Facebook
Facebook’s casual, friendly environment requires an active social media marketing strategy. Creating a Facebook Business Fan Page (link) is the first step for your business. However, maintaining your fan page and posting visuals will further your conversation with audiences as your content and industry-related articles, images, and videos are spread across the web.
Facebook is currently the world’s largest social network with over one-billion users worldwide. Through Facebook, users and businesses not only share content, but engage in conversations, create events, and deploy targeted advertisements. Using Facebook effectively can help you generate relationships with potential clients through your advertising efforts. Facebook is equipped to share responses and spark conversations as content appears in feeds of friends, and friends of friends and so on.
When Sharing Content
- Keep the daily consumer in mind—think how would they benefit from this information
- Provide brief business insights with your posts to add your own credibility
- Ask customers to post feedback and share their own stories to humanize the experience
- Post once or twice a day during peak FB hours (before work, lunch and after work)
- Avoid over-posting content and forcing advertisements
- Remember to be authentic, consistent, informative and entertaining
An active and engaging Facebook fan page can become annoying if too much content that may not be interesting enough shows up on everyone’s feeds. Test the waters and see what content works best with your audience. Share YouTube videos, pictures and information, but also showcase your company by posting pictures of social events, employees and other activities around the office. Pictures of staff and events will personify your company. To further the humanizing experience, you can also use Facebook to address customer feedback.
What to Avoid
Yes, you can respond to customer feedback on Facebook, but do so cautiously. Responding to complaints in wordy back-and-forths can be damaging or add to online negativity. If a comment or post becomes negative, it can affect everyone monitoring or just beginning to read the post.
Advertising directly on your page turns fans away as it becomes forced and takes a step back from the conversational environment. When posting advertisements, deals, offers or services on Facebook, do so in a social manner. Posting only advertisements without accompanying social content will annoy your followers.
Lastly, do not let your page go dormant.
Increasing Followers, Likes and Popularity
To boost your overall popularity on Facebook, you must continue sharing interesting content and connect with your audience, but you also need to let people know you are on Facebook.
It is important to continue notifying customers that you have a Facebook presence, as well as any other social media network presence. Creating “Like” buttons on blog posts, your website and emails is a great way to notify clients you are on Facebook. Placing Facebook and other social network logos with links to your pages are essential in spreading your online presence. Inviting your business contacts to visit your page can also boost your page’s traffic.
The End Goal
Successful businesses use Facebook to let customers get to know the people behind the logo. Facebook allows companies to portray themselves in a friendly, sociable manner, as a place where customers are treated well and everybody knows your name. It sounds cliché, but it’s true.
Facebook should liven up the workplace for clients and invite customers to join in the fun. Facebook acts as a doorway you want customers to walk through. Once you capture your own branding on Facebook, then it can become a very significant lead generator when fans become loyal and excited by your work and services.
If you are ready to begin, learn how to set up your Facebook page below.
How to Start: 4 Steps
*You will need to establish your own personal Facebook account first before setting up a Facebook Business Fan Page
Step 1: Create a page and follow step-by-step instructions in the Facebook Help Center
Step 2: Invite your friends, share your page, and invite your business contacts
Step 3: Begin posting. Follow the advice above to communicate with your audience
Step 4: To further boost and engage audiences, create Facebook ads
For more information and help, contact a digital marketing consultant at 4 Site Digital or check out Facebook’s Help page