Checklist
- Find out if your customers are on Facebook; and whether they expect to find your business there. If you run any kind of consumer-facing enterprise, such as a café, a shop, a plumbing business or an eCommerce website, many of your customers will want to keep in touch on Facebook.
- Register for your free account.Getting started on Facebook is quick and easy. You don’t necessarily need a personal page to create a business page but it can be a good way to drive traffic to your business page.
- Get inspiration and advice on the Facebook for Business page. It has lots of useful case studies featuring businesses of all shapes and sizes.
- Tell people you are on Facebook. 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.
- Make the most of your profile. Include appropriate images, a link to your website, an overview of your company and a description of your product or service.
- Use keywords in your profile and posts that people are most likely to search for in relation to your product so your page appears more prominently in search engine results. A key advantage of having a Facebook page for your business is that customers will be able to find you more easily from their mobile devices.
- Post content that people typically enjoy on Facebook. Images, in particular, tend to attract the most likes, shares and comments. According to Facebook, images account for 75% of content posted by brands. The content you post should show the human side of your business but make sure it is in line with your brand values and does not damage your reputation.
- Use advertising to reach out to specific groups of people. Facebook allows you to target ads based on everything from location and demographics to behavior and interests or even a combination of these.Engage with your followers. Facebook users love to talk to real people and share their news and views. Reply to queries and respond to comments, including any complaints. You can also encourage discussion and feedback — positive user-generated content provides a very powerful endorsement for your business.
- Direct people to your own website or blog from your Facebook page. Set your blog’s RSS feed so that you automatically publish snippets on your Facebook page to encourage followers to visit your website.
- Reward your Facebook followers by running competitions or providing exclusive deals. Many people use Facebook to find special offers that aren’t available elsewhere.
- Measure everything, Page Insights provides an overview of who your customers are and how they’re connecting with your business. You can also use the Adverts Manager dashboard to see how your ads are performing against your objectives.
Cardinal rules
Do:
- understand your Facebook audience
- create an appealing business page
- engage with your followers
Don’t:
- be too formal or business-like
- post comments that could damage your brand
- ignore feedback
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really
know what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my website =).
We may have a link trade agreement between us
Awesome article.
I think everything said was very reasonable. However, what about this?
what if you typed a catchier title? I ain’t saying your
content is not solid., however what if you added something to possibly get folk’s attention? I
mean How to use Facebook to promote your business – Socialize
Your Bizness is a little plain. You might glance at Yahoo’s home page and see how they create news titles to get people interested.
You might try adding a video or a picture or two to grab
people interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it might bring your website a
little bit more interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion, Marc. We’ll take your suggestion into consideration.