You’d think that by now, most businesses would have jumped on the social media bandwagon. Still, some have yet to incorporate social media into their marketing tactics, and they are losing out on a great deal of business.
Facebook is a great way to market your company—it’s not simply designed to stalk your friends. With a Facebook page, your company can reach your target audience directly, engage them, build a relationship with them and even reach out to their friends, and their friends’ friends, and so on.
Creating a Facebook page for your business is actually really easy to do. Facebook even gives you step-by-step instructions to help you create your page, but if you don’t feel like reading their how-to guide, we’ll give you the basic gist.
First, you need to have a Facebook page.
You need to create a Facebook business page, not a personal page. There are differences between the two, and we recently discussed them in Facebook Personal Profiles Are For People, Not Businesses.
Once you have created your page, you need to add relevant content about your business that people will find useful. You can also add photos and videos, and you can physically add your Place so that users can “check in” to your establishment. Once all of this basic information is entered, you need to invite people to like your page.
Next, get to talking.
Having a Facebook page that you never use is not going to be beneficial for your business. If you’re going to have one, you need to be active on it. Use Facebook to see what your customers are interested in and start building relationships. Make sure to comment on or “like” their posts, ask questions that will generate responses, and post videos and photos that your customers will find useful.
Let the world know you’re on Facebook.
Facebook allows you to create advertisements that will be posted on the site. This is a great way to generate interest in your company and get your name out there. There is also a feature called Sponsored Stories, where activity that a user takes relating to your page, such as liking your page or checking in, will be displayed more prominently on their Facebook page. This will let their friends know what they’ve been checking out while on Facebook.
Monitor, monitor, monitor.
Some people are afraid of social media because they’ve heard the horror stories that happen to businesses that use it.
If your company has a social media plan in place, and if you set up social media monitoring, you can avoid this situation from happening to you. Social media disasters occur because companies fail to accurately monitor and respond to the events that occur. Lacking action is what makes these disasters turn viral and what propels them into a huge, brand-damaging frenzy. If you dedicate a team and implement a plan for any type of social media occurrences, you will have a more successful experience.
So what are you waiting for? Stop checking your news feed to see what your friends are up to, and instead create a page for your business and get to know your customers.
Do you have a business page? Any tips for the Facebook newbies?
Kristi Munno
Copywriter | Content Management Specialist
With over five years of professional writing experience, Kristi is a published author who expertly communicates on the importance of content in business and marketing.
Connect with Kristi on LinkedIn.
Just now started to understand and link everything back to the facebook page to make it more active and effective. This was a quick and easy version of how to get it moving forward. Thx.
@elizonthego Facebook is a great way to reach your audience. I'm glad the post helped you out. Good luck with your social media endeavors. We're always posting tips, so make sure to come back for more!