Facebook

[mrsswordfisherman]

just a conversation here im not denigrating fishraider or even pushing for FB for fishraider

i was just trying to put a voice forward that FB is not the antichrist

we had google out a few weeks back for a pay per click campaign

we confronted the rep on the fact we could see over 50% of the links to our site were comming from FB and google was second, after that it was a few % from random search engines

she confirmed that FB was becoming a major search tool

when you search in FB it looks through its pages and if nothing is there it searches the www and will display links

you can set up a fishraider page that allows no content to be posted and all it does is directs to here

a information page so to speak and you gain the benefit of free exposure

on fb i have a group of 30 odd small boat owners, when one of us is going out we throw it on there and see if anyone wants tag along

good for inshore stuff when we want a buddy boat for safety reasons

so it has it uses apart from that i just post photos of the kids for mum overseas to look at

Hey juggs its all good. Poor old MannY only asked if there was a fr fb page and I think he has been answered

A debate about the worth of social networking and facebook would be a very interesting one.

I asked members sincerely whether they thought a fb page would have any merit. If we really thought that members wanted one and that it would benefit all our members then we would entertain the idea for sure.

I run analytics here that give us amazing statistics and I understand SEO and internet marketing strategies.

You little boat group is a terrific idea for you and your group of friends. It is what forums have been doing for a long time, bringing large groups of people together with like interests. We have personal messaging for private conversations and the forum areas such as Desperate and Boatless, Fishing Trips, Adopt a Learner etc to do just what you are doing with your little boat group.

Thanks for joining this convo and sharing your thoughts

[brendong]

I'm not a big facebook user but of the 4 groups I've 'Liked' (2 magazine based and 2 fishing show related ) I just added up the members / subscribers and they total 15,000. So some people obviously use fb to keep updated with some fishing info. But to be honest I don't ever read the info they push to me. I think a fb raider page would just be to promote raider and therefore more members. You could just put up things like cotm winners, most clicked posts and view it as a chance to market sponsors more or attract more fb readers to raider.

If you did set a page up I'd 'Like' the page I promise and so would most raider members that have a fb page I reckon....

Interesting thread though....

Edited June 28, 2012 by Poddy Trapper

[brendong]

Just noticed there is a Facebook fishraider site already setup so I liked it anyway...

[helliconia]

nothing wrong with facebook pages if admind properly, the ranters against it are probably just a little misinformed

pro - i cannot view fishraider from work due to the profanity filter, but facebook is allowed

pro - i guarantee you would get more searches for fishing information on facebook then through google.

my company just spent a lot of time researching and implementing a facebook page and our web page hits have gone through the roof as a consequence up 35%

cons - plenty if your a sky is falling type of person, but not enough to ignore it as a communication tool

My work background is in IT projects and strategy. Social media has become the latest fad in the industry, but not many companies have really figured out how to do it well.

My 2 cents worth is:

FB is only useful if you have a specific message you want to get to the public, or have a driving need to improve brand recognition.

FR should look at using it if you want to achieve any of the following:

* Run a membership drive to increase traffic to fr.com.au

* Promote awareness of a specific campaign (ie fishing safety, conservation, political action)

* Offer sponsors improved benefits by promoting them in a social arena

* promote community events to further the goals of FR or fishing engagement

If you don't need to do any of these, then leave it alone. It will just create extra work for the admins and open the FR brand to internet trolls and sledgers.

Personally I don't see the point for FR at the moment, but it does provide possibilities to bring the FR brand to a wider audience if you see value in doing so.

If you do want to go down this path, I'm happy to help out with some info on how to go about managing it

[mrsswordfisherman]

My work background is in IT projects and strategy. Social media has become the latest fad in the industry, but not many companies have really figured out how to do it well.

My 2 cents worth is:

FB is only useful if you have a specific message you want to get to the public, or have a driving need to improve brand recognition.

FR should look at using it if you want to achieve any of the following:

* Run a membership drive to increase traffic to fr.com.au

* Promote awareness of a specific campaign (ie fishing safety, conservation, political action)

* Offer sponsors improved benefits by promoting them in a social arena

* promote community events to further the goals of FR or fishing engagement

If you don't need to do any of these, then leave it alone. It will just create extra work for the admins and open the FR brand to internet trolls and sledgers.

Personally I don't see the point for FR at the moment, but it does provide possibilities to bring the FR brand to a wider audience if you see value in doing so.

If you do want to go down this path, I'm happy to help out with some info on how to go about managing it

Thanks Empty Hooks well said.

• We are quite happy with the growth of fishraider - it is steady and we spend enough time here running it. We do not actually want masses more members. We started a few years ago with 600 and now we have almost 18,000 registered
• We use forum areas to drive any specific campaigns at the moment but there are other ways we could do this if we need to

We agree with you that we do not need to go down this path at the moment. If we decide to position ourselves better and need to get a business case and project underway we will contact you

Thanks very much for your comments in this convo