# Administration Category > Administrative issues >  Facebook group or page and other related issues

## Dave A

I have been putting this off for ages - dealing with Facebook issues for The Forum SA. But I guess the time has come.

What worries me a bit is this could become yet another ball I'm juggling in an already fairly crowded circus act. But it seems something needs to be done, and I'd like some guidance as to just what that "something" should be.

Some years ago a member started The Forum SA Facebook group. This group has recently been upgraded to the new groups functionality on Facebook, and as I was added as an admin, I got a notification about it.

I've taken a look and... well if TFSA is going to have something on Facebook, I would like it to be a bit better than what's there now  :Stick Out Tongue: 

The first question I have is which would be better for TFSA - to have a group or a page?

Could any Facebook experts comment please because when it comes to Facebook, I'm pretty clueless as to the subtleties.

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## tec0

Anonymity in my opinion is key and I guess one would lose that in the Facebook environment. That said I saw in some chartrooms that having a group works well. Having a page? In all honesty would it be functional? What plans do you have for the page?

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## Just Gone

If the facebook page links back to this forum its exactly what you would want - if u dont want people to know who you are then u dont have to like the page, but media advertising is def the modern way to go.

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## Norri

Page definitely better than a group, IMO. You can advertise your page and grow your fanbase, which helps you grow your membership. I promote my forum (5,000+ members) using Facebook and it helps a lot. I initially just advertised my forum directly but I've found it's actually more useful to advertise your page as people who are already on FB want to stay there.

Then you set up TwitterFeed.com type of thing to post some threads to your page now and again and let it grow.

My GuitarForum.co.za FB page is not a good example of a good page but I've had success with other pages and, plain and simple, pages beat groups most of the time.

Another reason to use a page over a group is that pages offer "insights" into who's liking your page. This is useful if you want to grow your demographics or market something to demographics that you know share an interest in your forum.

I've got a good book on the topic by Justin Levy that I highly recommend. Check out some reviews here: http://justinrlevy.com/2010/07/revie...ook-marketing/

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Dave A (13-Feb-12), rfnel (13-Feb-12)

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## Jovana

I'm a social media expert!  :Smile: 

You *NEED* to have a page. Groups are under-used and there is not a lot you can really do with it. If you're going to spend time growing your brand on FB, you've got to use a Facebook Page - it integrates perfectly with insights (Seeing what your FB fans are clicking on, interacting with), events, notes and you can have landing pages on your FB page (increases the chance of people liking on your fanpage). 

Check out this article, it will explain it much better then I ever can: http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/

The fantastic thing about a FB page is that it really doesn't take up much to maintain. Post two or three times a week to an interesting thread on the forum, and you're set to go.

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Dave A (13-Feb-12)

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## Dave A

Thanks for all the input so far. So a page is the way to go  :Cool: 




> Anonymity in my opinion is key and I guess one would lose that in the Facebook environment.


Merely liking a page wouldn't link your profile here to Facebook. But your point does lead me to my next question.

vBulletin has a fairly extensive integration option with Facebook which would allow, for example, the linking of a profile on TFSA to a profile on Facebook. It isn't currently enabled here.

The main benefit to the user is a fair amount of profile data can be imported from Facebook into your user profile here, saving a lot of recapturing. There is also some cross-over in terms of activity.

Now I accept that there are those who might not want this. However, it would be an opt-in linkage anyway - so it doesn't really pose a problem for these folk.
Also, I don't see an upside to enabling this if there isn't going to be much adoption.

The question is - if I enabled the ability to link profiles across between Facebook and TFSA, would anyone use it?

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## Jovana

A lot of people would use it. The simpler you make things for people, the more likely they'll climb on the bandwagon.

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## Norri

The major benefit of linking Facebook to forums, in my experience, is faster sign-ups - especially if you're using Facebook to advertise your forum. It's much easier to click "Connect with Facebook" than to click "Register" and then fill in all your personal details yet again.

But I would go for as deep integration as you can get, so you get their email address and can create a PROPER user account for them on the forum because, all too often, the integration is only skin-deep, it allows them to post to your forum, but they don't have a full member account. I'm not sure what vBulletin supports but, ja, aim for as-integrated-as-possible (for those who choose it).

And no, I wouldn't expect existing people to use it much unless you really promote the new feature. What I've found on GuitarForum.co.za is that change is something forum people prefer to avoid - at least for a few months or so :P

(Oh the hell we got for updating the design from blue to red - wow! But they all got over it, eventually.)

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## Dave A

Uuggghhh what a link  to the page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fo...177744?sk=wall

You'd think they'd come up with something cleaner  :Stick Out Tongue: 

EDIT: Marginally better :|

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fo...51904608177744

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## Norri

Once you have 100+ fans, you can have something like: http://www.facebook.com/just1.co.za

I just to add the ".co.za" because "just1" was taken. So don't take my example as the best way to do it. It's just how I did it.

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Dave A (13-Feb-12)

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## Norri

Oh and here's the shortest version of your FB link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fo...51904608177744

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Dave A (13-Feb-12)

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## Dave A

I'm going to run out of thanks clicks today at this rate.

You're a star, Norri. Much appreciated!

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## Norri

Any time  :Smile:

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## Dave A

> The major benefit of linking Facebook to forums, in my experience, is faster sign-ups - especially if you're using Facebook to advertise your forum. It's much easier to click "Connect with Facebook" than to click "Register" and then fill in all your personal details yet again.


I'm not into "easy signups" really. 

Part of why TFSA works the way it does is the social progression system is designed to filter out the "noise". Only people who are interested in the primary focus area of the site (being business in South Africa) tend to stick around, and I'm not keen on messing with that.

I think for now I just want to add a button at the top of the page next to the Twitter Follow button, and then take feedback for a few days. Struggling to find the right way of doing that just at the moment - and it's going to have to wait to this evening.

Got work to do  :EEK!:

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## Jovana

If it's your first URL , you can automatically have a fancy URL set up (go to the options of your FB page).

If not, you only 25 likes before you can create a fancy URL  :Smile:

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Norri (13-Feb-12)

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## Blurock

I am happy with the Forum as it is. It allows me to choose what I want to read and where I want to make a contribution. The different categories makes it easy to navigate. It is after all a forum, so if it is too much of a bother to sign up and fill out a profile...

No, I am not against change. In fact I regard myself as a change agent.

The problem that I have with Twitter and Facebook is the noise. It is almost as bad as sending SMS's. It is not categorised and it would be easy to miss a post. I am not interested in messages such as "I think I'll have some tea now". If you have nothing to say, don't say it... :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Just Gone

From what I understand having a facebook page is not going to affect the forum whatsoever.  All tha the fb page does is advertise this forum and supply and link to this forum.

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## Norri

Blurock, that wouldn't be the purpose of the Facebook page (it wouldn't be there for existing members to use as a replacement for the forum). It's there for folk who are already on Facebook, spot an interesting post, and then click through to interact on the forum or, even, interact on FB. Yes that will mean some of the FB people will miss what goes on in the forum and some of the forum people will miss what goes on in Facebook but, in general, there will be cross-pollination which will help build MORE people coming here and contributing advice, experience & questions  :Smile:

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## Mark Atkinson

> Once you have 100+ fans, you can have something like: http://www.facebook.com/just1.co.za


I believe it's actually 25+ fans before you can have a personalised link.

Dave, if you like I'd be happy to help you moderate the TFSA Facebook page (and yes, a page is a million times better than a group).  I spend a lot of time on Facebook managing my other fan pages as well as our client Facebook pages - one extra page that interests me anyway isn't going to hurt.  :Smile: 

Also, I'm sure people would use the feature in time.  I'd venture to say that there are only a few people who are concerned about anonymity.  Obviously I and many others are not.  :Stick Out Tongue: 

I would love the option to be able to share TFSA posts via Facebook easily.  I already tell half the folk I know that they should join TFSA - it would be a lot easier if they had something to look at straight away.  :Smile:

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## Mark Atkinson

The one downside to using social media that I've experienced is that you're going to end up spreading your interaction a bit.  People *will* end up commenting on Facebook instead of TFSA.  Whether that is a bad thing or not is for you to decide. 

With my new Red Giant Design blog, I share my posts via LinkedIn. These posts attract quite a few comments and other interaction.  The problem is people comment on the LinkedIn discussion thread as opposed to on the blog!  Obviously for a blog in its early phases you want people to be commenting on your blog as much as possible.  I've even installed a plugin to break the LinkedIn frame on redirection to the website, to no avail.

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## Norri

Thanks Mark  :Smile:  Jovana also pointed that out. I think it used to be 100 - but maybe I'm just mis-remembering.

Yep, the spreading of interaction is a real issue. We (GuitarForum.co.za) almost didn't start a Facebook page because of this but, despite the spreading of interaction, we've found Facebook to be an invaluable tool for growing our forum subscriber base. So the odd guy posts on FB, no biggie. I think they sooner or later realise that the actual forum is where the action's at, and then we gain a member  :Smile:

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## Norri

Also, what's nice about FB is that people on there ALREADY KNOW how to interact on a discussion online. I won't go so far as to say that they have any netiquette (they usually don't) but at least, when they convert, you're getting people who will begin interacting almost immediately. On a forum, that's priceless. We have over 5,000 members, most of which are on our newsletter as well, but we're lucky if 5% of those people actually post on the forum on a daily basis. So any way I can find to get pre-educated users (people who know how to use the internet), is considered gold to me and my partner!

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## Dave A

> Dave, if you like I'd be happy to help you moderate the TFSA Facebook page


Your kind offer has been accepted.

Thanks Mark.

EDIT: It seems there might be some settings that need tweaking - and a suitable "profile pic" image would be cool too  :Wink: 

If you could deploy your expertise in these things when you've got a chance, that would be great.

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## Dave A

Mark has been weaving his magic - and thanks to all the support already our Facebook page is now www.facebook.com/theforumsa

I'm impressed! I thought this would take much longer.

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## Blurock

Thanks Mark. We'll give it a try. :Wink:

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## Mark Atkinson

> EDIT: It seems there might be some settings that need tweaking - and a suitable "profile pic" image would be cool too 
> 
> If you could deploy your expertise in these things when you've got a chance, that would be great.


Will get to it early next week.  :Smile:  Away on business from tomorrow morning for the weekend.  :Stick Out Tongue:

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Dave A (16-Feb-12)

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## Dave A

Oh my - Mark's been busy decorating our TFSA Facebook page!

Always amazes me how a few well thought out touches can change the whole look and feel of a web page.

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## Norri

Well done Mark  :Smile:  It looks good!

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## IanF

That is looking good Mark and Dave.

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## Plumbing Supplies

Well ... i think ... PAGE

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