Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. Whilst many marketers still feel Facebook is only really useful when targeting consumers, increasingly both b2b and b2c businesses are using Facebook to market to key audiences.
Facebook fan pages are the best way to get going. These allow you to set up a brand presence on the social network and encourage users to ‘add you’.
Here our some top tips for getting a Facebook fan page off the ground for small businesses:
1. Tell you Twitter followers about your page – If you are already using Twitter, then make sure you tell your Twitter followers about your new fan page
2. Share your blog posts on your Facebook wall – You have to be careful about not ’spamming’ your Facebook fan page wall – generally you won’t need as many updates on Facebook as on Twitter, but including blog posts that you think your fans will be interested in is a great way to provide valuable content
3. Run Facebook adverts to increase fans – Facebook allows you to run targeted adverts to encourage new fans to sign-up. Check out the Facebook advertising page for more info
4. Include links to your page on your website and in emails to customers – Make sure you include links to your Facebook page from your website. Many of your visitors might prefer to be a fan on Facebook rather than joining your email mailing list, so give them the option (and make sure you link to your Twitter account if you have one too!)
5. Start to build deeper relationships – As with all social networks, Facebook isn’t just a broadcast tool. It works best when you start communicating with your fans. Reply to them and find out a bit more about them
6. Ask your fans what they would like to see on your Facebook page – If you are unsure about what content you should be sharing, why not actually ask your fans? You might be surprised about how helpful they will be
7. Don’t be too commercial – Finding that all important mix between commercial messages and non commercial messages is tricky, but is important, otherwise you will just alienate your fans
8. Ask you fans for feedback on your company or products – Are you researching a new product or service? If you can’t afford expensive user groups (or even if you can), why not ask your Facebook fans?
9. Give you fans special offers or privileges - You should value your fans. So offer them special privileges to make them feel valued. For example you could offer special discounts or early access to new products
What else is there? What tactics have you found useful on a Facebook page? Let us know – we want to hear from small businesses that are already out there doing this!
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