While companies from almost every single industry have made Facebook and Twitter a key component of their marketing technique, Voice of San Diego has yet to truly utilize it in an efficient fashion. Even though they do have the simple buttons allowing users to easily post their stories on Facebook, they have only amassed a little over 2,000 fans.
Perusing over their Facebook fan page, shows few attempts to engage fans in discussion, and mostly just posting links to stories done by Voice of San Diego writers. There is the occassional attempt to engage readers in conversation by posing a question, but not only are those attempts few and far between, but they are also largely unsuccessful.
The Facebook fan page usually updates a few times per day, including the typically boring Photo of the Day, but strangely decides to not update on the weekend. Although it’s not shocking that staffers wouldn’t want to update during their weekends, it needs to be understood that consistent posting seven days a week could really go a long way.
It is imperative that Voice of San Diego re-think their entire social media strategy and try to actually develop a true community. As it currently stands, few people comment on their fan page and very few comment on their stories on the actual Voice of San Diego Web site.
First they need to think of ways to draw more people to their Facebook fan page. 2,276 fans does not cut it for an online newspaper that covers the city of San Diego. Perhaps more of an emphasis on Facebook needs to be included in each story or an advertising blitz about their Web site.
Once they can start getting more people to their fan page, they need something that will consistently draw them to the page. Posting links of stories from that day is not going to draw much discussion. They need to think more creatively and try to actually engage readers by asking them what they want and what they’d like to read.
Until Voice of San Diego decides they are ready to completely revamp their social marketing strategy, their Facebook fan page will continue to be dormant.
February 20, 2010 at 2:45 pm |
I agree with you that the Voice of San Diego needs to rethink how they approach social networking sites, but I don’t agree that the Photo of the Day idea is boring. I actually think that could be where they start to engage their readers. Maybe it would benefit them, to instead of saying where the photo was taken, ask readers to guess and give out an occasional prize or shout out to the first person who guesses correctly.