Creating new Facebook pages just to secure the URLs: good or bad idea?
October 4, 2016 10:53 AM Subscribe
I'm the digital marketing manager at my multi-location office. Coworker at another location just made a new, high profile Facebook page for their location without checking with my office first. The cat is officially out of the bag. Do I now make placeholder pages for each of the other locations in order to claim the URLs for standardization's sake? Or would the greater web crime here be to create new Facebook pages that might ultimately remain empty?
Basically, if our main office page is facebook.com/COMPANY X, this coworker just made a page that is facebook.com/COMPANY X LOCATION A.
Afterwards, they said they wanted to make a page specifically to reach out to prospective customers, which is fair. But there already exists a page called facebook.com/COMPANY X PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS, and they knew about this before they made the page, but went ahead and made the new page anyway rather than simply requesting admin access for this existing page. So. Yes. That.
This page's existence has opened up a can of worms for me, as we have three other major locations as well as four smaller satellite offices. Do I go ahead and make facebook.com/COMPANY X LOCATION B, LOCATION C, and LOCATION D pages just so that the page URLs that follow this naming schema are officially under our office's control?
Or is it considered terrible web-iquette to camp on empty Facebook pages simply to lock down the URLs? (I mean, I know it's not IDEAL to do this, but if it's an empty Facebook page and will rank low in the search results anyway...? And will prevent these URLs from getting scooped in the future by persons unknown...?)
I can see the merits and drawbacks of both options and so, hive mind, I put it to you: to make placeholder pages or nah?
Basically, if our main office page is facebook.com/COMPANY X, this coworker just made a page that is facebook.com/COMPANY X LOCATION A.
Afterwards, they said they wanted to make a page specifically to reach out to prospective customers, which is fair. But there already exists a page called facebook.com/COMPANY X PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS, and they knew about this before they made the page, but went ahead and made the new page anyway rather than simply requesting admin access for this existing page. So. Yes. That.
This page's existence has opened up a can of worms for me, as we have three other major locations as well as four smaller satellite offices. Do I go ahead and make facebook.com/COMPANY X LOCATION B, LOCATION C, and LOCATION D pages just so that the page URLs that follow this naming schema are officially under our office's control?
Or is it considered terrible web-iquette to camp on empty Facebook pages simply to lock down the URLs? (I mean, I know it's not IDEAL to do this, but if it's an empty Facebook page and will rank low in the search results anyway...? And will prevent these URLs from getting scooped in the future by persons unknown...?)
I can see the merits and drawbacks of both options and so, hive mind, I put it to you: to make placeholder pages or nah?
If the only reason not to do it is just out of politeness to other people you don't know and aren't even sure exist, I think yes you should do this thing.
posted by bleep at 11:14 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 11:14 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I used to work in social media. Yes, you should do this.
posted by capricorn at 12:05 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by capricorn at 12:05 PM on October 4, 2016
Best answer: Yeah, make the placeholders -- much better to have them yourself (with a minimal amount of information and a findable link to your main pages) than let someone else camp them.
As the digital marketing manager, there are a couple other things that I think you should be concerned about:
First, I am skeptical that any prospective customer has ever voluntarily liked or followed a page labeled COMPANY X PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS, so this just seemed like a bad plan regardless.
Second, it seems that at least one of your locations is going rogue social-media wise, and that's not great. At the very least, you need to make (and enforce) a policy that requires all new company related social media accounts to be vetted by you. Ideally, you'd also control the passwords/access, but you also want to avoid being a bureaucratic roadblock, so maybe just require that you have the passwords/access so that you can make changes quickly when needed.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:29 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
As the digital marketing manager, there are a couple other things that I think you should be concerned about:
First, I am skeptical that any prospective customer has ever voluntarily liked or followed a page labeled COMPANY X PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS, so this just seemed like a bad plan regardless.
Second, it seems that at least one of your locations is going rogue social-media wise, and that's not great. At the very least, you need to make (and enforce) a policy that requires all new company related social media accounts to be vetted by you. Ideally, you'd also control the passwords/access, but you also want to avoid being a bureaucratic roadblock, so maybe just require that you have the passwords/access so that you can make changes quickly when needed.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:29 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: We do have a policy in place that informs potential Facebook page creators/managers that they a) need to talk to the digital marketing manager before making a new page and b) if they do ultimately make a page, we need to be added as administrators, and this was information that this page creator definitely had access to.
But when the person who decided to make the page is above your pay grade and did so with the full support of no fewer than two other people above your pay grade...yeah. I'm now in the unfortunate position of having to tread lightly and carry a big stick.
posted by helloimjennsco at 1:13 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
But when the person who decided to make the page is above your pay grade and did so with the full support of no fewer than two other people above your pay grade...yeah. I'm now in the unfortunate position of having to tread lightly and carry a big stick.
posted by helloimjennsco at 1:13 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you make "COMPANY X LOCATION B", the regional office is just going to make "COMPANY X IN LOCATiON B" or "LOCATION B COMPANY X" or any number of infinite variations.
This should be dealt with as a policy matter. I speak as somebody on a team that had to clean up hundreds of superfluous and mostly dead social media accounts from a global company.
Be a partner to them - there should be mechanisms to start new pages, and there should be services (metrics, tools, inclusion in directory listings, collateral, and web pages) but also standards (standard branding, minimum activity, responsiveness).
For regional facebook pages, it's possible they'd be better off with geo-targeted ads from the main page.
posted by troyer at 2:26 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This should be dealt with as a policy matter. I speak as somebody on a team that had to clean up hundreds of superfluous and mostly dead social media accounts from a global company.
Be a partner to them - there should be mechanisms to start new pages, and there should be services (metrics, tools, inclusion in directory listings, collateral, and web pages) but also standards (standard branding, minimum activity, responsiveness).
For regional facebook pages, it's possible they'd be better off with geo-targeted ads from the main page.
posted by troyer at 2:26 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Missed your update: You need to fight execs with execs. No win situation otherwise.
However, you can still win on the long game: they will invariably either (1) stop updating it or (2) break brand guidelines. In 6 months you can take the evidence to your execs and/or the branding folks and ask for the page to be taken down. They will have tired of it by then anyway.
posted by troyer at 2:31 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
However, you can still win on the long game: they will invariably either (1) stop updating it or (2) break brand guidelines. In 6 months you can take the evidence to your execs and/or the branding folks and ask for the page to be taken down. They will have tired of it by then anyway.
posted by troyer at 2:31 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would grab them, but I believe you'll have to set up each page and get a certain number of likes on each before you are able to grab the custom URL (I imagine Facebook does this so folks can't squat on dozens and dozens of pages like you mentioned).
posted by kylej at 7:11 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by kylej at 7:11 PM on October 4, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks all, this has really helped me formulate my game plan. I snatched up the account names and am working on revising our social media policy both because it's been awhile and also so that I have an excuse to send out a "hey, here's our new social media policy LOOK AT IT" email.
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Well, unless you have a Chicago Transit Authority situation, but I'm guessing not a lot of rock bands are going to name themselves after the local offices of your company.
posted by lmfsilva at 11:06 AM on October 4, 2016