I think I could also have named this posting "The single biggest mistake I see Nordic artists making on Facebook" — but I'd prefer to keep this positive. :-)
It's incredibly simple. Nordic artists should be creatingFacebook Pages for themselves or their group(s) instead of Facebook Groups.
I get a number of invitations each week from Nordic artists to join a Facebook Group they've created. I won't do it because I consider it an inefficient and basically useless way to connect and communicate with fans — those most interested in hearing from them! Those of us who work in social media will tell you this is true.
Why? The difference is in the purpose. Groups may be better for collaborative discussion and attracting quick attention, but Pages are better for developing better long-term relationship with fans. And artists don't need collaboration from their fans, they want to be able to connect to them for marketing purposes!
What do Pages and Group have in common? Only a few things…
- Both Pages and Groups allow for hosting discussions, a discussion wall and forums.
- Both Pages and Groups allow for video and photo exchange.
- Both Pages and Groups allow sending messages to fans/members. Groups has a limit of around 5,000. However, Pages has NO limit on the number of people that you can message through Updates. (Updates will become far more visible in the reported upgrades coming soon to Facebook.) Any artists who think that they don't *need* to reach more than 5,000 people are deluding — and limiting — themselves. There is a worldwide market for music which is not limited to one country or a small group of people. I think many Nordic artists will be surprised once they see where they have fans via a Facebook Page. THINK BIG. (The Norwegian band, Hellbillies, has 18,733 fans on their Page at this point!)
And the benefits of Pages over Groups? Superior, no doubt.
- Unlike Groups, Pages are indexed on search engines and visible to anyone on the Internet, not just those on Facebook. Groups are only visible to Facebook members.
- Unlike Groups, Pages allow you to send out “bulk invites” to all your friends. And they allow better viral marketing because your friends/fans can also send out bulk invites to your Page to others. That's not possible with Groups.
- Unlike Groups, Pages can send out status messages (which appear in Facebook streams) as well as updates to fans. These status messages can be linked to Twitter accounts to broaden the PR value of posts. This means that unlike Groups (which are passive), Pages are an active marketing tool. (And Twitter accounts can also be linked to post on MySpace and other networks — send once, post the same message on multiple networks! That's exponential marketing!)
- Unlike Groups, Pages allows the addition of applications to Pages that can be helpful to artists such a ReverbNation, music players, etc. Another important application if FBML (Facebook Markup Language) that allows you to customize the look of your Fan page.
- Unlike Groups, Pages allow you to create "prettier URLS". For example, my Facebook page for Multe Music can be easily found at http://facebook.com/MulteMusic instead of the "ugly" and hard-to-memorize standard Facebook Page and Group URLs that utilize numbers.
- Unlike Groups, Pages give you statistical feedback (called "Insights"). This is essential for being able to see what works in connecting with your fans and what doesn't.
- Unlike Groups, Pages allows a better integration of Event creation and invitations.
- Pages allow artists to segment their fan base and send targeted updates. The updates will become more visible in the upcoming changes to Facebook. So, for example, Pages would allow an artist to Update all their USA fans re an upcoming USA tour or their Stockholm fans about a Stockholm gig. Targeted marketing.
- Pages also allows artists (or their management companies) to participate in social ads. While this may not be a marketing choice for everyone, you won't get that kind of "add-on value" from Groups.
And one more very important reason for creating your own Fan page – brand and reputation management. If you create an official Fan page, you will be in charge of your brand. If not, there are all kinds of possible negative consequences. First and foremost, you will have no control if someone else decides to create a fan page in your name.
For example, I've already pointed out that Hellbillies (one of my favorite bands!), has 18,733 Facebook fans. However, someone else (not the Hellbillies) created a Fan page in the band's name that now has 16,088 fans. As far as I know, that Page is not controlled controlled by the band it claims to "represent" (which is why I won't "fan" it or link to it). So about half the total current half of the Hellbillies fan base on Facebook aren't even really connected to the band — although they probably think they are! That's unfortunate.
If you create and run your own Fan page, you can report "fake" pages to Facebook and ask that they be removed and the fans be shifted to your real fan page. That itself is important in preserving artistic integrity on all sorts of levels.
Since you've read this far, why don't you fan Multe Music on Facebook for providing this helpful information! :-)
If you are a Nordic artist and have questions about using Facebook and other social media for marketing and public relations, please don't hesitate to contact me at my company, which also has a Facebook Fan Page, of course – Manitou Heights!
