First Steps–Create a Facebook Presence

Why such an emphasis on Facebook, and why create a Facebook presence before a club website or blog?  Popularity.  Facebook is growing rapidly as more people register and use the service.  There are over 700 million registered users on Facebook, many of them are probably club members already. 


Facebook is all about community.  It is easy to become a Facebook user, easy to use the service and allows people to engage one another using messages, chat, activity feeds, video, and static information.  Facebook collects, stores and shares data by categorizing it, indexing it and making available to an internal search engine, and to public search engines like Google and Bing.

There are some important concepts to understand with Facebook, so let's discuss them now:

• Account - every individual is allowed one and only one Facebook account.  To open more than one account violates the Facebook terms of service agreement.  Violators can have their account closed and their data can be removed without notice.  A user can create an account profile and can host many other Facebook entities, like pages and groups.
• Profile - each user’s account gets a profile, a personal write up that describes the individual who operates the account. A profile is personal and should not be used for a business, an organization, and a group.
• Group - is a controlled collection of users who can use a Facebook Group to share information and contact one another.  Groups can be secret or secure or open. Groups include a rudimentary built-in documents app but do not support adding 3rd party apps like Facebook pages do.  A Group is designed to allow members to collaborate, discuss a variety of topics and share ideas.
• Page - is a public entity that is used by people to share information.  Pages have the same public visibility as normal websites.  They are indexed by Facebook and public search engines.  Everyone with web access can see the content of a Page.  Facebook pages can be extended by adding 3rd party applications which add extra "tabs" to the page.
• Access and Participation - all entities have different levels of access:
  • Accounts - users request to become a "Friend" and the receiving user must agree.  This provides bilateral consent to share and exchange information.
  • Groups - users are either invited and can request to become a "Member" of a Group.  The admin or another Group member can accept the invitation (depends on how the Group permissions are configured). 
    • Secret Groups are not visible to Facebook search. Secret Group members must be logged in to see the Group and its content. 
    • Secure Groups are visible in Facebook search results but Group members must be logged in to see the content and post new content.  Other Facebook users can see the group information but cannot contribute to the group. 
    • Open Groups are visible to Facebook and normal internet search engines and the content is available to any logged-in Facebook user.
  • Pages - users "Like" a page that they want to interact with.  Anyone can see the content of a Facebook page.  Logged in Facebook users must "Like" a page before they can contribute to the page and share content on that page.

HOW CAN FACEBOOK HELP A CLUB
A service club can create a Facebook Page as a public presence on the internet.  It is the most popular medium that permits your club members to interact with the general public.  Facebook pages offer clubs a means to extend their message, causes, projects, fund raising efforts, and fellowship to their registered fans.

See our PDF Guide – Create a Facebook Page

Service clubs can also create a Facebook Group as a mini secure or private portal to provide a private online community for club members.  Open Groups can be used a public presence within the Facebook global community.  Announcements of club meetings and special events can be announced and members can be notified of those events and activities. 

See our Guide – Create a Facebook Group

While Facebook is not the only online service that can help with assisting efforts of volunteers, it is probably the easiest to set up and enable for designated members.  The only caveat is that members must all have Facebook accounts which is something that some people still refuse to do.

PAGE or GROUP – HOW TO DECIDE
A Facebook Group can also be used instead of a Facebook Page as a public presence for your service club.  The major differences between Pages and Groups include:

• Who can see the Facebook Presence – Facebook Pages are seen by everyone who has a web browser and internet access.  Facebook Groups are more tightly controlled.  If a Facebook Group is configured as a “Open” Group, it will be visible to anyone who is logged into Facebook.  
  Hint:  If visibility to anyone on the internet is important, choose to create a Facebook Page.
• Who can post content – Facebook pages require that an individual “Like” the page before they can post content to that page.  Facebook Groups require that an individual “Join” the Group and be approved as a member before being able to post content.  Facebook Groups have tighter controls for content publishing.
  Hint:  If you need to control who can post content to a registered list of Facebook users, choose to create a Facebook Group.
  Hint:  If you need to need to hide the Facebook presence from everyone except the approved registered Facebook users, create a “Secret” Facebook Group..
• Ease of set up – Facebook Groups are much easier and faster to set up and publish.  Facebook Pages support more configuration options and can take considerably more time to set up and publish.
  Hint:  If you are not concerned with customizing the Facebook presence, choose to create a Facebook Group.
• Which is easier to customize – Both Facebook Pages and Groups come with the core applications provided by Facebook.  Pages can be customized by adding more Facebook applications.  Facebook Groups do not support adding more applications so customizing a Group is very limited.
  Hint:  If you need to enable additional applications for your Facebook presence, choose to create a Facebook Page.
• What about friendly URLs – Facebook Pages must garner 25 or more “Likes” before applying for a username which will convert the URL to something like www.facebook.com/username, like www.facebook.com/amsnwoptimist.  Facebook Groups can immediately apply for a group email address which will convert the URL to something like www.facebook.com/groups/groupname like www.facebook.com/groups/mysampleclubmembers/. 
  Hint:  If you need to immediately enable a friendly URL, choose to create a Facebook Group.

If all other factors are equal, here is how to decide based on a primary factor:

• Security is the primary factor – If all other factors are equal and security is the primary factor, choose to create a Facebook Group.
• Flexibility is the primary factor – If all other factors are equal and being able to add more features and applications is the primary factor, choose to create a Facebook Page.
• Visibility to Internet Search Engines is the primary factor – If all other factors are equal and making the Facebook presence visible to the Google, Bing, Yahoo and other internet search engines is the primary factor,  choose to create a Facebook Page.

FIRST STEPS - SERIES ARTICLES
Here is a list of the rest of the "First Step" articles in this series:

• First Steps - Getting Your Club Online
• First Steps - Create a Generic Email Account
• First Steps - Create a Secure Portal with TeamLab (coming soon)
• First Steps - Create a Blog/Website with Blogger (coming soon)

Join Us on Facebook

Well, we have taken the Facebook plunge and now have our own Facebook page.  Please visit us at www.facebook.com/pages/Put-Your-Club-Online/162910130458317 and "Like" us.

We need 25 friends to "Like" us so we can apply for a vanity URL, like www.facebook.com/putyourclubonline.  Can you help us get there?  We hope you can.

First Steps - Create a Generic Email Account

Most online services require an email address to register to that service.  It is best to create a generic email account that can be used.  You have the option to create a generic email account on any popular public free email service like Gmail, Windows Live, and Yahoo Mail.  Here are some PDF Guides that you may find helpful:

• Create a Generic GMail Account
• Create a Generic Windows Live Email Account
• Create a Generic Yahoo Mail Account 

PROTECTING YOUR CLUB'S FUTURE ONLINE PRESENCE

You will be using the generic email account to register for most of the available online services you subscribe your club to in the future.  It is critical that you always think about the sustainability ... what would happen if you suddenly were no longer available?  Would your club's online services and resources be locked up with no way to manage them or delete them?  This is an rarely envisioned when clubs first start out, but always presume that the worst could happen.

At a minimum, always ensure that two individuals who trust each other and which the club executive trust, have the "keys to the kingdom".  Write down the login credentials (login name and password) and ensure that a copy is provided to the other club member you trust.  Ensure that a written record is maintained of all of the online services subscribed to and the login credentials used.  Both of you should be equally conversant with how to manage each service, or you may want to split the work load between both of you.

After creating this basic online presence, you can extend to using other services that may be of specific use for specific needs.

FIRST STEPS - SERIES ARTICLES

Here is a list of the rest of the "First Step" articles in this series:

• First Steps - Getting Your Club Online
• First Steps - Create a Facebook Presence (coming soon)
• First Steps - Create a Secure Portal with TeamLab (coming soon)
• First Steps - Create a Blog/Website with Blogger (coming soon)

Our Thanks must go to jscreationzs and Ambro / FreeDigitalPictures.net for the free use of the artwork and digital photo in this article.

First Steps - Getting Your Club Online

Many clubs have not gone online because they do not have anyone who is willing to undertake the project to create a website, a blog or some other online presence.  That may have been true a few years ago, but "Web 2.0" is upon us.

Now, anyone with basic computer skills can create an put their club or business online using available free online services. The first question is "How do we get started".





WHAT ONLINE PRESENCE DOES YOUR CLUB NEED

Before you can launch into building an online presence, it is important to engage the club members into a discussion to determine what kind of online presence is needed.

Most service clubs exist to deliver service to their communities for a specific purpose.  Optimist clubs, for example, focus on running community service projects focused on local youth, raise funds to sponsor local youth activities and programs and recruit members to run those projects and raise funds.  So when looking at online presence, ask a few questions.  Does your club want their online presence to (and possible matching online services):

• explain who you are and what you do? (website, blog, facebook)
• help point out the community service projects you perform? (website, blog, facebook)
• help recruit new members? (blog, facebook, twitter)
• demonstrate how active you are in our local community? (blog, facebook)
• explain what kind of help your club needs? (website, blog, facebook)
• allow your members to share in fellowship? (facebook)
• allow your members to share their volunteer experiences? (blog, facebook, twitter)
• allow the community you support to comment on your club's activities? (blog, facebook, twitter)
• allow your members to communicate in a secure community to plan projects? (facebook, secure member portals)

Keeping in mind that service clubs are volunteer organizations, creating and maintaining an online presence will be done by a volunteer.  Whatever presence is created and whatever online services are used, it should focus on the following traits:

1. It must have value to the service club.  If not, members will not participate or use it.
2. It must be easy to use so that anyone with average computer skills will be able to manage it.
3. It should not be excessively time consuming.
4. It must be no-cost or low-cost.
5. It should allow and encourage member participation by being engaging and fun.
6. It should be easy to transfer administrator rights to different club members.
7. It should use most popular and most recognizable services which will put your club in front of more of the public eye (your target audience).

GETTING STARTED

There are hundreds of available of online services.  The trick is to select those services that can be easily combined into a cohesive combination of services that will take the minimum of time to create and maintain.  It is important to remain focused and to select those services that will work best to build an online presence.

As a guideline, you will probably want to focus on creating an online presence with those services that are easiest to create and configure, and ones that most of the club membership will use.  We suggest the following strategy:

1. Create a generic email account to use when registering accounts with online services.
2. Create a Facebook page.
3. Create an online secure portal for club members.
4. Create a blog/website.

After creating this basic online presence, you can extend it to using other services that may be of specific use for defined needs.

FIRST STEPS - SERIES ARTICLES

We will continue this discussion with a series of articles exploring each of these first steps:

• First Steps - Create a Generic Email Account
• First Steps - Create a Facebook Page (coming soon)
• First Steps - Create an online Secure Portal with TeamLab (coming soon)
• First Steps - Create a Blog/Website with Blogger (coming soon)

Credits

Our Thanks must go to jscreationzs and Ambro / FreeDigitalPictures.net for the free use of the artwork and digital photo in this article.