

No doubt a lot of other companies would want to take this idea and in some way replicate it to market their own organisations. I would do these:

• Allow video applications which the candidates can use to solicit for votes online from their friends on various social networks. By allowing for video applications, word of the contest would also spread as more people would find out about it during the applications period.
• In response to the challenges, I would get the candidates to submit their answers via a video response which would be posted on the organisation’s Youtube channel or the campaign website. The public can then vote for the candidates based on the video. The video can also lend a viral aspect to the campaign as it is something that the supporters can post on their friend’s Facebook walls, etc.
• Using the designated Twitter hashtag, the public could submit their own responses to the challenges summarised in 140 characters. It’s an idea that would encourage more interaction and hopefully get the public more invested in the campaign. Again this would hopefully help spread the campaign to more people.

The most important thing however is what happens after the campaign ends? How do you capitalise on the attention your company received during its duration? Hopefully we’ll see Adecco leverage their social media accounts which are targeted at students, posting not only career tips but also job vacancies that they have in the run up to summer. Students rely on networking sites not only for information about their friends but also news relevant to them which would include jobs, housing advice, career tips, etc.

Those are some of my ideas. Comment below if you’ve got more suggestions!

(Also, thanks to the guys over at Adecco who have been quick to help me with some of the research for this post.)

Related posts:

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3. Rule No. 6: Figure out what works for your audience

Since launching my internet start-up a few weeks ago, I decided to jump in and create a Google+ brand page. Currently I’ve also got a Facebook fan page for the Piggybanker app to cover my social media bases.

Here’s a quick presentation for those interested in creating their own brand pages.

Step by step guide to Creating a Google+ Brand Page

Related posts:

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2. The day the Internet died: Google introduces Search+
3. The Royal Wedding according to Google

Facebook has recently introduced a new feature to enhance their users’ experience on the site by implementing a Timeline feature for users’ profiles. Timeline will feature your life’s stories from your most recent activity all the way back to your birth. The idea is to make viewing a person’s profile richer by including more photos and highlighting milestones displayed in a chronological fashion.

Our online accounts no longer serve as our mere alter egos in cyberspace. These days, Facebook accounts have become an extension of our lives. Your Facebook serves as an indelible record of your existence, drunken photos and silly statuses included. With Timeline, users are able to retrospectively fill in information and photos from their birth onwards. You can also add important life updates such as your graduation, engagement, moving to a new house, getting a new pet, the birth of your child and even the loss of a loved one.

What happens to your online account when you die? What happens to your Facebook profile when you are no longer around to update it?

(Click here to see Charlie Harper’s full Facebook Timeline…)

Clearly the photo above is a parody of a Facebook account belonging to Two and a Half Men’s Charlie Harper. He lived a life of excess filled with drunken debauchery and what appeared to be little regard for other people’s feelings, all the while providing hilarious comic quips about life. For someone like Charlie who died a sudden and tragic death, what would happen to his account?

Since Facebook launched in 2004, over 300 million users have passed away. Losing a friend or family member is painful enough (although maybe not for Charlie’s former conquests…), but imagine the extra, unnecessary jabs when Facebook suggests that you reconnect with that person’s profile or the face recognition system sends you requests to tag the deceased person’s photo.

I have looked at the privacy policy regarding a deceased person’s online profile on four of the largest social networking sites around the world.

Facebook

Facebook created a specialised policy for deceased users by not only agreeing to let a family member take control of the account but also providing an option so turn someone’s account into a memorial.

By doing so, Facebook is allowing friends and family of the deceased to preserve the user’s online identity. People are free to view the page, read about the person’s life and leave posts on the wall as a way of remembering them.

In an age when the idea of completely disappearing is unthinkable, it is a welcome relief to realise that a trace of our existence will linger online. But the last thing that we want are constant reminders about someone’s disappearance. As such, when Facebook converts an account into a memorial, the profile automatically becomes private and only accessible to confirmed friends. The person’s contact information is removed and the log in facility for the account is disabled.

To memorialise an account, family or friends must fill out Facebook’s special contact form and include proof of death such as a link to an onituary or a news article.In order to do this, family or friends must fill out Facebook’s special contact form and include proof of death (usually a link to an obituary or a news article).

However, in the event that your account has been memorialised wrongfully, you can contact Facebook here to reactivate your account, provided that you can prove your identity.

Twitter

For deceased Twitter users, family members can contact Twitter through this link. The user’s account will be closed upon their death but family members will be offered the chance to recover and archive any publicly available tweets from the account.

Google+

Currently Google+ does not have a policy outlined in their ‘Help’ section. However, they do have a policy in place that covers everything tied into the same Google account. Therefore the same procedure probably applies to a Google+ profile.

All posts will remain online unless someone asks Google to take them down. If you don’t want them to remain, or if you need access to the person’s Gmail account for whatever reason, you must follow the steps outlined in Google’s Help section. You must be a lawful representative of the deceased (which means friends are out) and be able to provide proof of that authority. You must also include proof of death and a full e-mail header from the person in question to show that the person knew and was in contact with you.

After that, Google needs 30 days to process the documents, but notes that a “valid third party court order or other appropriate legal process” will get you access sooner.

Google has much stricter guidelines over who can access the the deceased’s account since the access extends not only to their social networking profile but also the their email, contacts and any other account they may have.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn users probably post less information regarding their personal lives and the level of interaction between the users are unlikely to be as involved as they are on Facebook.

Nonetheless, there is also a process whereby a colleague, classmate or a connection can notify LinkedIn’s Customer Service team here in the event of a user’s demise. LinkedIn will then remove the profile from their site.

**Summary of Links:

Facebook Help Centre: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=185698814812082

LinkedIn Verification of Death Form: https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2842

Twitter Help Centre: https://support.twitter.com/articles/87894-how-to-contact-twitter-about-a-deceased-user

Gmail Help Centre: https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=14300

Related posts:

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2. Why work in Social Media?
3. How advertisers pay to say ‘hi’ on Social Media

Here’s a rundown of the most recent changes that they have rolled out in the last 3 months.

Fan Pages

“Invite Friends” option

Prior to the change, page admins could only suggest pages to their friends. The new option allows Page admins to invite their friends to like their pages by creating a notification and sending a Facebook email.
As it stands, only page admins can invite their friends to their fan pages.

Custom URLs

In the past, admins had the option of choosing a customised URL for their pages as long as there are more than 25 fans. Now, Facebook is allowing admins to choose their customised URL as soon as they have created the page.
Custom URLs cannot be changed once they have been assigned so choose wisely! To change your URL simply go to Facebook.com/Username.

“Send an Update” Now disabled

Since introducing the new “Messages”, Facebook has realised that updates from Page admins end up in the Others folder. They have now disabled the “Send an Update” functionality on Fan pages. Admins are no longer able to send mass messages to their fans. Instead, Facebook recommends that admins post on the Page walls so that fans can see the updates on their new feed.

Profiles

Inline Profile Controls

The ability to choose how much information other users can see on your profile has been around for a while. However, with the recent update, the content on your profile now appears next to an icon and a drop-down menu that allows users to restrict who sees what.

Profile and Content Tag Review

Users can now approve or reject tags in photos before they appear on your profile.  Also, users can now approve or reject any tag someone wants to add to your posts.
Good news: You should now be able to stop anyone from tagging you in compromising photos before your mum sees them.

View Profile As….

This tool allows you to see what your profile looks like to others. This tool has been around for quite a while but it was buried among the numerous privacy control tools. Now, this tool is right on top of your profile, thus making it easier to access.

Improved Friends Lists

Lists have existed for several years but the function never really took off. Now, Facebook has introduced 3 major improvements. (Lists are completely optional!)

• Smart Lists – Smart lists create themselves based on the information your friends have in common with you, as made available on their profile.
• Close Friends and Acquaintances Lists – Simply put, you less posts and photos from people you are not close to
• Better Suggestions – Allows you to add the right friends to existing lists minus a lot of effort

Sharing Content

More Inline Controls

You can now control who sees each post, as the settings are right beside the “post” button. The dropdown menu will expand over time to include any lists you have created or groups that you have joined. (Those of you who use Google+ will be familiar with this functionality.)
The major advantage with this update is the ability to tailor exactly who your audience is. (Hopefully this will decrease the number of people who are friend with their bosses, who then get fired for ranting on Facebook about work.)

Change who sees a Post

If you do end up posting something aimed at the wrong audience, fear not. You can retrospectively change the controls at any time.

Tag Non-Friends or Pages you haven’t liked

If you are tagged by a non-friend (e.g. a co-worker you’d rather not be Facebook friends with…), it won’t appear on your profile unless you have approved the post.

Add a Location to your Post

You can now add a location to every post without having to “Check-In”, regardless of what device you are using.
As a result, Facebook is phasing out the Places feature on mobiles.

The Subscribe Button

This is basically something akin to Twitter’s “Follow” feature. You can now get updates from people without having to add them as friends.
As a result, you can now also get your own subscribers and share your updates with more than just your friends. (This is pretty much how Google+ works, in that you can have your posts visible to just a specific “Circle” or to the general public.)
To find out more just go to the Subscriptions Page.

If you found this post useful, tweet, like or share this article. Alternatively, bookmark this page now and subscribe to my RSS feed using one of the buttons below!

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THE BASICS:

Why should I convert my profile to a Page?

Since profiles are meant for individual people, they aren’t suited to meet business needs. Pages offer more robust features for organizations, businesses, brands, and public figures.
Maintaining a profile for anything other than an individual person is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Facebook regularly trawls through the profiles and may shut down yours if it violates the terms of agreement. So, if you don’t convert your profile to a Page, you risk permanently losing access to the profile and all of your content.

 How do I convert my profile to a Page?

When you convert a profile to a Page, only profile pictures will be transferred, and all of your friends will be automatically added as people who “like” your Page. No other content will be carried over to your new Page. The account associated with the profile you previously maintained would be converted to a business account, which will be the only admin of your new Page, unless you add additional ones.

What’s the difference between a business account and a profile?

Business accounts are designed for people who only want to use Facebook to administer Pages and run advertising campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same features as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on Facebook.

When you use a business account, you can view all the Pages and Social Ads you own, but you will not be able to view profiles or content owned by other people. Business accounts cannot be found in a search, and the owner of the account will not be able to send or receive friend requests.

How can I download my profile information before converting my profile to a Page?

To begin this process, go to Account Settings page, then click the “learn more” link beside “Download Your Information.” From there, click the “Download” button.

When I download my information from Facebook, what is included in the file?

Your file will include the following information:

• Your profile information (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)
• Wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile
• Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account
• Your friend list
• Notes you have created
• Events to which you have RSVP’d
• Sent and received messages
• Any comments that you and your friends have made on your Wall posts, photos, and other profile content

I’ve converted my profile to a Page. What should I do next?

You might add additional admins to the Page. For example, you can add your personal profile or other people as admins.

Can I convert my newly created Page back to a profile?

If you have accidentally converted your profile to a business Page, you can submit a request for a reversal. Please keep in mind that it is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to maintain a profile for anything other than an individual person. If you wish to submit an appeal, you can do so.

BENEFITS OF A PAGE:

• No 5,000 friend limit
• No more managing Friend Requests
• No more Facebook messages
• People who Like the page still see updates. They can now tag my page in their photos.
• Facebook Insights

COSTS OF MIGRATION

Third party apps disappear completely

None of the third-party functionality (Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, RSS, and so on) has migrated from the user page to the fan page, and there is no information explaining how to reconnect these apps.

The original profile will become a Business Account

The resultant account following the migration can only be used to create and manage pages and cannot engage in personal contact. No more access to:

• Personal data from your friends (e.g. birthdays)
• Friends’ walls
• Outstanding friend requests
• Existing Pages (access will be retained by existing admisitrators)
• You lose your Profile wall content, and can’t migrate it to your Page wall post content
• You can’t contact (or chat with) friends
• You can’t convert your friends to an existing Page (Facebook prevents this as it thinks that you are spamming people you don’t know)

Duplicate Fan Pages 

There is no way to merge two fan pages unless they are named exactly the same thing. Facebook has introduced a new option to “Merge duplicate pages” under the “Resources” tab. This is only possible if you are an administrator for both pages. Otherwise, the only option is to report duplicate pages to Facebook.

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2. Migrating Your App Profile Page to a Facebook Page
3. The quick and dirty guide to Facebook market research

There is a lot of reading to be done on the forums as members volunteer opinions, answer questions, organise meet-ups and generally just chat with others over the internet. The question begging to be asked is: Are forums social media sites?

We have come to think of social media sites as those similar to Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube. But despite the lack of fancy APIs, forums still provide a platform for user generated content as well as encouraging social interaction and networking.

Any social media manager will tell you that their main purpose is to 1. Raise awareness about their brand and 2. Create dialogue about the brand.  Forums are incredibly useful in that they create an opportunity for dialogue that you do not get with Facebook or Twitter.

What are the advantages of getting engaged in a forum?

In an earlier post about KLM’s social media strategies, I wrote about KLM’s forum for their frequent fliers. The forum was instrumental in providing feedback to the brand and generating ideas to improve the airline’s services.

Forum participation also allows for reputation management strategies, brand awareness tactics, and even link generation. Undoubtedly, most marketers are already familiar with these tactics. However, there are some who may find themselves eschewing forums for newer and trendier networking sites.

These days, forums exist mostly to fulfil niches. However, niches do mean relevant and related content, audiences and engagement. This means that companies can leverage the forum members’ expertise and engagement in order to promote their brand to a captive audience.

Of course, there are other benefits to forum participation beyond just marketing. They often provide destinations for help with specific problems that can be hard to find elsewhere. And they are great places for networking with other professionals. Often, just being involved in the conversation translates to staying in the loop for current trends within your chosen industry.

The biggest advantage that forums offer is its self-sufficiency potential, wherein users are expected to run the forum themselves as well as their interaction with others. Unlike Facebook Fan pages where the administrators keep the fans engaged through regular updates or contests and events, forums require less direction. Yes, there is a certain level of moderation required on forums but active users can take some of the responsibilities themselves.

What are the disadvantages to using forums?

The general pace on a forum is slower than Twitter or Facebook. Sometimes it might take days before a question is answered on a thread. Furthermore, forums require users to search through the topics for the thread most relevant to them.

The amount of reading on forums may also seem daunting to some individuals. Forums are good in that there is a lot of information available and archived in one place. A significant downside to this is the fact that sometimes, a user will have to read through a lot of information before eventually finding the answer they need.

At the end of the day, it comes down to common sense whether a forum is appropriate for your company or not. Some products will lend themselves well to discussions while others are better off gathering followers on Twitter.  It might even be the case that your brand only needs to engage on a number of forums through one employee.  Regardless, it is beneficial for social media managers to be aware of different strategies available to them.

Related posts:

1. Rule No. 3: Get a Twitter account
2. Converting Facebook Profiles to Fan Pages: What you really need to know!
3. The quick and dirty guide to Facebook market research

KLM has received a lot of attention during the last year due to their various social media campaigns. As of yet, they have not released any figures regarding the ROI of their campaigns. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to look at the innovative campaigns they have devised to keep their fans/followers engaged over the last few years.

Fly for Fortune

In 2006, KLM seeded a Pixar-like game trailer to blogs, forums, as well as 200 local and global video sharing portals and social networks. A micro site was created where the target audience personalised their plane and flew it to a destination of their choice. The campaign utilised social gaming as a way to get more publicity. The grand prize were 2 tickets around the world.

In Touch

In 2008 KLM established a market research online community (MROC), called In Touch. The program was developed to get a better understanding of the Elite members of its Flying Blue frequent flyer program in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Sweden

The program has several key strengths, which can be taken as a best practice guide by anyone looking to replicate KLM’s model.

• The MROC was based on a clear mission statement – the overall goal was “to understand the customers’ values, aspirations, dreams and challenges and co-create relevant, differentiated offerings”
• The research was used only for qualitative insights
• It also focused on a specific customer segment – the Elite members of the Flying Blue program
• KLM dedicated a research evangelist to build mindshare around the community – It was crucial to have an individual who was familiar with the ins and outs of the MROC in order to get the rest of the company on board the project
• The MROC evangelist also sparked research interests before the community took shape – KLM had an internal launch to educate stakeholders on what the community was and how it could be used, as well as providing examples of the kind of research that could be done. During the launch, they directly engaged the potential community users through an informal brainstorming session, which created a sense of ownership for everyone involved.
• KLM also marketed the community to build awareness and interest within the company itself
• The most powerful thing that came out of the MROC was how the insights from the community was integrated with other research. A great example was KLM’s research on personal space. The response from the community gave context to quantitative data and resulted in KLM leaving the middle seat vacant for business class seats.
• KLM took the information from the community and spread it across more parts of the company
• Also, the community allowed the stakeholders to become more involved earlier in the product development process

Secret Cities Twitter Contest

KLM’s Twitter followers were offered a chance to win 2 flight tickets every week from the 28^th of March until the 22^nd of April 2011.

Twitter followers received a daily tweet with a link to a picture of that day’s secret location along with a small hint. The followers participated by pinpointing a flag on a world map. The winner was chosen based on who had closest guess during the week.

KLM Valentine

KLM built a micro site that was live for one day only, Valentine’s day. The goal was to create awareness for the Twitter account and to generate followers. All participants had to do was to follow KLM on Twitter, tweet who they would like to go to Paris with and use the hashtag ‘#KLMLove’. Followers then had a chance to win a free trip to Paris for two.

Social Luggage Tag Campaign

Facebook followers simply uploaded an image onto KLM’s Facebook page to create a customized luggage tag. Limited numbers of customized luggage tags were then created and sent to the lucky Facebook followers.

KLM Travlr

KLM Travlr is a beta tool that allows people to find a holiday destination according to their budget and interest. The results are based on uploaded user generated content from Flickr, Wikitravel, Google Maps, Twitter, Foursquare and Youtube.

The locations are clickable and provide a page with background information about the destination, pictures/videos, a map of the area and the possibility to book a KLM flight to the nearest airport. The results are then shareable through various social media networks.

This tool is a powerful one that may change how we search for holidays. It focuses on online recommendations and tries to aggregate the data on the Internet into a user-friendly one-stop app.

KLM Surprise

In 2010 KLM conducted a research on how happiness spreads. The crux of the campaign was to give random surprises and bring joy to customers who checked in via Foursquare for flights or tweet about waiting to board the next KLM service.

A team identified KLM passengers waiting for flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. They then researched each person’s social profile to find out a little bit more about their personality and destination before matching that to a surprise gift, which they gave each person before they boarded their flight. 40 passengers were given gifts and the airline’s Twitter feed gained 1 million impressions as a direct result of the campaign.

#Fly2Miami

Late last year, KLM announced on Twitter that they would open their Amsterdam to Miami route on March 27 2011.

Sied van Riel (international Dutch DJ/producer) and Wilco Jung (movie maker) asked KLM via Twitter why they didn’t schedule a direct flight from Amsterdam to Miami a week earlier. KLM was missing the most important days of March for the dance scene in 2011. KLM proposed a bet; the pair fill up the plane with people heading to Miami and KLM will provide them with a direct flight from Amsterdam a week earlier. It was the first time in history that a flight would take place resulting from a bet on Twitter.

Within 48 hours, 150 people had signed up for the flight. During the inaugural flight, 450 people with DJs, VJs and MCs partied at altitude en-route to Miami.

Tile and Inspire Aircraft

Fans on Facebook and other social media sites were invited to convert their profile pictures along with an inspiring message, into a Delft-blue tile. Those that did stood a chance of seeing their tile on the KLM Boeing 777-200.

120,000 tiles were created in 154 countries; 77, 000 of which were submitted for a place on the aircraft. Inspiring messages were submitted in Chinese, German, English, French, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

The aircraft was unveiled in June 2011, decorated with stickers of 120,00 delft blue tiles. The campaign aimed to give customers a memorable flying experience and to transcend the notion that a KLM aircraft simply transports passengers from point A to point B.

Despite the lack of any data on how much engagement or direct revenue these campaigns generated, the key thing to learn is that social media lends itself well to creativity. Social media is very fluid and as such, it offers a lot of opportunities for creative thinking and learning by trial-and-error. Not every campaign will go viral and not every tweet will result in a ticket sale but for a brand that is dedicated to keeping their customer base informed, social media has definite advantages over traditional ads and email marketing.

Related posts:

1. Rule no. 7: #Fail better
2. Rule No. 3: Get a Twitter account
3. Rule No. 6: Figure out what works for your audience

JustGiving creates a webpage for fundraisers which individuals can share with their friends via email, Facebook and iPhone apps. It is definitely a great example of how social media works and impacts our lives offline.

Recently, I interviewed JustGiving’s community manager Tal Wolgroch.  Tal was nice enough to give me an insight into what he does on a daily basis, getting people involved with JustGiving.

Maebellyne: What course did you do at university? Have you found it relevant to your job?

Tal: I did Sociology at Nottingham University and have found it marginally related to what I do now. Although it didn’t help me find a specific professional direction, the ability to understand social groupings has helped me become adept at utilising social media platforms to engage people, to speak to them in a language they understand, and to generate conversations as opposed to traditional one-way direct marketing.

Describe your job in 5 words.

Generating dialogue around our brand.

How did you get into social media?

My first job following graduation was at a PR agency that specialised in digital communication (through a friend). I took more of an interest in social media campaigns than traditional PR, and went on to work at two social media agencies in London, then finally in-house social media at JustGiving.

What is the main difference between working within an agency and working as part of the in-house social media team at JustGiving?

Agency work is fast-paced, results driven and less creative. An in-house social media role allows you more freedom to test different approaches and learn quickly.

What is your favourite social media monitoring tool and why?

Radian6 – it’s the most expensive tool out there for a reason. You can drill down into conversations and set up profiles to monitor conversations around products, competitors, influential commentators, and the overall digital brand equity. However, none of the tools out there have managed to master auto-sentimenting conversations, which is arguably the holy grail of advanced social media monitoring.

In your opinion, what has been your most successful marketing campaign? How did you do it?

When JustGiving commissioned independent research to show that its users raised more money for charity than its competitors (60% more than Virgin Money Giving), I identified influential Third Sector blogs, forums, Facebook groups and Twitter users, and ASKED them where they thought they could raise more, then replied with evidence-based data that proved our platform was the most effective. The strategy was to develop conversations instead of one-way announcements.

What is your advice for an aspiring social media professional?

Stay on top of industry news, platforms and apps. Develop relations with influential industry bloggers (that may be later once you are working within a specific industry). Watch what you say, but also constantly experiment with how to engage users: the focus is almost always on the user, not the company.

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