Facebook: Do's and Dont's

Today's businesses have a lot of ways to get their name out there, and the very best try to utilize as many as they can. Here is an analysis of three business' use of cross-promotion.

The Atlantic magazine boasts a large social media presence as one would expect from such a large publication. It boasts presences on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest. It has its own app on the App Store, and an RSS feed. On Facebook, the majority of the publication's posts link to their own content. In this sense it is quite professional. It also features a good number of photos and videos in addition to the links to its articles. Its comment section is active, and all of their posts have a good number of likes and shares. However, it seems to lack engagement with its followers, the majority of its recent posts have almost been exclusively political in nature, it rarely utilizes cross-promotion via Instagram or Pinterest, and the only contact listed in the About section is a link to the magazne's website.

The Fayetteville Observer, the local newspaper for the town of Fayetteville, North Carolina, has a Facebook page that could be described as "surprisingly youthful." It too cross-promotes over many platforms including Twitter, Instagram, and even Youtube, but unlike The Atlantic, the Observer's Facebook page openly links to these feeds. On its contact page are listed a phone number and email address in addition to a link to its website, and the story section features a list of numbers for key contacts. In the sidebar, in addition to the typical sub-pages of "Home," "About," and "Photos," there is also integration of Instagram, Youtube, Pintrest, and even a sub-page for Obituaries. It is obvious that the Observer is very involved in its community. It is actually quite a challenge to find what this page is not doing well. Whoever runs it clearly knows what they're doing. Perhaps the comments are a bit toxic, decrying the paper for not being the quality it used to be or for focusing too much on "mommy issues." It is also worth noting that for all its followers (about 86,000), the maority of the posts don't recieve enough likes or shares to break out of single digits. Its sub-pages titled "Poll" and "Contest" are inactive. Sloppy? I suppose.

The Facebook page for the God Awful Movies podcast is well maintained for an independently produced podcast. It integreates other social media well, sharing links and posts from other users who have involvement with the show in some way. Its fans are very active, as are the hosts who respond to comments and public posts frequently. The whole page has a sort of fun, loose atmosphere to it. However, it is lacking in its all-important contacts section, featuring only a link to the podcast's website and its Twitter handle. It has a single video in its "Videos" sub-section, and there are few photos, about half of them being slightly varied versions of the show's logo. Its social media presence only goes as far as Twitter and Facebook.