Is your company lagging behind the competition? Are they using social media to its fullest extent? Do you need to catch up and overtake them? If so, this article will give you details on the many strategies you need to implement to use Facebook marketing to make your company come out on top.
The key to all marketing is to understand why you're doing it. What is your end goal? Once you have that figured out, you can more easily create a plan to bring in exactly who you want to turn from Facebook like into customer. So start brainstorming today - what are you marketing?
Decide why you want to have a Facebook page. As with other kinds of marketing to maximize the returns for the business, you must understand why you're marketing in the fist place. You also need to define your marketing goals and create a corresponding marketing strategy. You must create your Facebook page with your marketing strategy in mind.
How To Use Facebook For Marketing
Do not let the excitement over your page die down. Commit yourself to updating at least a few times a week. If you do not, your followers are going to feel neglected and they probably will not follow you or your products as passionately. Once you set up a page, you have to be committed to its maintenance.
Connect your Twitter account to your Facebook page. This will help you streamline your posts to both social media accounts. When you post on Twitter, your post is also posted simultaneously on your Facebook page as well. This saves you the time and effort of signing onto both sites to make one post.
How To Master Social Media Marketing
Don't share irrelevant updates. While personal updates or thoughts on events might seem important to you, you have to remember that it might not interest your subscribers. Keep the business and personal pages separate so you can focus on your business better.
Likes won't pay your electricity bill, shares won't bring home the bacon and comments won't pay your employees' wages. None of these things directly help you turn a profit. You can easily advertise on Facebook without ever investing in a Facebook business page, so consider other options and how much money they can make you.
Keep the purpose of the Facebook page in mind as you begin your marketing efforts. Don't have a Facebook page just for the sake of having one. Do you want to tell your customers something? Or is it so they can communicate with you? Using your Facebook page to market is different from using your page to communicate with customers.
Give your audience a spot on where they can sign up to your Facebook page. If you give the audience something when they sign up to get marketing messages from you, it can lead to potential customers becoming paying ones. A sweepstakes or contest is a good idea, or simply provide an area to sign up to get a freebie.
Don't think of your fans as numbers. That's a big no-no in Facebook marketing. You aren't collecting numbers, you are building brand champions. You are creating a community of people who love your company or brand. Treat them with the respect that they are due. These people can make a difference for your company.
When using Facebook for your marketing needs, always maintain the highest standard of integrity. Employ honest tactics with your customers and avoid making promises that you just can't follow through with. Despite not being face to face with customers, you will eventually have to answer to them and on a very public platform!
Figure out the best time for your Facebook posts. You will get more attention for your updates if you post them when your subscribers are checking Facebook. You could for instance share updates around noon if your subscribers are likely to check Facebook during their lunch break or share your updates during the evening.
Encourage two-way communication with your customers. If a customer posts a great photo of your product or service, share it with everyone. Also take advantage of the Reply feature getting rolled out to respond directly to particular comments on an individual basis. Facebook allows for both group and individual communication simultaneously.
Don't think of your fans as numbers. That's a big no-no in Facebook marketing. You aren't collecting numbers, you are building brand champions. You are creating a community of people who love your company or brand. Treat them with the respect that they are due. These people can make a difference for your company.
Vary the timing of your posts to see when you get the most likes or comments. For instance, a lot of people are on social media sites late at night, after ten. Your post may get more visibility if it goes up then. And, if you don't want to be doing work related tasks that late at night, you can always take advantage of the scheduling feature that Facebook offers and write the post during the day.
Be patient. All marketing takes time to create an impact. This also applies to Facebook. Put time and work into it and be patient while your customer base grows.
Do not try to use your personal Facebook page to attract fans. This is not a good idea because personal users have friend limits that business users don't. You don't want someone to try to join your page only to be told that you have reached your limit. They probably won't come back to try another time.
When you take the time to post to your business Facebook page, make it count. There is no reason to waste your time or that of your fans by posting links to photos of Grumpy Cat or articles which aren't going to be of interest to the bulk of your readers. Post valuable content only.
Learn to turn to your Facebook audience to provide inspiration when you need it. Maybe you have an idea for a new marketing campaign, but you're not sure how it will go over with potential customers; ask for people's opinions. Once you ask for comments, you can be sure that your Facebook audience will give you the advice you need in short order.
As you can see, Facebook marketing isn't that hard once you understand what you're doing. Make sure to use the tips you just read consistently so that you can demonstrate to your customers that you're serious about your business. Soon you'll wonder why you ever tried to market your business without Facebook.