Harnessing the Power of Facebook’s "Get Notifications" Feature

One of the most under-utilized features or functions on Facebook is the ‘Get Notifications’ feature. The average Facebook user likely doesn’t even know it’s there or what it does. What does the ‘Get Notifications’ function do anyway?

When you click the option, which appears in a drop down menu under the ‘Liked’ button, you simply click it. A check mark will appear to signify that you are signed up to receive notifications when that company page posts to Facebook. This gives businesses with a Facebook page the opportunity to educate their followers about the feature and incentivize them to activate it for their page.

A Marketing Tool

Some simple marketing messaging on Facebook and via email communications can educate consumers and clients about Facebook’s ‘Get Notifications’ feature and explain to them what it’s about. Of course, when your followers get those notifications every time you post an update, your company and your brand will remain top of mind with them on a daily basis. However, what’s in it for the consumer? Structuring contests, coupon offers, and other deals you post about on Facebook to require fast action can act as the incentive for followers to get notifications from your page. When they want to be alerted so that they can enter a contest or click to download a coupon or special offer, the ‘Get Notifications’ function begins to work to their benefit.

Don’t Abuse the Notification Privilege

You will want to be careful not to over saturate your followers with posts if you do opt to try this type of campaign. Use social media tools to schedule posts throughout the day rather than posting all of your messages at once. If you post to your page very frequently (i.e. more than 5 to 7 times per day), this might not be a good option for your Facebook page. The last thing you want is to inundate users with notifications once they do opt to turn this feature on. For this reason, be sure to include instructions on how to stop notifications easily (with just one click), so that your Facebook fans know that they can turn this off at any time.

Internal Benefits of the Facebook ‘Get Notifications’ Feature

How else can your business’ social media efforts benefit from the ‘Get Notifications’ feature? Ask all of the staff, including management, to opt in to ‘Get Notifications’. This way, the staff will be notified automatically when the social media team posts an update. This eliminates the need for internal messaging and reminders for the rest of the company departments to help boost social media by liking and sharing each post. This idea also works well for groups and organizations as well.

Conclusion

Using Facebook’s own free feature to boost your social media campaigns, branding, and reach is currently very under-utilized. However, it is a built in reminder function that can help your social media department automatically alert both followers and employees to your updates. Incentivizing followers to opt in for notifications can be a part of a contest, coupon, or daily deal campaign so that they have a reason to want to accept notifications. Once they do, your company will remain top of mind with those followers on a daily basis.

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