These days, no business can afford to go without a Facebook page. Still, simply setting up a page and attracting a few fans is far from enough. There are many incredible ways to promote a business on Facebook, and they tend to be ridiculously easy. There’s a reason that social media marketing is considered to be as important as SEO and other popular forms of online marketing: It works. If you only choose one social media site on which to focus your efforts, it ought to be Facebook.
How can you promote your business on Facebook, you ask? Start with these easy, highly effective techniques:
- Keep Corporate Branding in Mind – At every opportunity, include your company’s logo, slogan, and other types of branding on your Facebook page. This will remind visitors of the business behind the page and help you build a cohesive offline and online marketing strategy.
- Highlight and Promote Your Products – While you don’t want to spam your followers, make a point of regularly highlighting and promoting your products. After all, it’s your company’s page! Include questions or thought-provoking statements with your posts to create buzz.
- Create Events – Facebook makes it easy to create events. Use this simple feature to promote things like sales and special offers. When people join an event that you create, their friends are notified about it too.
- Hold Contests – People love getting free stuff, and holding contests is an excellent way to create interest in your business. Your contests don’t have to be elaborate; a simple trivia question or drawing should suffice.
- Use Like/Share Buttons – Throughout your main site or e-commerce page, add like and share buttons for Facebook. They’re easy to set up, and people enjoy sharing their finds with friends on social media.
- Encourage Discussion – A huge benefit of social media marketing is getting people talking about your products and services. You can’t expect that to happen without being active on your own page, so make sure to respond to comments and to create new posts regularly.
- Provide Customer Service – When someone posts on your page with a complaint, don’t ignore it. Treat it as an opportunity to provide impeccable customer service in a public way.
- Engage in Reputation Management – On a site like Facebook, you can easily keep track of what’s being said about your business. Respond to criticisms as diplomatically as possible. If things get too heated, move the discussion to private messages.
- Encourage Check-Ins – If you own a brick-and-mortar store, encourage those who shop there to check-in via Facebook Places. When they do, their friends will be notified and can learn about your business.
- Share Interesting Content – Unique content is a critical part of any SEO strategy, and you can easily share it and encourage discussion about it on Facebook. It’s also smart to “curate” relevant content from around the Internet, which simply means sharing interesting content from other sources to stir up discussion.
Once you’ve mastered these techniques, you can expand upon them and add even more into the mix!