Facebook Lessons from the Obama08 Facebook Marketing Campaign - Action Plan for Small Businesses

The Obama08 campaign realized early that Web 2.0 and social networks could be leveraged to engage and organize supporters. They dove into all that Internet marketing, Web 2.0, social networks, and Facebook could potential provide.

Marketing on Facebook is one of the hottest trends among Internet marketers and entrepreneurs today. It’s popularity has fueled its staggering growth.

Facebook

Facebook’s growth from obscurity to the largest social networking site on the Internet has been amazing. In 2008 they leaped over MySpace as the number one social networking destination.

Their application based platform and mass adoption has been the catalysts for Facebook’s rapid growth. Facebook has a diverse demographic and over 161 million unique visitors per month that the Obama08 campaign tapped into.

Facebook members used its applications to engage and converse with one another and the Obama campaign. With 61 billion page views per month, Facebook has a very active community.

Customized Engagement

Having access to a tool and knowing how to use it are two different stories. The Obama campaign realized early on that Facebook offered unique delivery methods that, if properly implemented, could help them succeed online.

The Facebook application platform offers flexibility and customization in how you engage others. With Facebook’s applications you have the tools to effectively deliver your message in a variety of ways including:

• Notes
• Photos
• News Feed
• Posted Items
• Video
• Messages
• Comments
• Tags
• Fans
• Wall Posts
• Event Invites
• Groups
• Friend Requests
• Search
• Profile
• Pages
• Applications

With Facebook, you can create a community around your brand by conversing and engaging with your customers on a personal level.

Facebook is a phenomenal opportunity to market and promote your business, products, and services for free. You can gain a competitive advantage over competitors by properly executing a Facebook marketing strategy.

Numbers Tell the Truth

The Obama08 campaign embraced social media and Facebook. Their participation and activity on Facebook can be measured by their Facebook statistcis. On Election Day, November 4, 2008, Barack Obama had the following Facebook Page stats.

• 12 Favorite Pages that targeted his niche markets
• 39 YouTube videos with hundreds of comments
• 1669 Notes with thousands of comments
• 15 Photo Albums which contain hundreds of photos with comments
• 21 Posted Items
• 2,443,658 Supporters
• 494,998 Wall Posts
• 5 Mini-Feed stories with 2 items on that day
• 1 fully completed Information profile

These numbers prove that the Obama08 campaign and its community was very active in engaging each other.

Obama08 Facebook Action Guide

There are numerous ways to build your presence on Facebook. Here’s a strategy based on Obama’s Facebook marketing strategy to build your presence on Facebook while driving traffic to your website.

Complete Profile

• Fully complete the requested profile information
• Upload videos and photos to your Video and Photo applications
• Upload you blog or site’s feed to your Notes
• Add links that point to pages or posts on your website

Add Friends

• Find and add friends in your niche or targeted audience (pay attention to alerts)

Create Facebook Pages

• Create Facebook Pages for your business, brands, and offers
• Upload relevant content to your Facebook Pages

Join Groups

• Join and participate in relevant Groups

Engage and Converse

• Add Status Updates to your profile
• Send messages to your friends and fans

These aren't all of the ways to converse and engage with your audience on Facebook. There are more ways for small businesses to leverage Facebook. But this action plan is a good place to start.