If used right, Facebook can be a business’ most powerful promotion tool. Facebook currently has 1.71 billion monthly users and with 66% of them accessing the platform daily, Facebook gives a business unprecedented access to new customers and keep current customers engaged.
A little MORE conversation, please.
The first -and maybe most vital- task to undertake in promoting on Facebook is to understand what Facebook is. Facebook is not simply a billboard for you to post an advert on, it’s a huge social and conversation platform and your business’s approach needs to reflect this.
The best way your business can spread through Facebook is to get people talking about it, so try to think of your customers as friends or fans and interact with them accordingly. Try to remain as informal as possible and be entertaining while remaining informative about what your business is offering. Use photos, videos, and ask questions to start engagement beyond just telling users about your latest product/service. Incentivize posts by running small competitions and offers that will inspire users to interact with your page and hopefully share them too. Keep the conversation going as much as you can, for example: if a fan of your page asks a question, don’t leave them hanging.
Above all, be yourself. Creating and maintaining a personality for your business will make it much more appealing for users to talk to your business.
Mind your P’s and Q’s
It should go without saying, but it’s still astonishing how often it is ignored: check your spelling and grammar before posting. Posting with incorrect spelling and bad grammar just makes your business seem unprofessional and lazy. Watch out for mistaking possessives for contractions (e.g. “its” and “it’s”) in particular and it can be helpful to install an app like Grammarly on your browser to help keep this in check.
No one is ever going to be put off a business for using language correctly.
The Attention Economy
Your most valuable resource on social media is attention and it’s not just case of what you post on your page, but also when.
The peak traffic times on Facebook are mid-week between 1pm to 3pm. Posting during this window will give you access to the highest numbers, but also presents the most amount of competition for attention. Statistics show that Facebook users are more likely to click on posts in the evenings, so strategize your posts accordingly: post information during peak times, schedule engagement posts for the evenings when users have more time to interact.
Another way to ensure you are getting your fair share of the audience is to keep posts not just relevant to your business but also to current events and trends. If a particular story is trending on news sites that applies to your business, try to incorporate into your posts. Try to keep it light though and avoid controversial and divisive subjects such as politics.
The simplest way to stay disciplined in this area is to keep it seasonal since regular events like Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc will apply to vast swathes of your audience.
Facebook Ads Are There to Help
It has been predicted that Facebook may be worth 1 trillion dollars in the future and their clearest path to that valuation is to make their platform as worthwhile and easy for businesses as possible. To do this they have built powerful tools to assist businesses in getting to the right audience based on demographics such as age, interest, location, and purchasing habits.
Yes, you have to pay to use them but in doing so your Facebook page can target the people your business needs to be talking to.
Have Fun!
Facebook is not a B2B environment, people use Facebook primarily to have fun. Basically, if you’re having fun with your page then so will your fans. Keep it light, tight, and bright and your fans will respond in kind.