I’m guessing you have heard of Facebook. It has only been the largest social networking site for over a decade, it’s only worth a modest 2 billion dollars, and only has a measly 1 billion active users every day. If you haven’t heard of Facebook then you are probably from the Andromeda Galaxy, in which case I suggest you sign up and please friend me.
Obviously you have heard of Facebook, right? You probably have a Facebook page, you probably interact with friends and family, and you probably stalk your ex-partners. What you want to know is how can Facebook grow your business, namely, how can Facebook make you money. In this guide, ‘How To Get Started With Facebook Marketing’, I will reveal the great mystery of getting started in the art of Facebook marketing and why, if you’re not marketing on Facebook, your business is missing out.
Why Facebook Is A Kick-Ass Tool For Every Business
– You Can Engage Your Customers
You have to think of your page as a kind of revolving advertisement. Always updating and always changing. Although unlike other forms of advertisements, with Facebook your customers can engage you back. With a Facebook page, you can build and maintain a relationship with your customer.
– Targeted Advertising
Why spend cash on advertising to people who aren’t in your target market? With Facebook, you can narrow down who sees your advertisements right down to age, location, gender, job description, high school, and you can even go after your competition’s customers.
– Supercharged Word Of Mouth Power
Everybody in business knows that a word of mouth recommendation is like gold. Did you know that on average each Facebook user has about 350 people on their friends list? If just one person likes you on Facebook that exposes you to 350 people. If 20 of those people likes you on Facebook you get exposure to 7,000 people. If 1,615 of those people like you on Facebook you get exposed to 565,250 people. That’s the population of Malta.
Facebook Marketing – How To Get Started In 6 Easy Steps
1. Make A Facebook Page
Creating a Facebook page for your business is a little bit different from creating a Facebook page for your pet Pug, but it’s just as easy. When you go to the create page section on Facebook you will need to pick a category that best describes the business you are wanting to market. Facebook will then ask you for your details, name, address and the like and then direct you to a basic template of your business page. Then you’re done. You have now entered the brave new world of Facebook marketing, but don’t leave just yet, there’s still a bit more to do.
2. Design Your Page
Facebook has hundreds of different apps to help you compose a page that portrays your businesses personality. You want to take the time now to write a good “info” section explaining who you are and what you’re about. Of course, a clever profile picture is needed as well. This can be a shopfront, a logo, or your company’s motto. You can also add pictures, youtube videos, create surveys, offer discounts and say Hi. Actually, this is probably a good time to write a welcoming post announcing the opening of your businesses Facebook page.
3. Get Your Freinds To Like Your Page
You want to get the ball rolling, so get your friends to like and start making posts on your page. It is kind of cheating, I know, but you don’t want your customers to turn up and see a dead page. I found that “please, please like my new page for my cafe, I’ll give you a free coffee” works well.
4. Start Adding Regular Content
Regular is the key here. The difference between a successful page and page with 3 inactive likes is content, content, and more content. When adding content there are a few tricks to the trade I am about to share with you. Holidays are your friends. You can use big sporting events and public holidays to offer discounts and special deals. Another sneaky strategy is to make strange random posts at random times. It’s ok, its Facebook, everyone does it, and it will get your customers engaged. Make sure they are light and funny and the “likes” will flow. You should also post the behind the scenes action of your business. Funny photos and stories are a great way of building up trust with your customer.
5. Tell Your Customers About Your Page
So by this stage, you have your page set up, have a bunch of content on it, and even have a healthy level of activity. Now it’s time to tell the world. On your shop front window, your website, your email’s signature, your business card, and your cars bumper sticker you want your “like us on Facebook” to be everywhere. The trick to this part is to give your customers a reason to like you on Facebook. Something like “like us on Facebook and receive your next coffee free” or “like us on Facebook and get 15% off your next order” will have your page pumping in no time.
6. Targeted Advertising With Facebook Adds
This is when Facebook marketing goes into overdrive. Your page is now complete with content and thousands of likes. You’re engaging your customers with questions, surveys, and content related to your industry. You now want to advertise, and just like the name suggests, you only have to advertise to the people you want. So if your product is only used by men then only pay to advertise to men. If your product is mainly used by young people under 25 then only pay to advertise to them. The best part is, the advertisement gets them to your page which by now is a killer promotional machine with thousands of active customers.
Tips To Targeted Advertising With Facebook
– In some cases, it might be best to pick a larger demographic. Although Facebook’s targeted advertising abilities are great, by throwing out a larger net you may have more success. Facebook is all about clicks and sharing. Even though someone might not become a customer of yours, they may share your page with hundreds of others.
– Try targeting behaviours instead of demographics. By reaching out to people who have either searched or have already purchased a similar product to yours, you may capture customers that may not have been included in a demographic campaign. So if you sell socks, for example, you can engage an advertising campaign to people who have been searching online for socks. As Dumbledore said, “one can never have enough socks.”
– The truly best way to go about targeted advertising with Facebook is to create a strategy that combines all the targeting features. So don’t just go for demographics or just behaviours. Instead, start a campaign that targets a mixture of demographics and behaviours.
It doesn’t matter what business you are in. The enormity of Facebook alone is reason enough to jump on the Facebook marketing train and take a ride. This guide, Facebook Marketing – How To Get Started, is just an introduction and does not even scratch the surface of what is possible with Facebook marketing. That said, I hope you now have a better idea of the ease in which you can get started on your Facebook marketing adventure. Even if Facebook makes you feel like you must be from outer space, anyone, even aliens, can start reaping the rewards of the social media marketing revolution.
