Mention the name Facebook, and people roll their eyes by the mention of something that teenagers play with on the Internet.

Not so fast.

Facebook may be a platform where friends gather and communicate online, but it has quietly changed from a play-thing for teenagers to a platform where the biggest of the big businesses can engage and interact with their clients.

Who are the big guys on Facebook?

First of all, one has to differentiate between Facebook Profiles and Facebook Pages.

Profiles represent the Facebook that most people have in mind - a place where friends and colleagues meet and chat. Facebook profile information is also hidden behind usernames and passwords which does not make them good platforms for engaging consumers.

Facebook Pages are the platforms we are talking about when we mention Facebook for business.

Where Facebook profiles have Friends, Facebook pages have Fans - those people who, for some reason, want to be part of a group that align themselves with the person, business or brand represented on that page.

At the time of writing, the people and brands with the most supporters on Facebook were:
Barack Obama  - 6,390,015 and
Actor Vin Diesel - 4,725,306

In the Facebook Top 25 there are a number of companies or brands. (Keep in mind that Obama and Vin Diesel are actually also brands)

The brands with the most supporters are:
Facebook with 3,536,769 fans followed by
Coca Cola with 3,464,673,
Nutella with 3,207,010,
Pringles with 2,772,219,
Starbucks Coffee Company with 2,684,689,
Kinder Suprise (candy) with 2,632,961 and
YouTube with 2,572,367 fans

On 8 April 2009, Facebook had 200 million users. In South Africa, Facebook is the second biggest website after Google
In Polokwane we counted more than 6 000 people who belonged to one or more groups that identified with the city

How MyPolokwane use Facebook

MyPolokwane use a Facebook Page for the following reasons:

1. We use Facebook as a way in which people can interact with us over MyPolokwane.com
2. A group can have a maximum of 5000 friends. A page can have unlimited fans
3. A group can send 20 message per day. A page can send a message to every fan
4. A group is hidden behind a username and password. A page can be open to all.
5. We use our Facebook Page as a vehicle for providing information to our fans

At the time of writing, MyPolokwane.com Facebook page had 176 fans - hardly a match for Barack Obama!, but good enough for us because those are people who really want  to be associated with us and who are interested in what we have to say.

A Facebook page also gives one access to statistics, called Insights, which ensures that statistics for the page are available daily. At the time of writing our statistics looked like this:

From the image one can see that the member profile of MyPolokwane's Facebook Page is

• 35% male and 65% female
• The biggest single group (39%) is in the age group 25 - 34
• Most of our members (152) are from South Africa
• Most of our fans (67) are from Pretoria
• Most of our fans (144) are English (or use English)

Social Media

When one deals with social media platforms such as Facebook, it needs to be emphasized that the number of direct followers or friends are not necessarily the defining number.

The nature of social media is that of conversing and sharing which means that a lot of value can be gained from the networks of the followers. Also keep in mind that social media platforms such as Facebook should not be evaluated in isolation, as it forms part of a whole network.

The 176 fans of MyPolokwane.com page on Facebook, have between 25 and 400 friends each. Any information that is posted on our page, are reflected on the fan's page (called Wall) where all his/her friends can see it. Add to this that any fan can send your message further if it has value for their friends and one can see what the potential reach of friends on social media platforms are.

Also, messages or valuable information are carried over from Facebook to any other platforms the users want to use. In our case, we use 5 social platforms which means we can re-broadcast a fan or advertiser's message over all the platforms with a potential reach of millions.

Social Media for Me?

Yes. Social Media is there for all to use.

A word of caution: do not jump in and start using social media unless you understand what social media is about, because if you use it as a vehicle to bombard the community with marketing messages, they will just stop listening - remember that people engage with other people or with brands out of their free will. You cannot force them to listen to a message they do not want to hear.

Heed the advice of Jessica Berlin of Cirque du Soleil: "Social Media is the capability to interact directly with our potential customers by participating in the conversations they are having about our brand"

Social media is about conversation, influence and engagement, NOT promotion.

If you need help or advice, send us an email

Read more about the difference between Facebook groups and pages

Facebook for Good is a collection of events where Facebook was used to the benefit of society.

Why you need to make a Facebook Fan Page for your website NOW