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Miller, SD has got Facebook figured out
October 13th, 2009 by Mike Knutson
I’m always on the lookout for rural communities that are using social media to build conversations. Recently, I found a great example with Miller, SD.
Joe Fiala and Amy Howard of On Hand Development Corp. launched the Miller, SD Facebook page on Sept. 24, 2009. Within weeks they built over 500 fans, which is very impressive in a community with a population of approximately 1530 people.
Amy Howard and Joe Fiala, On Hand Dev. Corp.
What has impressed me more than the number of fans is how people are interacting on the page. Lots of people start Facebook pages, but not many do a good job of generating conversations with their fan base.
Joe and Amy do. They even have people who have moved away from the community saying how much they miss the community. Impressive.
With that in mind, I contacted Joe to find out what’s the secret sauce in his recipe. The following interview with Joe is the result.
Why did you create a Facebook page for the community of Miller? Does it connect to your organization’s goals?
We were looking for ways to engage our community utilizing the internet beyond our “regular” website. Facebook is a way to easily interact with people living in Miller, people that used to live in here, and people that had visited our town.
Using Facebook helps us reach our goals as a business development organization because we can showcase our community and lifestyle. It allows us to communicate more effectively with the young adults that will be the next generation of business owners in town.
One of the things that impresses me about your page is number of people commenting. What have you done to try to create “conversations” on your Facebook page?
We have made a conscious effort to create posts that garner comments from the fans. We’ve tried to post items that people will find interesting, but we also ask questions within the post.
Our partnership with our local newspaper, the Miller Press, has been effective too. They have a “Talk on Main Street” question each week in the paper. We asked if we could address that same question on the Facebook page and they agreed.
Any future plans for your page?
As we have events in Miller like the opening weekend of pheasant season, the Christmas on the Prairie celebration, and the 4th of July festivities, we will post pictures of the events.
We will also listen to our fans to see what items they would like us to post. Our page is set up so that fans can post items and we are hoping that they will take advantage of this and add to our content.
We constantly hear how social media tools are sucking up work time and decreasing productivity. How much time do you spend each week using Facebook?
Our goal is to post an item on every work day, whether it is an announcement, a picture, or a question. So far, we probably average about 10 minutes per day.
This is not much time and we are reaching an audience of over 500 people that have already shown interest in being involved in our conversation. For a small town, that is an amazing amount of publicity for so little time involved.
Why did you choose Facebook as a social networking tool over others tools like blogging, Twitter, MySpace, etc…?
Facebook lends itself very well to holding a community conversation. It allows short posts, pictures, and comments. All of these actions are very easy to do.
However, the deciding factor was that a large majority of young adults and high school students use Facebook.
We are planning to incorporate a blog as part of our website communication tools. This will allow us to post articles that are too long for Facebook to handle efficiently.
Note: Wow! Working with the local newspaper is a great idea. And if you go to their page you will see that they do a nice job of asking questions that engage their fans. (You don’t have to join Facebook to view the Miller, SD Facebook Page. Check it out by clicking here. )
Tags: branding, Facebook, marketing, social media
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (
7 )
October 14th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Nice job Joe! You do a great job for your community! You’re my ED Rockstar!
Jeff
October 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I can’t speak for Joe, but you are my A&W Rockstar.
Also, I thought this was a helpful resources for building a good Fan page — How to Create a Powerful and Engaging Facebook Page.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Hehehe - I’ve always wanted to be a rock star - not necessarily an Economic Development rock star, but, oh well, you can’t always choose these things
Thanks, Jeff - I appreciate your feedback.
I also want to thank Mike Knutson for featuring the Miller, SD facebook page on his blog!
October 14th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
[...] was designed for friends. With its remarkable growth and proven worth as a networking tool, Facebook is now for more than friends. The challenge however is separating your friends from [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Jeff has followed Joe’s lead and has a created a Fan Page for Webster, SD. You can check it out here.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Thanks for sharing! Way to go small-town South Dakota! Check out what Pine City, Minn. is doing as well at http://www.pinecity.communityblogs.us or http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=102610214916&ref=ts
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:49 am
Nathan,
A WordPress blog, a Facebook Page, and Minnesota Design Team: Pine City has got it all going on.
For those who have read about our Design SD team, I’d encourage you to check out this link — http://redrockonair.com/news/2009/09/27/designing-the-future-of-pine-city/ — which will tell you more about MN Design Team’s charrette in Pine City.