I joined facebook last year when I started organizing my high school class reunion. I have found it is a great way to keep in touch with old friends. I also set up a facebook page for my company, and have joined the facebook pages of businesses, politicians, travel, charities and things that generally interest me. Some, such as DiscoverCard are genuinely helpful. Some, I have found are not.

Since doing so, I have made these observations:

• Keep in mind many people are staying in touch with their pda, e.g. BlackBerry. It's one thing to quickly scroll through messages when you are on your computer; but on the pda? Not so much.
• There is such a thing as too frequent communication. There are groups who will communicate 4 - 5 times a day on a regular basis. Even if I love to read the occasional message update or insider news, I find it's just too much, and I tend to ignore everything. One political site was posting state by state news. Individually. All 50 states. I had to go to my computer and hide their info, or accept the fact I'd be scrolling through messages for a very long time. Now, even though I did enjoy seeing some of the info, I see nothing from them.
• Review messages on both the computer and pda and make sure they're short. Because I will frequently review facebook via my BlackBerry, I appreciate the short succinct message. I'm not sure the people posting messages appreciate what it is we see when we are on our pda.
• Have someone respond (quickly) to anyone who posts a negative comment. If anyone other than the politician, business, or page administrator responds to an individual who has a negative comment, opinion rather than fact takes over, and none of the people discussing the issue really know the answer. Conversely, I have seen people on DiscoverCard 's site comment they weren't approved for various offers; the administrator responds within minutes and takes care of the issue offline. End of discussion.
• Post things people may share. I have had people join my site and the site of others, because I reposted the info, graphs, and or other details so my friends could see it.
• Stick to the Point. Understand what the purpose is of your product, cause or business and stick to that. I have one political site that continually posts links to debt reduction sites. That's not why I joined.
• Links are good! Use them to provide more info. Just make sure they also work on the pda.

Facebook and other social sites is a great medium to communicate, promote, rally and inspire. But if not used correctly, the experience your clients have may not have the impact you desire.

And join myFacebook page and our discussion on great service! I promise to keep your pda message short & not to inundate you with messages!
 

Susan Hoekstra is principal consultant of Susan Hoekstra & Associates and author of The Service Journey. She has a proven 25 year history developing customer service strategies and solutions including strategy development, training, presentations, recognition programs, surveys, and contact center CRM technologies.