5 Tips For Your Company's Facebook Page

Facebook is one of the easiest and most effective digital platforms that you can use to help grow your small business.  If you decide to create a Facebook page for your small business, it's important to make sure that you are using it effectively.  Here are 5 quick tips to help you create a valuable Facebook page for your company.

1. Listen

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Most people think that in order to have a successful Facebook page, they need to post a lot of   status updates.  This is actually very ineffective.  When managing your company's Facebook page, it is important to use the page as if it was an actual Facebook friend rather than a bullhorn yelling at people to get them to buy a sandwich from you.  You should use your page to listen to what your customers are saying.  Customers may post good and bad comments on the page, make sure you let them know that you hear them and that you appreciate their good comments and that you have fixed their problems if they post a bad comment.  (Sometimes people will post negative things on your page that are untrue or are things that have nothing to do with a customer's experience. It is perfectly fine to delete these comments.)  If you see that a lot of people are talking about a specific topic (such as a sporting event or news story), consider posting about the topic yourself.

2. Engage

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When you make a post, it is important to always ask yourself "Do my customers really want to see this?"  If the answer is no, delete.  Your company's Facebook page isn't for the company's enjoyment, it's for the customer to interact with.  When creating content, try to create posts that the average customer will want to like, share, and comment on.  Getting your customers to engage with you on Facebook is valuable because it keeps your business fresh on their mind.  Some companies understand the value of engagement on Facebook, but they go about it the wrong way.  For example, a post such as "Like this photo if you think dogs are cute" might engage some of your customers, but they aren't thinking about your company, they are thinking about a cute dog.  A good post that encourages engagement might be "Our restaurant is thankful for all of the soldiers fighting for our country overseas.  What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving?"  or a post that announces a new product.  The goal is to present yourself as one of your customers' friends rather than a business.

3. Grab Attention

In order to get your customers to engage with your posts, you need to grab their attention.  To understand this, go to your personal Facebook profile and look at your news feed.  What catches your attention?  Most of the time users notice bright photos and videos.  What do you skip over?  Most of the time the user skips over long paragraphs and posts that are too wordy.  This is another reason why you should always ask yourself whether or not your customers want to really see your post.  Most people don't want to read an essay about your new product or about what your Monday was like.  Try to keep the post to two short sentences and try to post bright pictures and graphics.  a good example of a post that grabs the user's attention is this post from Coca-Cola.

4. Offer Value

It is important to give your customers a reason to like you on Facebook.  We'd all like to believe that our customers love us so much that they are more than eager to like our page.  In reality, most people will only like your page if it will benefit them.  This doesn't always mean that you have to offer coupons and discounts, you can also provide your customers a benefit by sharing tips for relative problems, ideas, and links to other content that is relevant to your industry.  For example, if you are a garden shop, consider posting gardening tips every week. This will give your customers a reason to go and like your company's page and it will help you get them to engage with your posts and attract more customers.

5. Advertise

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If you want to have a more effective Facebook page, it is important for you to advertise on Facebook.  If you made a post today and you aren't advertising with Facebook, only about 4% of your will likely see what you've posted.  You get what you pay for with Facebook.  If you don't advertise, you aren't going to reach many people and Facebook isn't going to help your business grow very much.  If you advertise with Facebook, you are able to target specific routs of people and you increase your likeliness of having a successful Facebook page.  When you advertise on Facebook, you can spend a specific amount of money (whatever your budget allows) and you can target your specific target market.  For example, if I am the owner of a local kayaking outfitter, I can create a Facebook ad campaign that targets people within a 30 mile radius of my store who like kayaking and the outdoors. This can help you save money because you are only paying for advertising to people who are most likely to buy your products.  When advertising it is also more effective to create "sponsored posts" rather than ads on the sidebar as users tend to focus on the news feed rather than the sidebar.

By following these 5 simple tips, you will have a much more effective Facebook page and a better digital presence.

-JS