Facebook is hands down the largest social network on planet Earth. With more than 1.23 BILLION users it has become the most important platform on the web. Power brands and small business are showing up on Facebook like they mean it, turning Facebook fans into brand advocates and Facebook pages into powerful extensions to their online presence.
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While it is free and easy to get started with your business presence on Facebook it can still be hard to do right. Here are 15 tips to set you off on the right path.
#1 Don’t be afraid to show you are human
Facebook is first and foremost a social network. Brands tend to forget that and end up coming off as being too “corporate”; that’s not very social. Thank your fans for their replies and for sharing their opinions with you. More often than not, talk about things other than your products. This is not a place to sell. Offer them something that will educate, inform or entertain them. Wish your followers happy holidays, ask them fun questions or encourage them to share personal stories.
Don’t be afraid of negative comments or people posting on sensitive topics. You’ll find that most of the time your fans will jump in and defend you or address these comments for you. And that carries much more weight than you trying to chime in.
#2 Ask questions
Want your fans to express their views on a topic? Ask them. Want your fans to share their favorite content with you? Ask them. Want your fans to share your content? Ask them. You get the point.
If you want your followers to participate more, just ask them every now and then; you will be surprised how many of them respond.
#3 Build Facebook apps/tabs
In addition to your newsfeed, photos, videos and other native Facebook you should make use of apps/tabs. These are custom built “mini websites” on your Facebook page where you can run contests, showcase products, host sign up forms for events and newsletters plus anything else you can dream up really. Custom apps are easily built and published with eMarketeer.
#4 Display different content for followers and non-followers
A great way to grow your number of followers is to offer valuable content for those who like you page. A so-called Fan Gate allows you to show one type of content to people who like your page vs. people who do not like it yet. Fangating can be quite difficult to set up manually but eMarketeer makes the process super easy. Fangate great downloads, research reports, cool videos and other types of content that provide value to your followers.
#5 Get your vanity URL
Which page is more easy to communicate and remember? www.facebook.com/emarketeer or www.facebook.com/324768395987 ? Make sure you secure your vanity URL by visiting facebook.com/username. Use the vanity URL in email footers, on business cards and on your website.
#6 Create a Referral Engine
If your followers are happy customers, Facebook makes it easy for them to recommend you to friends and to provide your business with ‘social proof’ i.e. people saying nice things about you. This is where you have the opportunity to organically grow your audience, powered by happy customers.
#7 Use contests and offers to create participation
Giving users a reason to join the page, aside from brand loyalty, is key to build followers. If you do not yet have the content that sells itself for likes; offering contests and coupons specifically to Facebook users can entice consumers to join.
When visitors Likes the page you can show the content you are offering. Examples could be free shipping codes, weekly deals, downloadable content in the form of white papers, guides and the like.
#8 Network your touchpoints
Building a large following requires you to network your touchpoints, working in conjunction to drive visitors to your Facebook page. Many companies lack this level of dedication, expecting their consumers on Facebook to find them automatically. However, that’s not usually the case. When was the last time you went looking for a brand’s Facebook fan page? More often than not, a you will stumble upon the page, either through a friend, through an email or a company website.
#9 Create many touchpoints
Find all the places in your sales and follow-up process where you can let your customer know that your company has a Facebook page and give them reasons why they should like it e.g. by offering great tips, special promotions and the like. Touch points could be your newsletters, your blog, website, transactional messages (invoices), event invitations – anything really where it makes sense and where your customers are.
#10 Be genuine – do not automate
Don’t automatically feed your blog posts or your Twitter updates into your Page. Often, automated content doesn’t make it into users’ News Feeds. Your fans can also distinguish between “auto” posts and customized ones. For a lot of brand pages, auto posts do not foster engagement.
#11 Put the power in the hands of your Followers
Crowd sourcing is hardly a new concept anymore, but many companies are still very hesitant to truly turn the table and let the customers’ speak their opinion and shape products and services. Get your feet wet by engaging in product and service related dialogues with your loyal followers and test the waters for new ideas, concepts and products.
#12 Target your status updates
If you are a global brand, you can make good use of targeting. Many brands tend to forget forget that not all of their fans want to know about campaigns or contests they are running in a specific region or country. Target your updates by country or language or even down to specific cities as necessary.
#13 Mix your content
Mix up your content style every now and then. Often, people are not sure what to post on a regular basis. You could try adding how-tos, trivia about your company, breaking news, relevant third-party content, multimedia, or even experts to speak about your field or business. You do not have to produce all the content yourself. You’ll act as the curator or filter for your followers showing them that you understand what content is important to them – even if you did not produce it yourself.
#14 Track performance
Do you know what type of content your followers care about? Do you know your average number of comments and Likes per post? Watch for trends on your Page and feedback from your consumers on topics and content types and adjust your content strategy appropriately. Never stop listening and measuring.
#15 Create an exclusive club
Honor the customers and stakeholders that have decided to follow you by giving them tips, offers and news prior to everyone else. It can be painful to sit on your content instead of releasing it broadly but if your content is worth sharing your followers will reward the exclusivity with sharing to their networks and peers. You can always release the content to the general public at a later time. Let your Facebook followers be first in line to access new whitepapers, merchandise and products that are only available to them through Facebook. Your fans are more apt to share their limited-access purchase with other fans. This builds buzz for your content and products and prompts Facebook users to become fans to get involved.
Still want more on Facebook?
Check out our Facebook page building features or grab the on demand webinar on how to build Facebook pages and fan engagement.