How To Promote Your Company Through Facebook
For many, social media isn’t exactly second nature. If you are one of that ‘many’, below is a helpful guide to successfully marketing your business on Facebook.
As one of the world’s largest and most frequently visited websites, Facebook is an obvious place to promote a company. However, running a company account is very different to a personal one. Here are ten golden rules that will help to create a successful online presence for any fledgling brand or small business…
Create an account.
An obvious step, but also a crucially important one, since the resulting homepage will be the public face of your company among Facebook followers and friends. Incorporate the firm’s logo, URL, contact details, and include a brief summary detailing the following: who, what, where, why and how.
Establish connections.
This is initially easier if you already have a personal Facebook account, since your existing contacts can be invited to like and follow the new page. The same is also true of email contacts, while including Facebook links on company websites and in email signatures can also help to attract new followers.
Update the page regularly.
Few people will be impressed by a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated for years. A corporate Facebook page should be added to once a week as an absolute minimum, to indicate vitality and regularity. This can be delegated to other people, providing they have the right login credentials.
Keep it brief.
Nobody reads long slabs of text on Facebook, so brevity is a virtue. A single sentence or a well-chosen photograph is far more likely to attract attention than rambling posts – this isn’t really a forum for blogging, after all. Avoid technical jargon, negativity or hyperbole, and try to incorporate a call to action into every post.
Don’t be personal.
Companies thrive by appealing to as many people as possible, and that’s true even in the curiously informal world of social media. Never publish anything that might antagonize audiences, such as criticisms of rivals, details of sporting or political allegiances, etc. Save these opinions for your personal profile.
Build discussions.
If a customer posts a thank you message, respond with gratitude. If they post a legitimate complaint, apologize and suggest a resolution. Comments remain online forever, and the world is watching. Many people regard social media as a communication channel, and Facebook is often the first line of customer contact.
Utilize Facebook ads.
Although Facebook is free, its advertising service isn’t. However, it does represent good value, with customized ads dropped into the newsfeeds of users who can be selected by demographics ranging from age and location to stated interests and preferences. Targeted advertising doesn’t get much more precise.
Study analytics tools.
Facebook helps its advertisers by providing analytics software, known as Page Insights, that can be paired with other third-party apps. By studying details of page performance and post engagement, you can determine which comments or shares were well received to determine what works best, and focus on that approach in the future.
Use keywords.
If your business involves buying and selling vintage football shirts, judicious use of keywords in every post will establish you as a specialist in your chosen field. This will boost search engine results as well as searches through Facebook itself, but use these keywords and phrases sparingly for maximum impact.
Redirect people elsewhere.
This final tip is perhaps the most important one, since Facebook pages are rarely where buying decisions are made. This is the shop front, not the checkout. Encourage people to leave Facebook and visit your site or ecommerce store at every opportunity, converting enquiries into sales and orders.