Many business owners are unsure or entirely unaware as how to use Facebook to market themselves properly. This means no one cares that they have a presence on Facebook, thus losing out on a potential audience of millions of people. Heck, even billions of people. But before thinking about astronomical numbers that high, you need to know how to market yourself on the biggest social media platform in the world today.
Entertain and inform first, sell later
Let us get this idea out of the way first: you need to entertain and inform your audience first before you can sell your service or product to the. Most businesses, big and small, cannot wrap their brains around this concept or simply outright refuse to. They think the “hard sell” is all that one needs to do on Facebook. Businesses think they can post a picture of their product with a simple “Buy this!” and people will flock to it.
No. That is not how it works, especially in this day and age. There are far too many options available to consumers and they are more informed than ever. People using social media do not appreciate having a business shove their wares down their throats and if people feel that is what you are doing, they are going to ignore you and likely not look at you ever again.
You have to grab their eye first – entertain them, give them something to think about, etc. Gain their trust. Once you have done that, only then can you pitch your service and/or product.
Respond to All Comments
Audience attribution is the key to success on Facebook (and social media in general). This means responding to all comments. And when we say all, we mean all of them, even the bad ones.
If a person tells you they loved your product on your Facebook page, like their comment and say thank you! And if someone posts a complaint, apologize and politely get to the root of the issue. From there you can make amends on a public forum and bring up the image of your company. Most people are ignored when they complain so a response will get people’s attentions and show them you care about their wants and needs.
Keep Posts Short and to the Point
When posting anything on Facebook it is best to keep your posts short and concise. There is so much content that people will shy away from reading long posts. If you want to catch a person’s eye, say what you need to say in under 100 characters.
Use Photos!
Human beings are visual creatures, which means a picture will catch a person’s eye much better than a block of text. In fact, posts with images have a significantly higher rate of engagement than those with only text. So, when it makes sense to do so, post a picture you can say something interesting about.
Vary Your Posts
As with all things variety is the spice of life and what you post on social media is no different. Keep posting the same things over and over again and your audience will grow tired of it very quickly and move on to someone more interesting. Post an image one day, link to an article the next, share a product or service the day after, and so on.
These are but a handful of the best practices to keep in mind when using Facebook for your business, but they are important ones. For more tips and tricks on Facebook best practices, contact the experts at Premiere Creative and give us a call at (973) 346-8100.
