Facebook Marketing Kept Simple

By Lee Ussher –

I had a very supportive fan ask me a valid question on my Facebook Business Page recently and wanted to share my response with all of you as I think it answers a question many Facebook Business users have.

The question:

“Hi, Lee! I have a tough question for you. How do we as FB Marketers transfer contacts, good will, branding, positioning and all the good stuff we do through this medium into – the bottom line – more clients and more sales? xxx”

Setting up a Facebook Business Page is like creating a website. Don’t  expect people to find it without any extra effort. Just adding regular information in it – automated or manual is not going to be enough as it is not a one way conversation! There is a lot of ground work that needs to be done in order to turn a social presence into profit and the key to it is building strong relationships with your fans so in time they become your business advocates & referrals.

So here is a bullet list of my suggested Facebook Marketing Strategies to build your fan base & create the relationships that will help you build a client list & sales.

★ When you have small numbers (under 500) the focus should be on building your fan base still. At 200 likes 1/2 of a Business Page’s likers are usually made up of supportive friends & other sellers wanting to network – not necessarily instant buyers at this stage giving you a viable turnover.

★ Build up a list of favorite business pages which should reflect a list of other businesses that you can network your business with (not be in competition with).

★ If your business is location based – think to target sharing information with other business pages nearby, as their fans might relate to your local service too.

★ Tag these businesses as much as possible when you post on your business page wall. This means you type a post once & it can be duplicated on up to 10 other business pages. Most page owners don’t mind these tagging posts and are more likely to leave them on their wall, as you are ‘sharing’ your fans with them because they know the original post is on your wall too.  This is a quick strategy to spread your news and expose your business to more people.

★ If your product or service is relevant, send messages to Market Stall Holders who sell related items that might display an album of your product samples at their stall with your business cards (and give them a referral fee for the business generated).

★ Mix up what your posting, such as latest products, sale items, run special deals – buy 1 get 1 free, or discount on a possible 2nd purchase, team up with other businesses to offer vouchers/gifts to their likers for purchasing, have a fans only special or gift with every purchase. Before running any competition make sure you read the Facebook Promotion Guidelines.

★ Posts shouldn’t all be sales – make them about relevant information within your niche eg links to blog tips. Tie into the posts how your product or service can help or features eg time saving, space saving, cost saving.

★ Use all of your Business Page image spaces more effectively to promote your business & organize your product/service photos into albums that reflect different areas of your business

★ Adding new pictures frequently to these organized albums means the whole album is then posted to your wall regularly and old pictures will be viewed over again and again.

★ Use the descriptions under pictures to provide product info, prices, website links to purchase

★ Use the 5 image display areas across the top of your business page to advertise different aspects of what your business sells or does.

★ Take advantage of a Facebook Places listing by putting the address of your business in the info box, use a P.O. Box if you work from home.

★ Use your info page to list what you want customers to know you for – your branding. Provide a contact email to avoid any problems customers are having from posting on your wall.

★ Use the ‘About’ section strategically list what the most important piece of info you want likers to know as it is always displayed under your tabs in the left hand column. Keep it brief. Put your website link first so it is always on view.

★ Add the free tabs available to display more information about you such as Twitter stream, YouTube videos, your Blog posts

★ Create a custom tab to welcome fans, offer an incentive for becoming a fan. Use a specialized reveal to fans only style page to give something only to fans – a discount or free gift. We build ours with a share app so they can tell their friends about it too.

★ Use Facebook’s social share plugins to create Like & Send buttons in your website on blog posts. Don’t just display a link to your Facebook Business Page but have the stream or likers present on the home page of your website to increase fan connections with existing clients or Google search traffic.

And the most important strategy of all to help you sift your potential customers from fans:

★ Create a Contact form tab or Email Opt-In for fans to join a list and receive further information in regards to your business – this can be regular newsletters on latest industry information, handy strategies or tips in your industry, special customer discounts or promotions.

By doing this you will have a true idea of who your target customers really are and how many of them there are. If you want to learn more about how to set up such an email campaign or anything else I discussed, such as our exclusive reveal only welcome tab tools, I am more than happy to arrange a time to talk, just email me via the contact form.

Lee Ussher is a Social Media Strategist & International Speaker & Trainer. She is also part of a National Australian Marketing Company that provides businesses with online marketing services and resources. She has a blog you can follow or learn more about social media at http://socialmediababe.com/.