The power of Facebook for business

In 2004, the social media buzzword was “friends,” people with whom college and high school kids connected on Facebook.

Fast-forward seven years. And the new F word of the day is “fans,” that vast audience of existing customers and potential clients using Facebook. A stand-alone website is no longer adequate, social media experts say.

Facebook in February introduced an array of tools, and rules, for business users—and continues to update the tool kit. It’s never been easier to create a page and keep it up-to-date with sweepstakes, coupons, videos, surveys, how-to slide shows and other utilitarian service content that will bring a devoted following—and the business to justify it.

And if your business doesn’t have technical coders in-house to create these riches, consider hiring a social media Facebook expert or one who will take the time to learn—some savvy students fresh out of college have the skill set at a great price; they know Flash, Photoshop and other software—or retaining one of the dozens of companies that fit your niche. A simple Google search will land you sources.

A practical reason for retaining an expert: “Facebook is changing its rules all the time,” said Jay Schwartz, CEO of IdeaWork Studios Inc., a branding, advertising and graphic design firm in New York. IdeaWork was retained by Crunch Fitness in 2009 to develop its Facebook presence. “You want to focus your attention on running your business, not on the rules of Facebook.”

Experts say companies cannot afford to ignore Facebook, which has more than 750 million users. The number of Facebook users in the United States will increase 13.4% in 2011, estimates The eMarketer Daily Newsletter, after 38.6% growth in 2010 and a whopping 90.3% rise the year before.

“A Facebook presence is the must-have way to build a brand,” said Bradley Bailyn, marketing manager for FirstPageSage Inc., a search engine optimization and social media marketing firm with offices in California and Manhattan. “That’s because Facebook isn’t a stop-here-and-leave premise. It’s a way to engage people who, in turn, engage all their friends with your brand. Facebook enables you to target consumers in a way you could only have dreamed of doing before.”

And consider this: Once a customer “likes” your business, if even a tiny fraction of that customer’s “friends” in turn take a look at your page and “like” it, that powerful brand builder, the multiplier effect, will kick in—and fast. Say each visitor to your site has 500 friends. If 1% of those 500 “like” you, that’s five people, who each have 500 friends apiece, too. Now 2,500 people will know about your site.

Here, Christina DeGuardi, vice president of marketing at Manhattan-based Crunch Fitness, which operates and franchises 31 fitness centers in 11 major markets across the United States, answers questions about what Facebook has meant to its 2,000-employee business.

Q. When did Crunch begin using Facebook?

A. Several years ago, when the social media boom hit. … Facebook has become an absolute necessity in staying relevant in our industry. Consumers want information at their fingertips. … Facebook also allows our fans to feel like they are a part of something; a feeling of community, which only makes our brand and overall member experience stronger.

Q. How has Crunch used Facebook?

A. To create a community and forum for our fans and members, to communicate and promote our offerings and programs, to increase brand awareness, and as a new medium for marketing. …. We’ve also rolled out multiple Facebook tabs providing users with information about our locations, class schedules and links to download a guest pass and our mobile app.

Q. What has been the most successful thing Crunch has done on Facebook?

A. We’ve had some great success with our recent Sponsored Stories [Editor's note: Facebook allows businesses to pay to have customers' interactions with the company show up on the Facebook pages of their friends.] It’s been beneficial in pushing out our newly created tabs, and in turn in generating leads and membership sales via guest pass downloads.

Q. How was that success measured?

A. In our business, it ultimately comes down to garnering leads and selling memberships. We can easily track our guest pass downloads and show that our Facebook tabs and addition of Sponsored Stories have garnered an impressive amount of quality leads, driving traffic to our gyms.

Q. What have been some other metrics that show Facebook’s success for Crunch?

A. As we all know, it’s difficult to quantify the success of online and social media initiatives. However, we gauge the success of our efforts through the increase of our fan base, fan engagement, percentage of impressions and positive versus negative posts and comments.

Q. What else has Crunch done on Facebook that has worked?

A. Crunch is rolling out a campaign for the month of October called Gymspirations. The campaign will be housed on a Facebook tab and highlight the amazing successes of our members. Our members will be able to submit their inspirational stories, which will then be posted and shared on Facebook. A winner will be selected and the member and trainer will receive all-expense-paid trips to Hawaii. … We are also rolling out a charity check-in campaign for the month of October. We will raise money via Facebook check-ins to support a charity while garnering check-ins at our local studios via Facebook Places.

Q. What hasn’t worked?

A. We’re constantly testing and monitoring our Facebook posts to see what our fans “like” the most or comment on, negatively or positively. We do know that our members engage the most when we post questions and content about our classes and instructors.

Q. Can Crunch track growth in the number of Facebook fans?

A. Currently, Crunch has over 17,000 fans. In the past last year, we’ve seen an increase of over 10,000 fans, which means we’ve more than doubled our fan base in just one year.

Q. How much money is Crunch spending on its Facebook business pages per week, month or year?

A. Our Facebook spend is wrapped into our entire marketing budget and changes depend on campaigns and marketing initiatives. [Editor's note: Facebook allows businesses to set dollar limits on their campaigns and uses an auction system that determines how much per click a business pays to reach its target audience.]

Q. Who is doing the work to build out Crunch’s Facebook pages?

A. Crunch uses IdeaWork Studios to build out our pages and Facebook tabs. IdeaWork is extremely familiar with our creative initiatives and our technical processes, so any leads gathered are seamlessly funneled into our existing systems. ….

Q. Does Crunch feel it can bring this work in-house?

A. Crunch manages [posting on] Facebook pages in house, … but Facebook is always changing how they do things, what things look like and all of the privacy issues. If we had to devote our internal resources to always keeping up with Facebook’s changes, we wouldn’t be as effective or as efficient as we are.

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