How to Attract Fans to Your Small Business Facebook Page
5 Tips for Attracting Customers to Your Facebook Fan Page
Part 1 of this article series on marketing your small business using Facebook offered social media marketing tips for setting up the most effective page including how to choose a profile picture and what to include in your Info tab. In Part 2, you’ll find five tips for how to build your Facebook fan base.
Facebook offers small businesses an excellent opportunity for networking and attracting new contacts. It can also help companies interact with their existing customers on a more personal level. What can you do to make that process most effective? It starts with understanding that the nature of social media is social. Businesses that focus strictly on marketing rather than building relationships with customers quickly become a turn-off. By producing good content and interacting with customers, your fan page will become more popular. Here are some tips for attracting fans.
Get your employees involved. More than likely your staff members already have individual Facebook profiles. Enlist them in promoting and inviting friends to become fans of your business page. In addition, because they are probably already well-versed in using social media, your staff can be great resources for generating posts.
Offer “insider” information. Give your Facebook fan page an exclusive quality. Offer information and customer incentives that are only available to fans. For example, restaurants or retail outlets can provide discounts just for fans. When publicized in other marketing efforts, “insider” information will provide a great incentive to “fan up” on Facebook.
Focus on relationships. Don’t let your marketing message eclipse your interaction with fans. Social media users are selective about how they share their cyberspace. If all you ever offer is a virtual sales sheet, fans will quickly tire and any attempt at sincere customer engagement will be lost. Encourage comments on your Facebook page and reply to as many as possible. Welcome new fans and congratulate fan achievements by name. Ask questions in your posts? Facebook fans can act as an impromptu focus group when you are trying out new products, adding features or looking for feedback on your quality and customer service.
Share expertise. Be unselfish in sharing your knowledge of your particular industry. Add value to the Facebook fan relationship by providing helpful tips to customers for using your products or services. Offer free advice relevant to your market and industry. Customers will want to be included to benefit from your great ideas. In addition, by establishing yourself as an expert, you will be the first place customers turn when they have a need.
Be consistent. Be prepared to give consistent attention to your Facebook page. A page that is left idle for extended periods of time will quickly become irrelevant. Plan to update your page at least once a day and spend time responding to any comments or wall posts that are added.
Use these five tips to make your Facebook page more effective and add value for your fans. This will make your page more attractive to customers and those just hearing about your company. As your current fans value your Facebook content and interact with your page, their friends will notice and effective networking will begin.
Continue reading more about marketing your small business through Facebook in Part 3 of this series. You’ll discover some suggestions for four great Facebook applications that can make your page more effective.
This post is part of the series: Marketing Your Small Business on Facebook
This 3-part series on marketing your small business on Facebook includes social media marketing tips for how to create an effective Facebook page, how to build your fan base and suggestions for Facebook applications that can increase your page’s marketing effectiveness.
