Fundamentals Of An Effective Facebook Page
Available billions of individual sets of eyes, a Facebook Page for your small business can stretch a marketing budget and spread valuable awareness of your brand. Those users anticipate special discounts, information, and the opportunity to sound off when they agree to “Like” a company Page. They also recognize that “liking” a page creates a public declaration; users won’t agree to join a group on Facebook unless they relate positively to the association of themselves to the brand or business. Does your Facebook Page make the cut?
It should. Take a look at our Facebook Page fundamentals list to see if your company is making the most of this free service. From improving your business’ SEO to expanding its brand persona, the Facebook social media platform provides ample opportunity to explore and conquer e-marketing.
Here are some fundamentals for effective Facebook Pages:
1. SEO strategies
Just Creative Design guest blogger Richard Larson has some awesome tips for optimizing your Facebook Page, such as including keyword rich text in the “About” and “Info” sections. Why not add keywords to status updates as well? Facebook provides businesses with multiple opportunities to load up the Page with fresh, keyword-specific content. Be sure to update the content regularly with industry news and announcements.
2. Leads in and out from other social platforms
So you have a Facebook Page. Great! But social media is more than Facebook: you’re best to experiment with all of them (LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc). By offering pathways to all social media platforms via Facebook, you can harness the attention of users that “stumble across” some quip of content, and encourage them to explore all pathways of your social media presence. Once you collect data, focus on the ones where you find the highest returns.
3. Feedback, dialogue, announcements, customer service
It’s the “platform of choice” for resolving customer service issues, says Derika, a social media writer for Tempero.co.uk. She insists that “an official brand account is a place to complain in the eyes of the consumer,” bringing social media marketing and customer service closer together. An effective Facebook page must be maintained as such, with daily monitoring that conveniences users and gives a friendly voice to brand representation in instances of customer inquiry and complaint.
4. Customized layout
Creating a mini-website for your business with a Facebook Page can increase brand awareness and entice users to explore your company site. Keep it consistent with your website design colours and graphics, to help users gauge authenticity of the content. Your web developer can implement the change, and align it with your other social media branding. Now you’ve got the complete social media package, with visual finesse.
5. Friends!
This gig thrives on social interaction, right? So make friends and start talking. You should be targeting Friends that either use your product or service or should want to. For instance, realtors should focus on inviting local users to join their Friends group. It wouldn’t make sense, from a marketing standpoint, to make hundreds of Friends in Europe, if the realtor’s properties are all within a hundred-mile radius of his hometown.
Friends require maintenance. New Friends should be recognized with a welcoming message, and interaction with users within your group can extend from thoughtful wall posts, comments on status updates, and “Like”’s on their posted links. With Facebook, you get as much as you give.
In your daily interactions with Friends, remember the company persona you wish to project, and maintain it throughout all social media communications.
Facebook Pages that aid businesses in online marketing success will more often than not exhibit these fundamental elements. Getting started does not have to be intimidating, even for those of us without personal Facebook pages. With tutorials and assistance from Navigator Multimedia, your business can make the most of this valuable, free tool.
References
Derika. “Facebook customer service is 24 hours: Lastminute.com case study.” 16 August 2011: http://tempero.co.uk/facebook-customer-service-is-24-hours-lastminute-com-case-study
Larson, Richard. “7 Strategies To Make Facebook SEO Friendly.” 5 December 2011. JustCreativeDesign.com: http://justcreativedesign.com/2011/12/05/7-strategies-to-make-facebook-seo-friendly/