I have recently been asked about using Facebook for business marketing, so I thought I’d share a few ideas on this in a blog post for all of you. Most people are familiar with using Facebook for social networking, but it isn’t all that obvious at first glance how Facebook would help with marketing your small business.
First of all, set up a Facebook Page for your business, not a Personal Profile. Facebook has rules regarding the use of Personal profiles, and may delete a Personal Profile if they find it is a business, not a genuine person. Secondly there is a limit of 5000 friends on a Facebook Personal Profile, however there are no limits to the number of people who can ‘Like’ a Facebook Page. This is important, as it is the people who ‘Like’ your page who will see your posts on their wall, allowing you to engage directly with them. Thirdly, you want to be authentic about what you’re doing on Facebook. A Facebook page clearly states that it is a business, so people who Like it, will expect posts relating to your business. By clicking the ‘Like’ button on your business Page, they have expressed an interest and effectively invited you to engage with them regarding your business.
Avoid blatant sales promotion on Facebook however. Facebook is a social networking site, and people who use it are primarily there to catch up with their friends, and will get annoyed if frequently spammed with ‘adverts’. Instead, use Facebook to engage with your prospective customers and as a bulletin board for letting people know what your business is up to. People will feel more engaged if you post useful information that you think will interest, help or entertain them, rather than something that feels like an advert. By all means upload photographs of your products, most business Pages don’t include many photos, and it definitely makes your Page more engaging. In your posts, focus on sharing your enthusiasm for your products and services, and avoid hard-sell style ‘Buy This Now!!!’ type posts.
All of this works well, once you have a group of followers who ‘Like’ your page, but how do you get people to like your page in the first place? There are various ways to grow your following. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
First of all, set up a Facebook Page for your business, not a Personal Profile. Facebook has rules regarding the use of Personal profiles, and may delete a Personal Profile if they find it is a business, not a genuine person. Secondly there is a limit of 5000 friends on a Facebook Personal Profile, however there are no limits to the number of people who can ‘Like’ a Facebook Page. This is important, as it is the people who ‘Like’ your page who will see your posts on their wall, allowing you to engage directly with them. Thirdly, you want to be authentic about what you’re doing on Facebook. A Facebook page clearly states that it is a business, so people who Like it, will expect posts relating to your business. By clicking the ‘Like’ button on your business Page, they have expressed an interest and effectively invited you to engage with them regarding your business.
Avoid blatant sales promotion on Facebook however. Facebook is a social networking site, and people who use it are primarily there to catch up with their friends, and will get annoyed if frequently spammed with ‘adverts’. Instead, use Facebook to engage with your prospective customers and as a bulletin board for letting people know what your business is up to. People will feel more engaged if you post useful information that you think will interest, help or entertain them, rather than something that feels like an advert. By all means upload photographs of your products, most business Pages don’t include many photos, and it definitely makes your Page more engaging. In your posts, focus on sharing your enthusiasm for your products and services, and avoid hard-sell style ‘Buy This Now!!!’ type posts.
All of this works well, once you have a group of followers who ‘Like’ your page, but how do you get people to like your page in the first place? There are various ways to grow your following. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- The first and most obvious is to invite people you already know. The Page administration panel allows you to invite your personal Facebook Friends to like your page. You can select the individuals who you feel will be interested.
- If you have built an email list of existing customers for your business, you could email them and let them know you have a new Page on Facebook, and crucially, invite them to click the ‘Like’ button. Put a link to your Page in the email.
- Add Facebook buttons to your Website, and invite people to click ‘Like’ if they like what they see.
- Start engaging with other Pages on Facebook that you feel your prospective customers would also like, and which have a lot of ‘Likes’ already. Leave entertaining, interesting or useful comments using the identity of your ‘Page’, so that the comments link back to your Page. The best Facebook Pages to engage with are one’s which already have a lot of ‘Likes’, as this will help you reach more people. If you can make people feel curious with your comments they are more likely to follow the link back to your Page to find out more about you.
- If you want to accelerate your ‘Like’ building, you can consider using Facebook paid advertising. This is a subject for another Blog Post on another day, but it does enable you to very tightly focus on your target market, including filtering by location, age ranges and gender, and stated interests. The downside is, unlike the other ideas here, you have to pay for it.
RSS Feed
