Personally, you’re all over social but you keep wondering if social media, like Facebook, can help you grow your business. It’s true and here are a few facts that confirm it...
Brands that are active on social, generate more leads and attract more customers than their non-social counterparts. A recent report found that over 80% of surveyed marketers believe that social media has become a more important lead source for their businesses over the last six months. Grab our free guide on generating leads with Facebook or keep on reading.
Starting to use Facebook, with its advanced audience targeting options, to promote your business can give you that extra boost to attract viewers whom you might find tough to reach otherwise. With billions of people active on social, your target customers are there too. Optimize your social advertising strategy to drive more traffic to your site by adding value to the message - don’t just talk about yourself and your company.
Use your Facebook Page to make your business:
- Discoverable: When people search for your business on Facebook, they’ll be able to find you.
- Connected: Have one-on-one conversations with your customers, who can like your business or Brand Page, read your posts and share them with friends, and check in when they visit.
- Timely: Your Page can help you reach large groups of people frequently, with messages tailored to their needs and interests.
- Insightful: Analytics on your Page will give you a deeper understanding of your customers and your marketing activities.
So, yes, a small business can use Facebook to create leads. To make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck, let’s look at some best practices to get the most out of social marketing on Facebook. When you set up your Page, you can request a web address like “facebook.com/yourgreatcompany,” which makes it easy to find you. To maximize the impact, include this address on your business cards, website and other marketing materials. Remember: your Page is an extension of your business. It’s an easy way to share updates and more with the people who matter most. It’s ready to help you engage your customers on desktop and on mobile.
And here are some expert tips:
- Do: Use a Recognizable Profile Picture -- Being recognizable on Facebook is important to getting found and Liked. Because your profile picture is at the top of your Page and used as your thumbnail for all of your posts, you need to make sure it's something that your Fans will actually associate with your brand. Usually, it's best to just go with your company logo.
- Don't: Use a Dummy Account -- There's no way around this one. Dummy accounts violate Facebook's terms and conditions-- so just don't create them.
- Do: Tailor Your Organic Posts -- Targeting on Facebook isn't just for paid content -- you can also use targeting for organic posts. By being more specific with your targeting, you might be able to generate even better engagements.
- Don't: Post Too Often -- According to a previous study, companies with fewer than 10,000 Facebook followers receive 60% fewer interactions per post when they post 60+ times per month. Spend more time crafting higher-quality Facebook posts, and, you know, getting to the other thousand things on your to-do list.
- Do: Post During Strategic Times of Day -- While the best time of day can vary from Page to Page and audience to audience, there has been some data released that shows that posts published between 1 - 4 p.m. have the best click through and share rates. Use this as a jumping-off point to discover which time of day works best for you.
- Don't: Be Slow to Respond -- 42% of consumers who complain on social media expect a 60-minute response time? Whether your audience posts negative or positive comments, ignoring them only creates possible anger or disappointment. So take a few minutes out of your day to monitor your Facebook Page and respond to any issues that crop up.
Seriously, Facebook isn't just for cat photos, news articles, selfies, and ads. Businesses like yours can actually generate customers – as long as you're using the right approach.
Want more? Grab our free guide where you'll learn:
- How to determine your Facebook marketing objective
- Practical tips for building your Facebook audience
- What content to create and share on Facebook to attract customers
- How to optimize your Facebook posts to get the most interaction
- How to maximize reach and lead generation using Facebook ads
Go! Download our free guide and kickstart your social marketing!