These Rules Aren’t Made for Breaking
When tasked with the project of creating and maintaining a Facebook Group in my Social Media Community Management class at the University of Florida, I knew I was walking into uncharted territory.
What would my group be about? Will it be special enough? How do I decide which rules to put in place?
With help from my professor and Facebook’s pre-written rules, I was able to determine a purpose, name, target audience, topics, and regulations for It’s Fine. Everything’s Fine. Xenn, Millenn, iGen Supporting Each Other.
Fast forward almost two months from my group’s beginning, and the members have been amazing at following the rules and creating engaging content! I needed some way to recognize them.
According to Ravi Shukle of Post Planner, if you want more loyal Facebook fans, try using these two words more often:
Thank You!
Shukle states that these words have helped countless businesses build stronger relationships with their customers and grow their online communities. It is also important that those within a community feel like they’re part of your journey. One of the easiest ways to get fans involved is to simply thank them for sticking by your side.
So, to celebrate my community members not breaking rules and show my surprise at the fact that my group is almost at 300 members (!!!), I made a thank you video ❤
I love celebrating daily national holidays (even if they are fake and meant to make businesses money). November being National Gratitude Month solidified how I wanted to thank my community members for being so adherent to the rules and not pushing boundaries.
There was also a point in my video when my cat wanted to go outside and started “meowing” while I was filming. Rather than doing yet another take, I decided to leave it in for more authenticity. Now I am glad that I did because Lucija Vita Hanzic of Covideo encourages people to not spend too much time focusing on the “perfect take.” Be your authentic self, and people will appreciate that. Ditch the time-consuming and fancy productions, and instead, record a short thank you video using your built-in webcam on your computer or phone. A simple selfie-cam video with you casually, but sincerely, saying “thanks” will do its magic.
