So your business has a Facebook page but is it losing out on customers? Many businesses are taking advantage of advertising on Facebook and why wouldn’t they? It’s free, you can talk directly to your target, and they can share your business with their friends as word-of-mouth.
However, it’s not as simple as setting up a Facebook page, sharing a post here and there, and sitting back while hoards of people like your page.
Although advertising is acceptable on Facebook, people don’t like being bombarded with ads and posts to buy stuff.
Facebook is meant to connect with others and build relationships as an online social networking site, so it’s important to remember that this is the core focus of using it.
Another important thing to remember when using Facebook for your business is that the users on Facebook are not just customers and consumers but people too.
Here are some ways to better engage with your followers and also gain followers in the process.
The Value of a Picture
The online culture has quickly progressed into having short attention spans and a love of images. Pictures are quick to comprehend and visually appealing. Include a simple image with each of your status updates for a more eye-catching post.
It’s better to include a short message with each image to clarify why it’s there and how it relates. People are also responsive to images with text written over the image such as quotes, humor, and inspirational messages.
A step above this is to provide a solution to a problem in your status and image updates. For example, Allrecipes.com suggests a comfort food recipe while also seeing what others like to eat to feel comforted. They smartly include a link back to their website since one of the purposes of social media is to drive traffic back to the website.
Another eye-catching image that should be updated regularly is the cover page. This large area is great for beautiful photos, brand updates, mission statements, and more.
Talk to Your Followers
Again, Facebook is a place to interact and build relationships with other people. You’ll find that customers like it when businesses engage with them so ask them questions and their opinions and share advice and a celebratory moment with them. Don’t forget to continue the conversation with them when they do respond too.
Talk About Your Followers
People enjoy being recognized by the brands they love so be sure to show recognition to your fans. Include any artwork, comments, and photos that they’ve sent you and tag them in the statuses. Cross-promote your fans on Twitter and Instagram to expand your audience and reach. If any teams are using your products and mentions it, respond positively.
Expand Your Audience
Some ways to expand your breadth of influence is to include hashtags. Although hashtags has not caught on as successfully as on Twitter and Instagram, people still notice them and are responsive.
Whenever you post an update, be mindful of when you’re doing it and pay attention to your analytics. According to Buddy Media, those who only post once or twice a day receive 40% more engagement than those that post more than three times a day. Also, look at when your fans are most active on Facebook. Engagements mean their friends are likely to see them talking to you and thus more brand awareness.
In general, you want to focus on high-quality posts that are succinct, engage with the audience, and image-based. Overall, be sure to have fun while you’re doing it and make some new friends too, not just sales and customers.