After 6+ years of general use by the public and almost 1 Billion users (estimated in 2012) its time to decide if Facebook has “jumped the shark” as a social network in the future. More interesting to me is the rise of business users who leverage their social networks to market for new business.
I am not here to judge if that is a good or bad idea, but I will say that if you choose to use Facebook for marketing, you better have a plan… a stick with it.
Let’s start with the fact that Facebook is still the biggest social network on the planet… more than double of Twitter, and not even in the same category with Google+. So it is fair to say that you really can’t ignore it in your online marketing strategy.
If you plan to use Facebook as a marketing tool in 2012, here are some tips to make your Facebook effort profitable.
1. Don’t stray from your topic.
Remember, when people “Like” your business page or posts on Facebook, they expect subsequent posts to relate to you and your industry. Here’s how to keep the ideas coming:
- Think why you visit a page–you’re looking for tips, or an answer to a question, maybe even information you don’t see elsewhere… keep it coming.
- Tie a current event to your business or your value proposition
- Ask your audience to post pictures, stories or questions about your industry to your wall
- Repost the best content back out as an update (but post more original content than reposts)
- Share YouTube videos that connect to your industry
2. Drive traffic to your website.
Don’t bury your web address on the info tab where visitors can’t find it–display it in several places. The first place to feature your web address is in the “About” field of the info tab. It’s in the very visible left sidebar of your Facebook page. Remember… only the first 80 characters are displayed before a “more”link appears. So put your web address first.
3. Give them a reason to become fans.
Use a Reveal tab to offer first-time visitors a call to action. Encourage them to Like your fan page in order to receive a coupon, a free trial or special information. This is a great way to increase fan conversion rates while offering real value to becoming a fan.
4. Ask them questions.
Be sure to make the questions interesting, even entertaining. It’s a great way to get your Facebook fans talking. Go for questions that need just one-word answers or are otherwise easy to respond to. Best of all are questions about the fans–people love to talk about themselves.
Let’s pause here before I deliver the rest of my tips… are these helpful? More importantly, do they help you envision a new plan for your social media marketing?
