A list of tips, advice, and guidance to avoid annoying your followers and enhance your Facebook presence
Have a Facebook Business Page or have been pondering the idea because you have heard it is a good way to promote your business? Everyone seems to have one these days, but not everyone is using them right.
In many ways, running your Facebook Business Page isn’t that different than a website (most of these apply for your site as well) . Here are some ways to get the most out of your page (in list form because that is all people post on the Internet anymore, right).
….and now – the list!
1. Have a Voice
Just because your run a business doesn’t mean you have to be a boring stereotype of one. You have a personality. Your company has (or should) have a unique culture. Infuse some of that in your pages and posts. It’s more interesting and people will be more likely to grow an attachment to your business (and read your posts in the future).
2. Don’t “ABC”
You don’t need to “Always Be Closing.” Everything is not a sales pitch – if you make it that, people will tire of your posts in a hurry.
3. Give Value
People like people that give them free stuff. True story. No, you don’t need to break the bank – your knowledge is valuable.
Pass on interesting articles about your industry (like I’m doing here – very meta, yeah?), samples of your latest work, new projects or products, hiring information, sales & specials (sparingly), blog posts, awards, recognition for your employees, recipes, innovative uses for your products, public appearances, hour changes… the list goes on and on and will be unique to you. Mix it up, keep ’em guessing, and keep them interested.
4. Keep It On Topic
Don’t share the latest meme or video of a cat who can play the ukelele. Unless you make ukelele’s tailored for cats (but you don’t). A little humor is great if it fits with the voice of your company, and it’s on topic.
And add a good picture every once in a while. Pictures are pretty, help convey your message, and grab attention – kinda like a supermodel spokesperson.
5. Modulate Your Frequency
How often are you posting? The key is not too much (so as to annoy) and not too little (so people forget about you). I’d treat it much like a blog and post once or twice a week at the most and once every 2-3 weeks at the least. Make it count though. Don’t just post because it’s on the schedule – have something to say.
6. If You Build It…
They won’t come. You aren’t Ron Popeil and your Facebook Business page is not the Showtime Rotisserie. You can’t “set it and forget it.” If that’s your philosophy, the thing that should be forgotten is the idea of attracting customers with your Facebook Business Page.
7. Don’t Skip The Details
Fill out your profile as much as possible. You don’t have to make all your personal details public, but pretty much everything on the Page Info settings page should be filled in (phone number, address, category, description, mission, website, email, etc).
This is an extension of your marketing so have high-quality, good-looking profile (the little square image next to all your posts) and cover (the big image at the top of your Business Page) photos. You can get information on ideal sizes for those pictures on Facebook’s Sizes & Dimensions page.
8. Get Likes
You can write all the posts you want, but you don’t have likes, you are just shouting into the wind. You need to build a base of interested users who want to see your posts.
One way to do this is inviting Facebook friends using the Friends box on your Business Page. It’s like passing a note in grade school – “Do you like me? Circle Yes or No.”
You can also use the tools under Build Audience to invite your email contacts or pay Facebook to promote your page on the pages of your target audience. The rates for this are actually fairly reasonable, and you can set a daily budget.
9. Evaluate Your Work
Facebook has a tool to help you analyze your Facebook posts and engagement much like a good website analytics for your website. It is called Page Insights, but you must be worthy to use it. Facebook measures your worth in “likes.”
How many “likes” does it take to get to the center of your Facebook Page Insights analytics? 1… 2… 3… 30. It takes 30 “likes” to be worthy.
And why is this important? Did you know that not all your posts are displayed to everyone who “likes” your page? Scandalous! But true. Why is this? Like a teenage girl’s relationship status on Facebook – it’s complicated.
Facebook uses an algorithm to decide which users might be most interested in seeing your posts. It takes into account how many people are interacting with your post (liking/commenting), the type of post (photo, video, status, etc) and the frequency a user has interacted with your posts in the past as well as other factors. Also, they’ll gladly take your money to “boost” a post, increasing the likelihood users will see it by placing it higher on their pages.
Page Insights allows you to see how many people are seeing your posts and gives you a snapshot of which posts are getting the most attention from your audience. Use this information to give your audience more of what they want.
10. Promote Interaction
The more a user interacts with your posts, the more likely they are to see your future posts. So it is key to try to promote interaction with your audience to build up your post reach. There are tons of ways to do this. Need some ideas?
Just having a Facebook Business Page isn’t going to bring you customers in droves. You need to put some time into it and be considerate to your audience (no spam!). Just follow these rules and be patient, and you will steadily grow an interested audience. To butcher a popular maxim, “Post unto others as you would have them post unto you” and you will be on your way.