6 Facebook Marketing Do’s & Don’ts

Facebook Connecting PeopleFacebook is an important platform for both engagement and professional networking among business and marketing professionals.  But not everyone believes that time spent on this social media forum is well worth the effort.  Or perhaps you think you do have strong and proper utilization of Facebook.  And if so, that’s fantastic and way to go in leveraging your social media marketing channels.  However, if you haven’t seen much engagement last year or haven’t generated any leads from it, then maybe some (or all) of these tips can help you change your fate in 2013.  With a little time, a few colleagues and these tips, you can easily make your Facebook marketing strategy a success, increase traffic and engage, engage, engage!

#1. Content Making Your Audience Yawn?

Too many brands are guilty of over-posting articles and links to other businesses articles. Facebook is the most ‘social’ platform for all and people want to see, read, and share knowledge.  Just posting articles can make your page quite boring!  A better way to engage fans on your page and keep them coming back for more is to share a wide array of content.  Anything from Infographics to select business tips to short e-books.  Facebook may not be free forever so use this worldwide social media leviathan to your advantage while it’s still gratis!

#2. Tumble Weed Blowing Through Your Pages

There’s nothing worse than having a dead Facebook page. Many businesses Facebook pages were guilty of serious neglect with posts dating back weeks or even months ago. Not only does posting infrequently kill your Edgerank (the system that controls content visibility on your network’s News Feed), but it also sends a message to your fans that you don’t care to much about their loyalty to your brand and voice.  The best way to improve visibility on Facebook is by frequent postings, advertisements and product/service imagery.

Business man's reflection in tablet

#3. A Little Vanity Is Good

A lot of businesses still don’t have a vanity URL (username) and are using the same old default URL given by Facebook from when they first signed up. To business prospects this can look tacky and unprofessional.  Remember that once you have 25 fans, you are able to claim a dedicated username for your page. This comes in handy when you’re directing people to your Facebook page from other sources. You don’t want them to type in a URL that’s long and awkward. If you need help changing your URL,  here’s how to do it.

#4. Don’t Let Your Page Be Visually Impaired

We all know that most of us “eat” with our eyes first.  Visual content remains one of the number one way to engage with your network. What catches your reader’s attention through imagery certainly opens the door leading us to the relevant information causing them to spend more time on your page.   Without it, your run the risk that fewer people will ‘Like’ your page or share your content. Infographics are a great way to grab the reader’s attention with imbedded links to your page to promote key information or a healthcare service being provided.

#5. Facebook Features and Apps

Business brands may not know or choose to use custom tabs for highlighting interesting content.  But they should.  With Timeline, a default landing page is no longer a must for businesses.  You can now draw attention to your free resources, YouTube videos or other great content by using the (four) custom tabs underneath the header image (or cover photo). Custom tabs are fun and easy to create – here is a wonderful guide to get you started.

#6. Lacking Personality?

Although you still need to be professional on your Facebook page, it doesn’t mean you have to omit personality and excitement about your services and products.  Once in a while ask your fans short, entertaining questions (even within the business context) to keep them engaged.  Try to consistently engage your fan base by weekly postings with a certain theme.  For example, try highlighting a product or service of the week, share a business tip or customer testimonial. Nurture your Facebook community while still maintaining your humor and lightheartedness in conveying the strength of your brand and business products/services.

Facebook is a fantastic business tool that can surely help you grow your business, but you have to use it properly for it to work to your advantage.  So feel free to buck business stuffiness a little while using it to generate leads, engage your fans and gain a faithful following.  Stay tuned for next week’s follow-up article highlighting Tips to Promote Your Business with Facebook Ads.

 

The Power of Like

In high school we all wanted to be liked…to be accepted by a group of people as part of their “in-crowd”. You remember…the cool kids who seemed to rule the hallways while others salivated at the double-dutch opportunity to laugh at one of their jokes or be thrown just a nod of acknowledgement.  As adults in the business world (most of us anyway unless you are a 20 year-old Zuckerberg wiz kid), we aren’t all that different.  We enjoy rubbing elbows with the “movers & shakers” in an effort to acquire business connections that will hopefully profit us in relationship and in contribution to our wallets.

It’s in these efforts that we come to understand and implement strategies to be liked, which easily translates into the business marketing forum to obtain business relationships…profitable ones hopefully.  In the world of Social Media, especially on Facebook, we come to understand on a more global level, the Power of Like.  If you are not on Facebook-well golly gee willacurs you should be.  Why?

#1- it’s free.  In a world where next to nothing is this is 100% gratis!
#2 – much like blogging and having a business website; it gives you UNLIMITED, GLOBAL access to people and other businesses.  Many people/businesses are now searching Facebook for products/services in lieu of traditional worldwide web searches.
#3 – many businesses on Facebook are already “Liked” (or unfortunately Disliked) and have reviews/comments on their pages which makes their business report card accessible in a glance.
#4 – again, it’s free.  No marketing budget needed.

Do you really need more persuasion?  If so, here’s an elementary concept taught outside high school hallways in the game of real business life…

In the world of Social Media…Like=Relationships & Revenues
And thanks to Mark Z-that’s the Power of Like