Four Ways to Prepare Your Facebook Page for Valentines Day

The great thing about Valentine’s Day is that most of us either love or hate it.

If you’re in love, it’s a celebration. If you’re alone it’s a celebration of close friends, or your recently updated relationship status on Facebook. :-O

Yes, Valentine’s Day is certainly an emotional holiday – one that we love to talk about on social media.

And your job mission is to tap into that emotion by joining your fans in discussions they care about.

Here are five ways to help guide what you tap into:

1. Plan Love

Content Plan – Put on your poet’s hat and come up with a creative way to connect (or associate) what people want to talk about with what matters to your organization.

A quick way to get started is to follow this exercise:

1. Write down the first five words your fans might associate with Valentines Day (this is where Personas are very helpful). For example, “Heart, Love, V-Day Cards, Fourteen, Refresh”.
2. Write a sentence using each word with your cause (five sentences total). For example, “Animal shelters love Valentine’s Day”.
3. Rewrite each sentence substituting a word for your cause (five sentences total). For example, “Dog’s love Valentine’s Day”.
4. Using the 10 separate sentences, brainstorm a few topics and test them out on your Facebook Page. For example, post a picture of an adoptable dog with, “Who wishes every dozen roses included a puppy looking for their soul mate?”

Keep in mind that this is just one exercise meant to kick-start your creativity. Read this blog for more.

Content Calendar – You and I have talked about this one before. Use a content calendar to create a framework for the campaign. Check out this free weekly content calendar template.

2. Invite All Channels to the Love Party

Facebook is neither a silver bullet or a silo. Make sure your Facebook plan is wrapped into your event promotion, your email messages, etc.

This starts with getting everyone together who owns each channel for a discussion about objectives, audience, plans.

3. Love a Sponsor With a Give Away

Local businesses need love too. Why not focus your attention on the for-profit businesses that support your cause throughout the year?

Come up with a promotion that includes a giveaway from the sponsor. The sponsor gets free PR (about why they care), and you get more email subscribers or Facebook fans.

4. Create Lovely Cover Images for Your Fans

Many Facebook users are always looking for cool Facebook covers for their profile.

Creating a set of beautiful covers for your fans gives them another way to promote your org. Also, cover guidelines don’t apply for profiles, so don’t worry about how much text you have on the covers.

If you use photoshop, check out the free template Photo Dough has on their Facebook Page.

Don’t Forget The Real World

Remember that you’ve met your biggest supporters in person – face to face in many cases. To acknowledge how much you value your closets relationships, say hi with a handwritten card. And make sure the message is radically different from the typical cards they’ll receive. Where appropriate, share these interactions on Facebook.

What are you going for Valentine’s Day?