Great article by Michael Ruiz
While many small businesses are entering into the fray, they are using it in a very ‘traditional’ or ‘push’ marketing way. They understand that Twitter has potential for them to connect with their customers, but they aren’t quite sure how to use it and how they can benefit from it. As a result, many fall off the map and end up wasting time and resources with little to no benefit. Rather than rushing into using Facebook without knowing exactly why, your business should consider a more strategic approach.
1. PRIORITISE YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
Every brand on Facebook is on Facebook for one reason – to (eventually) get more business.
Before you can get customers from Facebook, you need prioritised objectives and an engaged fan base that’s compelled to visit your website.
2. BUILD YOUR FACEBOOK AUDIENCE
To grow your Facebook fan base, you need to make your Page and your posts as discoverable as possible both online and off. No one can connect with you on Facebook if they don’t know you exist, so let’s talk about 5 ways to get noticed.
- Make sure your page is properly filled out with searchable information.
- Invite existing contacts to ‘like’ your page.
- Incorporate Facebook into your online and offline communication channels.
- Create value.
- Pay for new ‘likes’ (fans) using Facebook advertising.
3. DEVELOP & FOCUS ON YOUR OVERARCHING CONTENT & LEAD GEN’ STRATEGIES.
Focus first on your overall content and lead generation strategies. Then, repackage what you’ve already created for Facebook.
4. CHAMPION VALUE CREATION: WHAT CONTENT TO CREATE & SHARE ON FACEBOOK
To attract customers, you can’t just post sales-driven content.
INSTEAD, GENERATE LEADS IN TWO WAYS:
Directly. Generate leads by sharing content that links directly back to a landing page with a contact form on your website.
Share the landing page for a downloadable offer, such as:
- An e-book.
- A white-paper.
- A template.
- A checklist.
Indirectly. Generate leads eventually after sharing friendly, easy-to-consume content not housed behind a form.
Share:
- Photos
- Photo albums
- Blog posts
- YouTube videos
- Third-party content
- Event invites
Photos work wonders for your click-through rate and post engagement, so it’s worth spending the extra time sourcing or creating images for your posts.
Whether B2C or B2B, business is still P2P (people to people) - Post a variety of content types aimed at providing value – education, entertainment, etc.
5. MAXIMISE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION WITH ADVERTISING.
The people connected to your company on Facebook may not be your most qualified leads. The best way to reach them is with targeted ads.
Facebook has evolved to become more of a paid marketing platform than an organic one. A brand’s ability to reach their fan base organically has diminished as more brands and content compete to appear in users’ News Feeds.
If you’re trying to drive traffic, leads, and customers, you probably want to advertise posts that contain a link back to your website, but you can also create different types of ads depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
There is no one size fits all formula for using Facebook for business. Start small, experiment, post regularly, and actively strive to engage with your customer.
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