Facebook Friday: Ferret-World

Good morning, Social Rabbit here with your guide to the world of social media.

It’s Facebook Friday!!!  Today I’m looking at a Ferret website page… Ferret-World.com – the good, the bad and the ugly in Ferret ownership and care.

The Ferret – World Facebook page has only been going since 7^th of April 2010 and has 1209 people who like it.

What’s working:

• There is a lot of interaction from ferret owners – posts, comments, photo’s and video’s – this is one of the signs that you are running a successful Facebook page (but do not only rely on this!)
• The posts are regular, informative, educational and fun which sets the ‘energy’ for the page – there are lots of very passionate owners on this page – who knew there is so much to ‘talk’ about when it comes to ferrets?!
• Great communication and activity from the page admin – commenting on the majority of other peoples posts, liking pictures and video’s that are uploaded to the page – this is a great way to keep people interested in the page as they feel that their input is appreciated
• Good use of page profile picture space– 180 by 540 pixels – the use of the space is good, but the picture could be more interesting instead of just having a logo
• Lots of photo’s uploaded by fans (over 450) and a few uploaded by the page (2 albums) – people are obviously very passionate about their ferrets!

What could be improved?

• There could be more photo albums uploaded on specific topics such as clipping ferret nails, cleaning ferret ears etc.
• The page could add a PDF application and have lots of different PDFs on ferret care
• The videos tab doesn’t have any videos by the page, however visitors have uploaded some, so how about creating some ‘how-to’ type videos for visitors
• To get more video’s to the page – run a video comp, pick the best video and feature it on the website as well as the Facebook page!  They already have a Ferret of The Month competition why not start a Video of the Month competition?
• The events tab is not being used at all on this page, but they could create events, such as the latest post about someone getting their first ferret
• The discussions tab only has 2 topic’s on it and very few comments, which is surprising given how vocal the visitors are on the wall.  If the tab isn’t working then lose it and focus on what is working, but also the Facebook insights should be checked out to see if people are visiting it or not.
• The page should add a welcome tab which people can land on to get more likers, I say this EVERY week Rabbit readers, you are twice as likely to get people liking your page with a tab! REad the welcome tab creation blog on how to do it
• The info tab could contain a lot more keywords, which helps with SEO
• A poll application could be added to a) research the likes and wants of ferret owners to be able to provide content that they really want, and b) create more interaction by giving owners more of a say
• The profile picture is taking up the space, but is sideways! Surely they can make a fun profile picture that is the right way round?  The ferret of the month could be featured on the profile pic each month to make the owners feel proud
• The FBML app could be used to feature the ferret of the month that is on the website, there would be space for more than just a picture
• There are actually already three ferret applications that people have made on Facebook, one of these could be added to the page or alternatively a new one developed, as obviously ferret owners are pretty crazy about their ferrets

Summary

Ferret owners are obviously completely nuts as it is probably the only page where you can get away with writing ‘dook dook’ ( whatever that means) as a post and get 13 ‘likes’ and 24 comments. Fascinating…

Overall this is a good page but there is definitely more that can be done in order to keep people more interested in coming back for more. One big mistake that popular Facebook pages make is that they increase the amount of people liking the page yet they don’t continue to stimulate fans who have been with them from the beginning. It’s important to keep everyone happy not just your newest members so always come up with more creative ways to do this.

If you are stuck on your Facebook page and need help from the Chief Rabbit, get your Facebook page reviewed for only $99.95, complete with a full report and exposure to over 4000 people.