Facebook now has over 500 million users. For business owners, Facebook provides you with an amazing opportunity to connect with your customers for free. Every business, large or small, can launch an incredible advertising campaign without spending a penny. Most of the tools and applications are free and you can see the results quickly.
The way for business’s to connect to both their existing customers and to find and engage new customers is through Facebook “Fan” pages.
On your Facebook Fan Page (a.k.a. Business Page), you are able to create a page that you brand with your business logo and other business graphics, just as you would your website. In fact, you can consider Facebook as an opportunity to have an additional website – for free.
Facebook Fan Pages are searchable, and are indexed by Google and other search engines. When people are looking for your business or product, your Facebook “fan” page will often come up in the search engine results, just as your website does.
You are allowed to have an unlimited number of “fans” for your business page. Some Facebook fan pages have thousands and even millions of fans.
The Unique Benefit of a Facebook Fan Page (a.k.a. Business Page)
Every Additional “Fan” spreads your promotional message!
What most business people don’t realize is the viral nature of Facebook Fan pages – every status updated posted on any one of these pages appears in the news feed of each fan. And then the news feed of each fan is also seen by the people they are friends with.
Imagine how easy it is to reach out to millions of people with your message by just having a single fan page.
After you’ve created your Facebook Fan Page (a.k.a. Business Page), what’s the next step?
Be Engaging and Dynamic
Just creating a Facebook Fan Page for your Business and then sitting back waiting for results will not lead to success. Ask yourself the question “Why would you, as an individual “like” a page on Facebook? “ As a fan, when you “like” a page, one of the benefits is that you can easily see content from that page in your Facebook NewsFeed. You don’t need to look at the page on Facebook, instead the status updates from that page appear automatically in your personal News Feed.
Think about it – You like to be informed, entertained, or get some other value from the messages provided by the page you have liked. So do your fans (i.e. customers)
On your Facebook Fan page (a.k.a. Business Page) , you will need to engage your fans (i.e. customers) – just as you do in real life. . When you are creating content for your page, keep in mind what your fans (i.e. current and future customers) were looking for when they “liked” your page. Carefully consider the best type of content or activities to keep them active on the page.
- You can provide updates and information about events and activities important to your fans.
- You can post links to YouTube videos that your fans will like and share.
- You can upload your own photos and videos.
- You can share tips, or information about your business (remember to be entertaining or informative – you don’t want to turn off fans by too much shameless self promotion).
- You can run contests, ask questions, create polls, ect..
Each interaction you have with your fans helps build relationships with your target market. Having a fan page without interaction or input from the fans will lead to nothing – it’s just a dead end.
It’s not necessary to post something on your Facebook Fan page daily – in fact, you want to keep in mind a balance of “too much” verses “just enough”. What is important is to post on a regular schedule – perhaps 1 to 3 times a week - to keep your page alive
The more engaging your updates, the greater the chances of having interaction on it, in form of “like” and comments and greater word-of-mouth marketing for your business in return.
Speak Plainly – Short and Simple
Make your communications with your fans quick and easy to read. The easier it is for your fans to read, the more likely it is for them to respond, Facebook allows you have up to 420 characters per update, but shorter is better. For longer updates, one can use the Notes app or write a blog post on your website, and then link to you website by posting on your wall with a status update.
Make your fans feel valued, respected, and included by speaking to them directly. For example, ask “What do you think?”, “What are your thoughts?” etc. Use the word “you” when speaking to your fans. Encourage your fans to participate on your page. Most people with return to your fan page, and engage, only if there is a real sense of community.
Keep Status Updates Timely
Facebook engagement has three peaks: early morning, after work and late at night.
Your Fan Page status update will appear in your fans personal Newsfeed immediately (i.e. same time you post them). Most people only look at their most recent status updates, so you want to time the posting of your status updates to be when most people are reading them. When people have a lot of friends posting status updates, you fan page updates will fall quickly to the bottom of their personal NewsFeed.
For example, if you post your status updates while you are at work and most of your readers are at work too, you reduce the chances of your fans seeing your updates. You will be missing key opportunities to engage fans at non-work hours. Like all other marketing considerations, it does vary from brand to brand, so get to know when your fans are most responsive.
When fans do interact, don’t ignore them!!! Do whatever it takes to respond to fan wall posts as punctually as possible, at least within 24 hours or so. Leaving your fans unanswered undermines the purpose of having an interactive fan page. It alienates customers and discourages them from contributing any further. You, as a Business , wouldn’t want that.
Take advantage of Facebook Apps
Facebook has quite a few free or low cost Applications (i.e. Apps) you can use on your Facebook Fan pages. Some of the more popular Apps available to business owners make your Twitter stream or Company Blog available automatically on your Facebook Fan Page. The “Question” App Facebook recently introduced makes it possible for you to take surveys to find out your fans views, opinions, and suggestions quickly.
If you use any of the Apps, just make sure you don’t overdo it. Try for a maximum of one to three, preferably just two updates in a day. If you are too “talky”, your fans might restrict your posts from their news feed.
One of huge benefits of having many fans is not only do your fans see your status updates, but all their friends do too. If you bombard your fans with too many trivial updates, your fans may either “unlike” your page, or else change the setting in their newsfeed in order not to show your updates. Of course, if that happens, you lose the viral marketing effect of having a large fan base on you Facebook Page.
Facebook Fan Pages are the perfect opportunity for getting feedback and engagement with your customers. For a Business Owner, Facebook Fan Pages provides a simple and easily available way to interact with your customers. And best of all, its free!
Engage with Other Brands and Pages on Facebook as your Page
This is a awesome new feature of Facebook Pages — take full availability of it to promote your Business /Brand across Facebook. As your Facebook Fan Page, you can “like” other Facebook Fan Pages. And once your Facebook Fan Page “likes” another Facebook Fan page, you can interact with that page (page to page).
As your Brand/Business (i.e. Facebook Fan Page), each time you post on other page, every fan of the other Page sees a mention and link to your Facebook Fan Page. If these fans of other page are find what you commented interesting, they can easily click a link directly to your Facebook Fan Page. Then, if your page is interesting and engaging, they can become fans of your Facebook Fan Page.
When you make a comment or like something “as your Brand/Business Page”, remember to be thoughtful and strategic. Don’t SPAM lots of pages with silly or innocuous comments.
Use Facebook as Your Business Page to connect with other Pages. To stay consistent, set up a schedule and take a few minutes two or three times a week to “switch” to using Facebook as a Page, and then using your Business/Brand Facebook Fan Page, “like” or “comment” on other Facebook Fan Pages that are relevant t to your market or that your customers are fans of.
Facebook Questions are a unique opportunity for Business and Brands to create engage customers by creating trusted recommendations for their fans. Using Facebook Questions, your Business/Brand can interact with both fans and non fans on your business page. You can solicit input in a fun and engaging way, conduct surveys, and even do market research in a trusting and informal setting.
