Is your Facebook group doing everything possible to engage and energize your current and potential customers or contributors? Would it be worth it to your organization to create your own social media community that helps drive your ROI? Are you meeting your company’s objectives fully by leveraging online social media?

Definition of a “White Label” Community

White Label deployments exist as software you can brand and integrate tightly into your existing domain. The user experience should be nearly seamless. In other words, a White Label platform is one that is produced (usually) by a SaaS provider, then the company presents the community as its branded social networking site. Customization is generally an integral part of the deployment.

What Are the Limitations of Facebook?

Facebook is a fine way to get started with online social media. Yet Facebook has significant limitations in terms of scale. For smaller groups, it works all right. But if you expect your community to grow (and if not, what’s the point?), the Facebook solution becomes less and less cohesive. At the same time, connecting with other members in the group becomes more chaotic and less flexible. Perhaps most important, your members may hesitate to share their true passions in a public forum such as Facebook. On the other hand, a branded community with a singular focus will be brimming with like-minded supporters who hold similar zeal for the subject.

Focusing on Your Brand Is Critical

Creating a group on Facebook (however successful) does very little to build a true brand that has emotional resonance with your clients, contributors or advocates. A brand is much more than a logo, an identity or even a product. Relying on your Facebook group to boost brand perception is like swimming against a raging current. The Facebook brand will simply drown your identity. In order to really grow your brand in the social networking space, your best bet is to establish an independent address.

By giving your most passionate supporters a unique online destination to connect and engage, you will leverage the true power of social media. Because your constituents will be surrounded by like-minded people with similar passions, they will be energized—and comfortable—about  expressing opinions and sharing information with their peers. The branded environment they discover should be woven seamlessly into your existing web presence.

Should You Use the Marketing Power of a Branded Community to Augment Your Facebook Group?
If that makes sense to you, you may be ready to launch your own white label community. After all, Facebook will never allow you to capture member data, nor will you be able to promote your causes to registered members of your group. With an integrated social media platform, once they register, you’ll be able to track every member, create an email data base and mine demographic statistics that can be used for powerful, targeted marketing campaigns.

Think about Using Facebook as a Supplement
Perhaps the most intelligent strategy regarding Facebook and sustaining a meaningful group there is to maintain the group presence as an adjunct to your white label community. For example, the Events application is useful for updating constituents about corporate conferences you may sponsor or attend. With a link to your integrated community, you could bridge both social networking spheres of influence.

Please comment if you have thoughts about the advantages or drawbacks of launching a white label community. If your organization has successfully utilized a white label community and a Facebook group, please tell us about it.