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7/26/2019 Guide to Facebook
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
A Hotel!s Guide toFacebook
March 2011
7/26/2019 Guide to Facebook
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
Just a few years ago, Facebook used tobe a closed network for college kids. Itsvalue for business was unclear. But a lothas changed since then, as the networkopened up to become what is now
arguably the most important socialnetworking service on the planet foraudiences of all ages, and a goodcommunications opportunity for brands.
In this guide, we will look at how yourhotel can benefit from Facebook as a wayto create community, cultivate loyalty, andultimately, increase revenue.
1
A Hotels Guide to Facebook
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
Facebook today
What does (and doesn't) work on Facebook
Five different approaches to Facebook
New developments
Designing an engaging brand page
Moving beyond setup: integrating Facebook with your website
Promotions on Facebook
Case studies outside the hotel industry
Action steps: Planning your Facebook strategy
Bonus: Reputation and Facebook
What's next?
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5
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11
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Table of contents
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As I write this, in March 2011, Facebookhas exploded in popularity past 600million active users, and shows no signsof slowing down.
Every 20 minutes:
$More than 1 million links are shared
$More than 1.8 million status updates are
made
$More than 2.7 million photos areuploaded
$More than 10 million comments are
posted
The Facebook press pageshares morestatistics as of March 2011:
$50% of active users log on to Facebook
$ in any given day
$The Average user has 130 friends
$Average user is connected to 80
community pages, groups and events
$Average user creates 90 pieces of
content each month
$ More than 30 billion pieces of content(web links, news stories, blog posts,notes, photo albums, etc.) are sharedeach month
$ More than 70 translations are availableon the site
$ About 70% of Facebook users areoutside the United States
$ There are more than 200 million active
users currently accessing Facebookthrough their mobile devices
$ People that use Facebook on theirmobile devices are twice as active on
Facebook than non-mobile users
But perhaps more important than theseimpressive numbers is the fact thatFacebook is becoming more than just asocial network: it is becoming a platformfor social communication (something wewill discuss in more detail later).
From a marketing standpoint, the fact thatpeople share more personal details abouttheir identity on Facebook than anywhere
else offers unique advantages. As brands,we have access to a depth ofdemographic information, providingopportunities such as ad campaignstargeted to employees at selected
companies, or specific universitygraduating classes.
When it comes to return on investment,
we have evidence - both anecdotally andthrough research - that Facebook can bemore powerful than Twitter and othersocial networks for generating sales.
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Facebook today
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
Dan Sherman of Ski.com attributes a$70,000 sale to Facebook but it was notfrom a special offer. It was simply a photoof a beautiful fresh snowfall.
In my opinion, Facebook is all aboutengagement - allowing you have more ofa dialog with more people in one place. IfI post a sales message, I don!t get a lot of
action. But if it!s just relevant information
for our business, like a photo of a freshsnowfall, people like to engage with that.
The great thing is that when peoplecomment on anything on Facebook, alltheir friends see it. Because of this, wereceived a $70,000 booking fromsomeone who had never heard of us
before.
A number of studies have been done toquantify the value of Facebook activity.Recently, ChompOn tried to determine thevalue of a tweet compared to a piece ofcontent shared on Facebook. According
to them, a tweet was worth $5 in sales,while Facebook shared content was worth$14. Clearly, the value of a referral willdepend on what you are selling, butresearch like this suggests Facebookdrives more transactions.
The caveat? Selling directly to yourFacebook fans rarely works. Facebook is
all about reaching people through people.Reaching your fans!friends. This conceptis called Transitive Trust. Your job is tocreate material fans will pass along,introducing that brand to their network.
4
Facebook today (continued)
Facebook is allabout reachingpeople through
people.Reaching your
fans!friends.
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
"I think people are just on Facebook torelax, have fun, and chat with theirfriends.
Some variation of that sentiment hasbeen shared with me over and over againfrom hotel executives. As someone whouses Facebook extensively for bothbusiness and personal reasons, it seems
to be a fair assessment. Successfulbusinesses on Facebook understand andrespect this reality, creatingcommunication that fits the mindset ofpeople using it.
Why do people become a fan ofcompanies on Facebook? A recent reportreleased by ExactTarget and CoTweet
found the two primary reasons whyconsumers %like!brands on Facebook: for
discounts and as a %social badge.!Nearly40% of Facebook users become fans toreceive special discounts and promotions.
39% do so to show their friends theysupport a brand - it is an identitystatement for them.
Seventh Art Media conducted some moreinteresting research into what works beston Facebook. They found that it is contentwhich conveys a unique sense of brandand place and makes a personal
connection with followers. Photos are theclear winner. Facebook users like thequick-hit satisfaction of a witty post or abeautiful or clever picture. Some of thehighest performing photo content was notnecessarily professional level quality but
connected on a personal level. A quicksnapshot of the first snow of the seasonand a giant pumpkin are examples ofconnective content that required littleeffort.
All of this comes back to adding value.How can you use Facebook to make your
fans happier, better informed, and
rewarded financially?
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What does (and doesn't) work on Facebook
How can youuse Facebookto make your
fans happier,better informed,
and rewardedfinancially?
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
Hotel Seven in Paris uses Facebook asthe exclusive source of both hotel newsand the lowest available room rate. By
focusing attention here, they haveattracted an audience of over 12,000fans: significant for a single property of
their size. This is undoubtedly an extremeapproach, but the results are hard to
argue with.
If you want to make building your followernumbers on Facebook a priority, think
about what exclusive content you candeliver through this site.
6
Five different approaches to Facebook
Approach 1: Facebook as an exclusive source
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Poet!s Cove Resort & Spa usesFacebook not only to connect with guests,but also to engage with the local residents
of Pender Island, British Columbia. &&
While local residents may not be
interested in staying at your hotel, theycould be a valuable source of revenue for
your restaurant or spa. Positioning yourproperty as a local hotspot can be aneffective strategy for your Facebook page.
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Five different approaches to Facebook (continued)
Approach 2: Facebook as a local community hub
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Distrikt Hotel in New York City usesFacebook to update their community onwhat is happening in the city.
This is helpful because by becoming aresource for visitors to the city, DistriktHotel increases the likelihood of peoplepassing the page along to others.
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Five different approaches to Facebook (continued)
Approach 3: Facebook as a local guide
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The Beacon in South Beach focuses onmaking sales by creating and promoting aspecial offer on their welcome tab: 2 free
mojitos and a 15% off discount.
As you saw from Hotel Seven, deliveringan exclusive offer is a powerful way tofocus attention. This does not have to bejust discounts or coupons. Put together avalue-added Facebook package that iscompelling and only available throughFacebook. Not only does this draw traffic
to the page, but it gives you another wayto measure results.
Ecommerce is likely to become an
increasingly important part of Facebookactivity, with powerful integrated bookingengines now available. We will look at thistopic in more detail later in the guide.
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Five different approaches to Facebook (continued)
Approach 4: Facebook as a sales tool
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One & Only Palmilla uses advanceddesign to create an experience likebrowsing their website. (This will become
easier in the future because of some newchanges to the page structure, which wewill discuss later.)
Experiment with some of the newFacebook functionality to show beautifulphotography and video to your visitorsthat attracts them emotionally.
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Five different approaches to Facebook (continued)
Approach 5: Facebook as a website
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Facebook has quickly evolved,rendering many prior marketing tacticsobsolete or ineffective. Here are threeof the most important updates I see forbusinesses.
#1 - New Page Layout
On February 20th, 2011, Facebookreleased a complete overhaul of the
pages system. There were manyupdates you canread the official announcement herebut the basic concept was to makebusiness pages look more like personal
profiles. Among other things, you nowhave the ability to receive moreadvanced reporting on yourcommunity!s activity, and can easilyembed pages from your website into
your Facebook page:
Read more:http://sixrevisions.com/web-
applications/new-facebook-page/
#2 - Separate Business Profiles
This was included in the February 2011update, but it is so significant that we
need to consider it separately.
Previously, personal accounts andbusiness profiles were linked, which
made engaging in conversation an
awkward mess.
With the new format, you can switchbetween personal and business profilesas you surf Facebook and interact withcommunities. This gives you the optionto post in your own voice or that of your
brand.
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New developments
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#3 - Sponsored Stories
Sponsored stories is a new ad format thattakes your friends!actions - like checking
in to a place - and turns them into anadvertisement. The story first posted toMashable provides a good example:
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New developments (continued)
Read more: http://mashable.com/2011/01/25/facebook-sponsored-stories/
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#4 Booking Engine Integration
Recent changes to the Facebook pagestructure are likely to make ecommerce
integration with embedded bookingengines increasingly common.
From the time they began working onFacebook, Starwood Hotels and
Resorts has provided bookingfunctionality for all of its brands.
In a recent article article published byHotel News Now, David Godsman, VPof global Web for Starwood, said,
Conversion on Facebook is smaller butclose to conversion on our brandwebsites. (Starwood!s Facebook fans)
start to see other people!s experiencesat the properties....What we are seeingnow is an emergence of technology thatthat we didn!t see six months ago.There is an opportunity for ourselves
and other hotel brands to enable thesetype of transactions within Facebook.
Starwood sees opportunity to driverevenue through the site, and hasintroduced a Shop tab on the pagesfor all properties of their Westin brand.On this tab, visitors can book a room
directly without leaving to the Westinwebsite.
You can expect to see Facebook play
an increasingly important role in howhotels generate room revenue as thistrend continues.
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New developments (continued)
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Setting up a page is fairly straightforward.
You start hereand just follow thedirections. Since most of you alreadyhave pages set up, rather than repeatingthe entire process here, I recommend thefollowing tutorials if you are still in theprocess of setting things up:
$ Wildfire
$ AllFacebook
$ SixRevisions
What are the elements of an engaging
Facebook brand page?
Whether you are setting up a page for thefirst time, or looking to optimize an
existing page, there are a few items ofspecial importance to consider.
An inviting welcome tab
A custom welcome tab can serve severalpurposes:
$Welcome people to the page
$Explain your purpose for the page
$Describe the benefits of your hotel
$Invite visitors to Like the page
Your welcome tab is basically a landingpage. Use the same best practices you
would use for a landing page on yourwebsite: images that draw people intobenefits-oriented copy, with a strong callto action.
Example: The Westin
The Westin Dragonara Resort in Maltauses an attractive welcome tab thatengages their community throughfeedback and competitions.
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Designing an engaging brand page
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Exclusive content
Why should someone join your page?
Smart marketers know the best way todrive action is to make perceived valueexceed perceived risk. That is why emailsubscription rates increase when an
incentive like a free guide is given away in
exchange for a person!s email address and permission to send the content theyrequested.
The same principle works on Facebook.
Facebook allows you to create hiddencontent that is only visible when someonebecomes a fan of your page.
What incentives could you offer toencourage people to become a fan ofyour hotel!s Facebook fan page?
$ City guides?
$ Insider access?
$ A discount coupon?
$ A value-added incentive that does notcut profit margins?
A focus on photos and video
$
Referring back to the Seventh Artresearch study mentioned earlier, photosand video generate the most engagementfrom Facebook fans. Facebook is aplatform that favors rich media, so make
posting this type of content a priority.
The feeling of being an insider
If someone is engaged with your hotel orbrand enough to become a fan on
Facebook, then provide them with a littlemore insider access. Share upcomingnews and announcements with yourFacebook community first. Share theprocess you go through to create your
experience. Share video interviews withkey personnel at your property.
For marketing research and developingnew ideas, Facebook can be used tosource new concepts and refine existingones. This form of crowdsourcing alsogives your fans the feeling of being aninsider.
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Designing an engaging brand page (continued)
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011 16
Designing an engaging brand page (continued)
Example:
Marriott Napa Valley Hotel &Spa is a good example of anengaging brand page.
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What should you do once you have yourFacebook page set up? Integrate it withyour website. This is where we see someof the most creative innovation andremarkable results from companies usingFacebook.
Like Buttons
Perhaps one of the simplest integrations,placing a Facebook Like Button on yourwebsite allows people to share that withtheir friends. It is recommended you addthis to your homepage and select pages
on your website that contain the bestcontent. (But check privacy laws to makesure the button is in compliance in yourcountry.)
Details:http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
Like Box
The Facebook Like Box can beplaced on any webpage, allowing
your visitors to become fans of yourFacebook page without leaving thewebsite. This approach has workedvery well for some hotels, likeMosaic House in Prague.
Details:http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box
Social Plugins
It is powerful because you can takeadvantage of the huge social networkthat exists on Facebook, and use it toenhance the web experience youprovide. Sites such as TripAdvisor are
using this to personalize the websitewith tailor made content.
Details:http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/
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Integrating Facebook with your website
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There are three primary categories ofpromotions that can be conducted onFacebook: contests, advertisements, anddeals.
Contests
Contests can be run through your pagewith no charge from Facebook. Tools like
the ones from Involver and Wildfire makethe process easy, and help you navigateFacebook!s tight policy on contests.
When planning a contest, configure it in away that attracts the right type of fan foryour page people who will stay engaged
long after the contest is over. If the wrongincentives are used, you will end up withpeople who enter just for the chance towin, and then leave the page after the
contest is done.
Advertisements
The power of Facebook advertising is theability to reach highly targeted segments
of people based on demographic criteria.You can filter the distribution by age,location, gender, hobbies and interests,employer, and many other criteria. If pay-per-click advertising in search engines is
for what, on Facebook you areadvertising for who.
The downside is that many people onFacebook ignore advertisements, so theclickthrough rate can be low. Additionally,it is debated whether people are lookingto make hotel reservations while browsingFacebook. This is something you need to
test and see if it works for you. It could bethat the call to action on the
advertisement should be simply to attractpeople to Like your page.
Deals
$
Facebook is creating pages for eachbusiness address in order to give the
business an opportunity to offer deals.When a customer checks into a place onFacebook Places via their mobile phone,businesses will have the opportunity tooffer coupons or discounts to them. While
it is unclear how Facebook Places willfare among their geolocation competitors,this remains an area to watch andexperiment with.
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Promotions on Facebook
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A Hotel!s Guide to Facebook, March 2011
We have looked at a number of casestudies of hotels using Facebookcreatively. To broaden your perspective, Iwanted to share a few examples ofcompanies outside the hospitality industry
that are doing interesting things onFacebook.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen created individual pages foreach of their vehicles, and then wrappedthese up into one corporate page. One
particularly innovative feature they offeredwas an application that analyzed yourprofile, taking all the demographicinformation you posted, and then usedthat to recommend a vehicle it believed
was best suited to you. What if youcreated a similar Hotel Selector tool?
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Case studies: Outside the hotel industry
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The Travel Channel
A while back The Travel Channel didsomething that could work well for hotels:
they encouraged fans to share stories ofthe role Facebook plays in their travelexperiences. Inviting discussion aroundtopics like this is a good way to engagepeople with similar interests.
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Case studies: Outside the hotel industry (continued)
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Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has developed a reputation forrunning creative photo contests. This
works well, since photos are viewed moreoften than anything else on Facebook. Byencouraging fans to upload photos ofthemselves with Coca-Cola cans,hundreds of thousands of potential new
fans will be exposed to the brand as theuploads appear in the news feeds.
What photo contests could you run?Running a contest like this for your hotelcan be a powerful way to make thecampaign viral.
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Case studies: Outside the hotel industry (continued)
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Red Bull
Red Bull has a solid understanding oftheir audience, and does a great job of
delivering rich media content that attractsnew fans. Look at their creative use ofdesign on the welcome page.
As a hotel, make sure you understand
what your audience expects (and wants)you to provide. Use videos to shareinteresting content that people will passalong and introduce your brand to others.
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Case studies: Outside the hotel industry (continued)
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Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson uses an interactivewelcome page that provides a rich,
immersive experience for their fans.
Make use of the new changes toFacebook pages described earlier in the
guide to deliver more information to your
visitors in a compelling way. YourFacebook page does not have to becomea duplicate of your main website, but canbe a good opportunity to share stories
and other engaging content.
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Case studies: Outside the hotel industry (continued)
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As we close this guide, what are theaction steps to take?
1. Decide on your purpose for Facebook:
$ Is it website traffic, communityengagement, brand building, orsomething else?
$What will success look like for you?Will you know once you havereached it? To recognize success,you must have metrics established
from the beginning.
$ What key performance indicators(KPIs) will you be tracking? Numberof fans is a starting point, but alsomonitor how many people engagewith the content you post clickingthe Like button or leaving a
comment. Additionally, somemeasure that leads back to sales,such as Facebook website referrals,is helpful.
2. Setup your page
$ Register an account, then fill outyour business profile.
$ Customize your welcome tab with agraphic that encourages people to
interact with the rest of your page.
$ Decide on some exclusive contentsuch as news, inside information,
and special offers that will driveattention to the page.
3. Establish a community
management system
$ Who will be involved in managingthe page? Make sure this person is
someone who understands thebrand you are trying to build, and
can be trusted with posting contentand interacting with your fans andcustomers.
$ What will be posted? Put togetheran editorial calendar for the typesof content you want to share through
Facebook: news, videos, photos,offers, and contests.
$ How often will you post? How oftenwill you check for comments? It isimportant to publish consistently, butnot too frequently. Once or twice aweek is often a good starting point.
$ What alerts system will you have inplace? Be sure to have a listening
tool setup to be aware of whatpeople are saying about your hotelson Facebook.
4. Integrate with your web presence
elsewhere
$ Use some form of Facebook websiteintegration as described earlier to
expand the awareness andhelpfulness of your Facebookcommunity.
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Action steps: Planning your Facebook strategy
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Since we spend the majority of our time atReviewPro helping hotels establishpowerful online reputations, it would be amistake to underestimate the importanceof reputation management on Facebook.
This primarily affects two areas:
At the beginning:$Duplicate (or unauthorized) contentToo many hotels and brands I see havethree, five, or more different pages for the
same property. This often happens whendifferent interns, seasonal workers, oragencies are tasked with doingFacebook. It can also happen when fanscreate new pages for your brand. Make
sure to monitor official and unofficialpages that have been created.
As your presence matures:$Page moderation&
Start by deciding on your Facebook policyand management routine. How often willyou be engaging with the page? What
types of content would you like fans to besharing with you and others in thecommunity?
Set your page permissions at a level thatreflects how actively you will manage it.
Unless you will be continually managingthe page, you may want to prevent fansfrom posting content. Several brandshave set up insufficient page permissions,and their set it and forget it approach
resulted in the page being hijacked byspammers and their brand damaged withinappropriate content. Make sure thisdoes not happen to you.
Community management is an ongoingprocess. To encourage maximumengagement, make sure to frequentlypost interesting content. Ask questions to
your audience. Encourage them to submitphotos and videos of their travels. Just besure to check in often to ensure nodamaging material is posted.
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Bonus: Reputation and Facebook
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Keep learning! ReviewPro monitors whatis changing in the world of onlinereputation management and passesalong practical ways to use that inhospitality.
Read the blog for more articles andreports like this: &http://reviewpro.com/blog
Follow us on Twitter for daily ideas andtips:
http://twitter.com/ReviewPro
$
$
About ReviewPro
$
ReviewPro enables hoteliers to efficientlyaggregate, organize and manage their
online reputation and presence in leadingsocial media sites. ReviewPro providesthe analysis, customer intelligence,competitive benchmarking and reportingneeded to help hotel professionals more
effectively manage their organization.
About The Author
Josiah Mackenzie is the publisher ofHotelMarketingStrategies.com aresource of guides and stories showing
how to use technology to serve yourguests and make more sales.
Email Josiah:[email protected]
Would you do us a favor?
We're committed to making these guidesavailable to you at no cost. We only ask
that if you've found it helpful, would youshare it with your friends?
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What's next?
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