Now that you have created a Facebook page for your business, its time to start building that community around your brand. There are several ways to go about this and you’ll have to discover what works best for you taking into consideration your resources.
Facebook is not a direct selling tool, so if you need to get business through the door right now, there are other activities you can focus on to make that happen more quickly. Facebook is about building a community around your brand by offering value and sharing your areas of expertise with the world. It takes time and planning to do it right, otherwise it can backfire and actually hurt your brand. The value of your page is difficult to quantify, but here are a few key benefits off the top of my head:
- Increased visibility for your brand.
- A high value, highly visible location on the web from which you can drive traffic to your main website.
- A platform that allows you to create relationships and interact directly with your existing customers and find out what they need and want, and how you help them can solve their problems.
- An opportunity to reach out to prospective clients and customers through the viral connections of your existing community. Every time a fan posts on your page, their connections have an opportunity to be introduced to your brand (by a friend no less!).
- An opportunity to reach out to prospective clients and customers through inexpensive Facebook advertising campaigns.
- An effective way to reach like-minded entrepreneurs and business owners with whom you can establish referral relationships, strategic partnerships, and collaboration opportunities, etc.
- A platform on which you can easily hold contests, conduct surveys, post videos, sell products, and promote webinars, teleconferences, and events.
- Much more…but you get the idea.
How to Begin Building your Facebook Community
If you are just starting out, it can seem a bit overwhelming and lonely (hellllooooo?) to post on a page that has only one or two fans. Remember that you are building, and it takes some time and effort before your page has enough relevance (as measured by Facebook) to show up in more than just the Most Recent Newsfeed. That means your posts move down the page fairly quickly (in real time) and are not as likely to be seen as those in the Top Newsfeed. As you build your community and increase the amount of interaction on your page, your visibility will increase as will the engagement on your page. It all works synergistically. That’s why you need to be consistent and have a plan which I’ll touch on more in a minute. First, here are some basic steps you can take right now to start building up your community and getting people engaged with your page:
- Invite the people you already know…your network. Send an email to your list, invite your current Facebook friends (remember, if they engage with your page, their connections will be introduced to your business), and invite them to join you on Facebook. Give them an incentive to “LIKE” your page (maybe a Facebook community members only discount, entry to win your latest book or product, etc… use your imagination and make if fun).
- Put a prominent link on your website that goes to your Facebook page and you can include your incentive to encourage visitors to “LIKE” the page.
- Include a link to the page in your email newsletter and in your regular email signature block, along with everything else that has your business on it (business card, letterhead, signage, advertisements, etc.).
- Create engagement by regularly and consistently providing value on the page and making the conversation about them instead of you. Don’t broadcast AT people, engage WITH them…ask them questions, give them an opportunity to share their expertise, solicit their opinions. You can showcase your own expertise, especially if it offers value, but just remember to include your community. You want them to know you are there for THEM. The better the content on your page, the more people will share it and engage with it, and the more exposure you will get for your page. At the same time, don’t over-post and annoy your community. It’s a delicate balance, but as long as you provide VALUE, you’ll be appreciated.
- Post more than once a day. Once in the morning, afternoon, and evening will allow you to be seen in the newsfeed by more of your fans throughout the day.
- Include images with your posts. Posts with images are over 50% more likely to be noticed and engaged with than those without. Images provoke emotion–emotion provokes action.
- Pay attention to what your community members are saying…maybe you’ll learn about something you can do for them you hadn’t thought of. Acknowledge them and respond to them when they post on your page. If you ignore their posts, they will not continue to engage with your page…guaranteed.
- When you post, consider tagging your friends, or complimentary business pages that you like on occasion. This helps provide exposure for them and also lets your post appear on their page, introducing your business to their community. Just be respectful when you use this feature, and know that you have permission if it is a business page.
- Finally, consider using some inexpensive Facebook ads to drive new people to your page. This is an effective way to increase the number of people in your community quickly.
After you get your first 25 fans, you can change your Facebook page url so that it is easier to find and link to here: http://www.facebook.com/username/ (be careful when you choose your name, because one you set it, you will not be able to change it).
How Do I Keep Great Content on My Page?
There are number of ways you can approach keeping high value, relevant and engaging content on your Facebook page:
- Do it yourself. You know your business better than anyone. You will need to create a plan so you can get your posts figured out ahead of time–this will keep you from losing your mind. Set up a schedule and stick with it.
- Hire a consultant to help you devise a plan that you can implement yourself. There are a number of good consultants out there and they can help you for a reasonable investment. I recommend Kelsey Foster of Ready Click Content without hesitation. Kelsey is a seasoned social media consultant who can create an industry specific monthly plan for you for just $29/mo, or she consult with you one-on-one to create a highly customized plan tailored to your unique business.
- Add a social media manager to your team in house.
- Hire a full service company like Socialbees to create pages and manage them for you.
Whatever you decide to do, just know that social media is more of a blessing than a curse–even though at times it can seem overwhelming and just one more thing you have to do. I can clearly remember when the only way to reach prospective clients was to launch a traditional advertising campaign or pick up the phone (both of which are still important components to developing a successful business). But, social media, and Facebook specifically, have provided an unprecedented way for companies to interact on a very personal level with customers, brand ambassadors, and prospective customers. With well over 600 million active users on Facebook to date, it is clear that this is how customers want to communicate. They want to get to know you before they decide to do business with you. I say have fun with it! Get out there and let the world see what you have to offer. You’ll be glad you did!
Cheers and Success to You! ~Norma
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great tips for beginners on Facebook!