With nearly 500 million users, Facebook has gone beyond a fun way to share information with your closest friends to one of the largest and most desired mediums through which businesses can reach their target markets. More than that – new research from the Nielsen Company shows that users of social networks like Facebook are using these mediums to communicate and gather information INSTEAD of others like email and browser search. 

Businesses should be strategic and careful with how they approach social networkers – as an avid Facebooker I can testify that there is nothing more annoying than advertisements that don’t relate to my interests or needs.

An effective approach is to create a Facebook page for your company and encourage users to become “fans” of this page. To ensure your company or brand outreach efforts through the page are reaching users, tracking return on investment (ROI) is crucial. And many have found ways to track creatively. 

mBurger, a Chicago burger restaurant that just opened it second store, posts regular coupon and discount offers for its Facebook fans. The lure of a free milkshake or French fry keeps users checking mBurger’s Facebook page regularly. Also, mBurger and Facebook can track the ROI as users must say “I’m a fan on Facebook” to receive this deal.

Another crucial element to ROI on your Facebook page is short, targeted burst campaigns instead of long, drawn out campaigns. The Facebook campaigns that have been the most popular (a strong example being users lobbying to have Betty White host SNL) were very flash in the pan and instant gratification for users.

Hyundai recently capitalized on another effective strategy – letting Facebook users control the messaging. While this opens your company up for potential criticism, it puts users at ease knowing the feedback and commentary on the experience is “uncensored.” 

What are some other campaigns that have hit the mark with users and provided a viable way to track ROI from Facebook efforts?

I had my first experience with an audience response system (ARS) when I was 8 years old–my parents took me to a nationally-televised skating competition in Green Bay, Wis. Some of the greatest figure skaters in the world participated, including Scott Hamilton and Nancy Kerrigan.

The kicker? Each seat had a little keypad attached to the armrest, which the audience used to rank the skating performances on a scale of 1 to 10, and determine the winner.

I could not have been more elated – my opinion mattered! I considered myself on-par with an Olympic judge.

Today, ARS is a fixture at corporate meetings and training seminars, and its features stretch far beyond rating a triple lutz.

ARS works through keypad receivers that are tied to a USB drive at a control receiver. Once keypad users enter their response, the results are transmitted to the control receiver, and can be instantly displayed in graph format, or saved for future evaluation.

As of late, audience response systems have become increasingly popular in university classrooms around the country, where instructors can ensure their students are paying attention by the click of a button.

Aside from its basic evaluation functions, ARS can be used to creatively engage the audience through quizzes, team challenges and game show-esque activities.

Since keypads can be directly tied to a specific meeting attendee, ARS is an effective and affordable way to verify session attendance and complete any necessary testing or training.

Also, ARS has recently integrated with short message service (SMS). No need for keypads–meeting attendees can provide feedback directly from their cell phones, making the process even more convenient for users.

However you choose to use ARS at your next meeting, the increased participation, audience interaction and insightful feedback will generate useful results for your company and let meeting attendees know that their input matters.

Laura Kalinowski refined her knowledge of ARS Systems preparing for the Stryker Biotech National Sales Meeting where it was used to support the Survivor theme and determine the winning tribe.