Facebook, a social networking website located at http://www.facebook.com/,
has gained popularity as an online tool to help market businesses. Facebook's
mission is to give people the power to share ideas and make the world more open
and connected.
Because of the large number of users visiting this social platform, many
businesses have turned to Facebook as a way to connect to potential customers.
This can be done with a Facebook Fan page.
A Facebook Fan Pages' audience consists of "Fans." These are the
Facebook users who have elected to ‘Become A Fan' of your business in order to
receive updates about your business. The updates show up on that Facebook
user's "wall" (a wall is a Facebook user's profile page) as they are
added to the Fan Page. Many popular business Fan pages, including Victoria's
Secret®, Toyota®, and Starbucks®, have thousands or ten thousands of users who
display Fan page updates on their walls.
Some tricks that can help your business to grow up:
Setting up a Facebook account "just to be on it" is not useful.
Social media is a continuous process that requires regular attention. Think of
it as starting a conversation with your customers and "friends" of
your customers. You don't want to just "go quiet" mid conversation.
You will not attract new visitors or keep your current Fans coming back if you
don't keep your Facebook Fan Page updated on a regular basis so you need more
& more fans that can solve it.
You will also need to be able to monitor your wall and discussion boards to
address and feedback your Fans are posting to your Facebook Page. Unaddressed
or unnoticed issues can create more of a headache and is something you will
need monitor consistently and be able to respond quickly.
Fan = Customer? Businesses should also be aware that a Fan doesn't equal an
active customer. Many people who become Fans of a page are simply saying,
"I like this." Facebook Fans don't necessarily interact with the
company more or increase their level of spend but these fans can attract real
customer to take your service or products. So getting facebook fans is much
more important to grow up fast.
For Facebook to make sense for your business, you should target a specific
goal that's relatable to your business strategy. Such a goal might be, "I
want to increase revenue by 15% in 25-34 year olds." Then you could decide
whether Facebook is one of the right platforms to reach your business
demographic or if you should be spending your marketing efforts elsewhere.
Once you've taken all of the above into consideration and you've decided
you'd like to utilize Facebook to help your business, you are ready to begin.
There are a few ways you can engage with Facebook via a Fan Page.
Gathering Fans: Once your company's
Facebook profile is set up and you have added some information, it is a good
time to begin building an audience of Fans. This should be done both on and off
Facebook. This can be done in a number of ways:
Link to your company's Facebook Fan Page on your home page of your company
website.
Link to your company's Facebook Fan Page in all email.
Become a Fan of your own Fan Page and suggest it to your Friends list.
Use Twitter to announce your new Fan Page and offer deals to new Fans.
Link to you Facebook Fan page on your Blog and other social profile sites.
Use Facebook content in email newsletters.
Post links from newsletter articles on Facebook.
Use Facebook to write about the latest news, worthwhile forum posts,
controversial case studies, inspiring blog entries, etc.
Social Media Relations: It's Not Media Relations
Social media sites and the networking opportunities they provide are
changing the way people market their businesses. Instead of mass advertising,
social media has ushered in an era of inbound marketing.
Word-of-mouth marketing and the many avenues available for customer
engagement means that businesses can leverage their current, loyal customer
base to help market their business to other potential consumers. For example,
if you provide interesting content, other users will share your posts with
others, who can pass along the information to even more Facebook users. This
can build new readership and attract new Fans. Here are a few rules to play by
now that you're in Social Media Relations:
Play nice: What you publish on the Web, even though it can be deleted from
Facebook, will still be archived permanently somewhere. Just as maintaining a
reputation as a friendly source for helpful information can be good for
business, negativity can have the opposite effect. Incendiary or extreme
statements, heavy-handed marketing, or disrespectful language don't go far on
Facebook or in any social media venue.
Encourage sharing: Provide free information and encourage others to share
it; this will engage new potential customers as it harnesses the power of
bloggers with high readership and a large number of Fans.
Avoid coercion: Do not try to trick potential customers and suppliers.Lose
control: This might sound scary, but it's ok to lose control. Once the
information you have published is out there, let people do with it what they
will.
Conclusion: In many ways, using
social
media service is based on common sense. Once you have learned the specifics
of a certain tool like Facebook®, it becomes fairly spontaneous. Be friendly,
be helpful, share information, build a good reputation, and current and
potential customers will know they can trust you. This is truly how to use
Facebook to benefit your business.
If you have any questions, or if you would like
for Network Solutions to set up a Facebook Fan Page for your business, contact
your Account Manager at any time. We will be happy to help. Click here to visit
our web site SocialServicePoint