If your main target market is consumers rather than businesses, a growing social media community such as Facebook could be one of the best places to reach them. With millions of users worldwide, Facebook offers a direct route to a large community of potential customers. Follow our steps to get the most out of Facebook
1. Decide why you are joining Facebook and let that determine how you use it — for example, you could be using it to find local customers, build client relationships or establish your expertise.
2. Register your free account by providing a name and an email address — you don’t need a personal page to create a business fan page, but it can be a good way to get people you know to visit it.
3. Include details about your personal tastes and experiences — join a local network and post relevant links, before directing friends to your fan page.
4. Set up a fan page for your business. Fill out the required information fields, identifying yourself by sector or by brand, product or business name.
5. Use keywords that people are most likely to search for in relation to your product. It may help your fan page get listed in search engine results.
6. Create a profile for your business on the fan page, including a link to your website, an overview of your company and a description of your product or service. Invite the same people you are friends with on your personal profile to become fans.
7. Drive visitors to your fan page. Use other social networks, like Twitter, to post links to your Facebook page, put details of it on your website and all your marketing literature, and include a link below your email signature.
8. Make your fan page a hub of engaging information — update your page regularly with items that are relevant to your business and reflect your brand.
9. Direct people to your own website or blog from your Facebook page. Set your blog’s RSS feed so that you automatically publish snippets to your Facebook wall, to give fans a taster and encourage them to visit.
10. Respond to questions and encourage discussion on your fan page. Each time a fan comments on your wall, each one of their friends will see what they have said, so it is an effective way to generate word-of-mouth marketing. You could comment on other businesses’ fan pages, too.
11. Reward your fans by running competitions or making exclusive special offers.
12. Consider placing an advertisement on the site. It could be money well spent as your advert will appear in front of a highly-targeted audience.
Tips for successful marketing through Facebook
To market your business successfully on Facebook, you need to understand Facebook's unique opportunities, and how it differs from other media. Just as you wouldn't run a radio ad on television, you shouldn't market on Facebook the way you'd market in a magazine or on your website.
1. Don't use Facebook for the 'hard sell'
People regard Facebook as a fun social space where they chat to friends, check out photos and videos, and relax. You need to join conversations and become part of a community, rather than being a business 'outsider' who tries to sell aggressively.
Hard-sell tactics - such as using advertising slogans, posting repeatedly about a particular product or service, or providing lists of products and prices in isolation from any related conversation - will result in other users 'unfollowing' you. They may even post negative comments about your business.
2. Have a clear goal and strategy
It's important to have a clear goal for using Facebook, and a strategy to achieve that goal. For example, a coffee shop might decide that its goal is to increase sales generated by Facebook by 10% in the next 6 months. Their strategy could include:
creating a post every morning featuring a special of the day, using a coupon code so that the sale can be tracked to Facebook
posting a daily photo featuring a customer who is its 'Coffee King or Queen' of the day
encouraging users to post their own photos of them enjoying a coffee.
Setting a goal and strategy gives you direction for your Facebook marketing and a way to measure your success.
3. Create a human voice for your business
Facebook users like to talk to other people - not to an impersonal business. Whoever manages your Facebook page must be able to write in a voice that sounds real and likeable, using a style that suits your business. They also need permission to express things in their own words, not in the company's jargon or 'official line'.
4. Post regularly
Unlike traditional media (such as magazines or television), or other online media (such as web pages), social media are built around frequent updates.
Statistics show that around 50% of all Facebook users check their page at least once a day, and they need to see that you are regularly posting new material. Some guides recommend posting at least once a day, but the core principles are to post when you have interesting content, and to judge how often your audience wants to hear from you.
5. Encourage comments and reply quickly
Encourage other Facebook users to respond to your posts or to post their own comments about your business or a topic that's of interest to them and you. When they do post, respond quickly - within 24 hours is best. Failing to respond will weaken your Facebook friends' willingness to engage with you, and they will gradually drift away.
6. Promote your Facebook page
If you have a Facebook page, promote it throughout your business so that your social media works hand-in-hand with more traditional marketing methods. Provide your Facebook address on your letterhead, business card and website, in store, in advertisements, and in your email signature.
7. Use Facebook Insights to learn more about your customers
Facebook Insights can tell you more about the people who choose to like your page. Once you know your Facebook friends' characteristics, you can tailor your posts and offers to meet their needs and interests.
For example, if you're a book store that caters to customers of all ages, but most of your Facebook friends are aged 18-25 years, your Facebook offers might concentrate on books suitable for that age group (while your in-store offers are broader). Or, if you're an online seller who never meets your customers, you might be able to get a clearer picture of what they think and feel by reviewing their interests, ages and locations on Facebook.
1. Don't use Facebook for the 'hard sell'
People regard Facebook as a fun social space where they chat to friends, check out photos and videos, and relax. You need to join conversations and become part of a community, rather than being a business 'outsider' who tries to sell aggressively.
Hard-sell tactics - such as using advertising slogans, posting repeatedly about a particular product or service, or providing lists of products and prices in isolation from any related conversation - will result in other users 'unfollowing' you. They may even post negative comments about your business.
2. Have a clear goal and strategy
It's important to have a clear goal for using Facebook, and a strategy to achieve that goal. For example, a coffee shop might decide that its goal is to increase sales generated by Facebook by 10% in the next 6 months. Their strategy could include:
creating a post every morning featuring a special of the day, using a coupon code so that the sale can be tracked to Facebook
posting a daily photo featuring a customer who is its 'Coffee King or Queen' of the day
encouraging users to post their own photos of them enjoying a coffee.
Setting a goal and strategy gives you direction for your Facebook marketing and a way to measure your success.
3. Create a human voice for your business
Facebook users like to talk to other people - not to an impersonal business. Whoever manages your Facebook page must be able to write in a voice that sounds real and likeable, using a style that suits your business. They also need permission to express things in their own words, not in the company's jargon or 'official line'.
4. Post regularly
Unlike traditional media (such as magazines or television), or other online media (such as web pages), social media are built around frequent updates.
Statistics show that around 50% of all Facebook users check their page at least once a day, and they need to see that you are regularly posting new material. Some guides recommend posting at least once a day, but the core principles are to post when you have interesting content, and to judge how often your audience wants to hear from you.
5. Encourage comments and reply quickly
Encourage other Facebook users to respond to your posts or to post their own comments about your business or a topic that's of interest to them and you. When they do post, respond quickly - within 24 hours is best. Failing to respond will weaken your Facebook friends' willingness to engage with you, and they will gradually drift away.
6. Promote your Facebook page
If you have a Facebook page, promote it throughout your business so that your social media works hand-in-hand with more traditional marketing methods. Provide your Facebook address on your letterhead, business card and website, in store, in advertisements, and in your email signature.
7. Use Facebook Insights to learn more about your customers
Facebook Insights can tell you more about the people who choose to like your page. Once you know your Facebook friends' characteristics, you can tailor your posts and offers to meet their needs and interests.
For example, if you're a book store that caters to customers of all ages, but most of your Facebook friends are aged 18-25 years, your Facebook offers might concentrate on books suitable for that age group (while your in-store offers are broader). Or, if you're an online seller who never meets your customers, you might be able to get a clearer picture of what they think and feel by reviewing their interests, ages and locations on Facebook.
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