Facebook has become one of the cheapest and most effective way for businesses, large and small, to promote themselves and development engagement with their customers. There is something very special about people allowing you to communicate with them in a place where they are engaging socially with friends, discovering new things and sharing their lives.
The first key to running an interesting & effective Facebook page for your business is understanding how Facebook works from a user’s point of view. If you are new to Facebook, spend some time adding your friends, using the newsfeed, and following other businesses to see how it all works before you start your page.
When you create your page, you can spend some time setting it up before publishing it (talk to us if you are unsure about how to do this), so if relevant, populate it with a few posts and images so that there is something for people to look at when they first like your page. Once published, the best place to start is by inviting your Facebook friends to like your page. You can’t force anyone to like you, you can only invite them – so here begins the path to making your page worth liking!
Five tips on how to run a successful Facebook business page:
- Keep your page up-to-date.
Daily or weekly posts are best if you have the content to back it up. If this would mean that you are just repeating yourself, or posting very similar posts consistently, work out what is the frequency that will suit you best. Be creative – think if there are any different types of posts you could make to vary your content. - Engage with your ‘Likers’
It’s called Social Media for a reason. Being social means treating your fans like you would any customer you would meet in real life. If someone comments on your page, always reply to them. If you post something that encourages engagement, make sure you have the time to interact with people. - Make it relevant
Determine who your Likers are and customise your posts to suits them. For example, if you are an accountant, probably best if you keep the cat photos to yourself, but you might find some funny economy-based cartoons! Always be on the lookout for articles, quotes and other tid-bits that would make a valuable post. - Add value
Depending on your business and its services, if you are able to make it worth people’s while for liking you by providing offers, incentives and doing giveaways and competitions – do it! Don’t just rehash other posts that you see on Facebook, give people a unique perspective that only you can bring, and start to be perceived as an expert in your field. Encourage sharing by asking people to share your picture (and like your page) to be eligible to enter a competition. - Sell infrequently
Although as a business your aim is most likely to sell a product or service, people resent liking a page that is continually doing the hard sell. For every post that markets your product or service, aim to do about five posts that don’t.
Five things not to do on a Facebook business page:
- Don’t forget about your page
So you’ve made your page and checked that off your to-do list. Job done? Not quite. If you want to have a page that helps your business prosper and works as a marketing tool you have to keep it up to date - Don’t ignore your Likers
Do you like talking to people who stare blankly at you without answering? Or people who never respond to voice messages or emails? It’s the same on Facebook – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Just be courteous and friendly – act the same as you would outside of Facebook. Facebook is a two-way dialogue. - Don’t forget who your audience is
Why did you join Facebook? Chances are it was so you could market your business more widely, generate more revenue and interact with your customers. Don’t turn people off by posting silly, rude, boring or irrelevant posts. Make it interesting, but also make it valuable to your likers. Inspire, encourage and grab their attention. - Don’t clog up their newsfeed
There is nothing worse than scrolling through your newsfeed and coming across a business that has done multiple posts at one time (but none for the past month…) Don’t machine-gun fire several post in a row. This is very off putting and it may make people unlike your page or hide your posts. If you have multiple posts to make on one day, spread them out across the day. Or, if the posts aren’t time-sensitive, use the Facebook scheduling tool and schedule the posts to publish on another day when you may not have as much to say. - Don’t always post the same type of content
Post a mix of different types of content; images, videos, links and texts. Images are more likely to draw attention and are useful for generating likes and shares, but a well thought through comment or question is a great way to start a conversation.
Hopefully this helps you to create and maintain a valuable Facebook page for your business. If you would like any help with Facebook, just contact us at Envy Design, we would love to help! Facebook advertising is an additional way to make your page reach potential customers, if you would like to know more. please contact us.
