Do you make this widely held misconception about marketing on Facebook???
Yes you do! Don’t worry you’re about to find out what it is…..
Although nearly everyone and literally their grandmother is on Facebook, there are too many people out there who don’t understand the very fundamentals to advertising on this platform.
Whether it’s making an engaging post that’ll be seen, building an audience, or just understanding the difference between a personal profile and a facebook page…….
This article will introduce you to what you should, and should not, be doing on the big blue…..
Here It Is! My #1 Gripe Is………
NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS!!!
The basics of good marketing/advertising have always been about how to create an appealing sales message that fits your audience.
Lots of businesses know their customer, but can’t formulate a message that’ll appeal to them.
Instead of focusing on this, many of you have probably jumped straight to the conclusion that you need facebok, twitter, instagram, pinterest, tumblr, etc…..
But because you don’t know how to differentiate your business from your competition, and you don’t know what to say everyday on Facebook……
You give up!
This is very, very important. And it makes my job as a social media consultant very difficult when a client skips this step.
Unfortunately, I’m not planning on going over how to create a great sales message.
BUT! I will tell you a few things you can start to implement on Facebook, and thus every social media platform that your business is on.
Social Media Marketing Has Two Parts: Building An Audience & Engaging That Audience
More than likely you’ve seen a page get thousands of likes, or one of their posts get hundreds of shares, and then thought you’d love to get that exposure too.
However most people only see the “ooh-aah” part of social media, and never ask themselves why something may have gone viral or why a page got so big.
The answer a lot of times is a very boring one: they took the time to build their Facebook page one like at a time.
However, it’s becoming more and more difficult to reach those people who like your page, or to even get someone to like your page in the first place.
So before you start posting lots of pictures, website links, and whatnot, be prepared to build your facebook page first.
A Facebook Page Is Completely Different From A Group Or A Personal Profile
The next point of confusion that I often get a lot is the difference between a page and a profile and a group…..
Facebook doesn’t really help with the terminology, and the sub-platforms are hard to distinguish.
The main reason we use pages is that….
-
they’re built for advertising on facebook
-
your friends and family are more than likely not your customers
-
a like is a sign that someones wants to stay in touch about your BUSINESS
Lots of people use their personal profiles to broadcast new products or services to their friends list, but this is a bad idea because not everyone there is your customer more than likely.
It also just looks plain desperate if you do this all the time and just get crickets.
Although this means that most of you will have to……
So Start Using Facebook Ads!
The facebook ads manager is one of the most amazing ways to advertise in this day and age due to the amount of data that you can target people by including:
— their age
— their gender
— their location
— what pages they like
— whether they’re homeowners
— if they’re single, married, divorced, or “complicated”
— if they liked your page
— and if they visited your site!
And believe it or not that’s only a very small list of things you can do with facebook ads as you can promote posts from your page, get likes of course, get more rsvps to your event, have people visit a website article, and much, much more.
Anyone can use the fb ads manager, but some guys and girls like me can help because 1) they have lots of experiencing buying traffic from FB and 2) they can write a compelling message that’ll get clicked on.
Spending money isn’t the problem believe it or not.
The biggest problem will be coming up with an offer that’s immediately understandable by your audience, and then easy for them to redeem.
At the same time thought, you must counter their objections and earn their trust.
You may have guessed it……these are not things you can do all at once with just one ad and a little bit of money.
Marketing is an investment, and for all that Facebook can do……it’s not a set-it and forget it type of advertising.
Running A Page Is Not Easy
But maybe you don’t wanna spend money on advertising.
Alright, well then you’ll run a Facebook page.
Remember that’s not a profile or a group, but a PAGE……
And to run a successful page, you not only need to keep bringing in a steady amount of new people…..
But you must also keep producing new content that’s going to keep them on the page and visiting your website.
Too often, small business owners don’t have much to say or talk about, and frankly nothing really interesting about their business.
You can work hard to come up with interesting things to say, but this is time consuming.
This is why most of the shares you’ll see are contest giveaways, sports updates, exciting news, silly viral videos, etc……
It’s hard to make a luxury real estate agent’s website go viral, and hopefully you understand why now.
What To Do Instead, And What Not To Do
Please, please, please……
Don’t Do These Things:
— Use your personal profile to promote your business
— Make an event and invite everyone
— Ask everyone to like your page
— Post comments on other people’s pages for exposure
None of those things work that well, and most of the time they’re just annoying to anyone who may be interested.
Social media is a two-way communication. TV, newspapers, radio, etc. are all forms of communication where the audience receives the info.
And with social media, there is already information spreading everywhere online that later becomes the news.
Ever seen a story about a twitter feud or viral video? The daily news simply spread info that was already being spread.
So, on Facebook or any other platform, you must be ready to become part of the conversations already going on, and/or ignite a new one.
And at the same time, be ready to talk with real people (terrifying I know).
Got any other questions? As long as it doesn’t take me more than 5 minutes to explain, I’ll be happy to talk to you through email!