8 essential facebook tips for businesses

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8 Essential Tips for Businesses

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Page 1: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

8 Essential

Tips for Businesses

Page 2: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

INTRODUCTION You probably already know that not being on Facebook isn't an option for businesses anymore.

If you don't, take my word for it. If you don't want to take my

word for it, let me give you a little nudge via some quick data.

Millennials, the age group in their twenties and early thirties,

now outnumber the baby-boomer generation. In a nutshell, that

means a huge population of purchasing power. Ignoring this

group is, at the very least, not a wise idea if you want to stay in

business.

Looking only at the dining-out habits of millennials, we find the

following:

● 65% consider social media discussions about restaurants

before deciding where to go.

● 32% check the menu online from their smartphone.

We know right away,

without any further data,

that this is mobile and

social crowd. Facebook is

the largest social site on

the web, let alone the site

with the most users period.

It only makes sense to take

full advantage it, so we

have 8 great tips to help

you out. Ready?

Page 3: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

1. NEVER IGNORE YOUR AUDIENCE

Reply to every single comment on your Facebook

Page. You wouldn't let a customer walk through your

door without being acknowledged, would you? (if the

answer isn't no, you need some extra guidance I can't

provide here) Yet unbelievably, only around 30% of

all brands on Facebook respond to their comments

according to Socialbaker.com

This statistic is the epitome of bad business. Every

single interaction is an opportunity to grow your

business and your revenue, and if you don't view

them that way then you are either not the owner of

the business or you need some serious sales training.

Don't be in that 30% statistic. Respond to every

comment. Every time.

Page 4: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

2. GIVE THEM VALUE

Sure, cat memes are funny, but do they have anything to do with your business? Here is the

great conundrum of posting, that of balancing self-promotion with keeping the interest of your

fans. Fortunately, there's a rule that holds true the majority of the time called the 80/20 value

rule. It says that (blatant) self-promotion should never exceed 20% of your social posts. That

includes sales, discounts, and even

general information about your

company specifically.

The other 80% is the tricky part, but it

doesn't have to be. Learn to curate

articles and other posts from around

the web that are related to your

business and that are interesting. Just

make sure that you're not promoting a

competitor when you do. Create

original posts as well, just keep in

mind that they should be interesting,

related to your business

somehow, and non-

promotional. For those who

may be mathematically

challenged, this rule means

that 1 out of every 5 posts

should be about you, and

the other 4 should be super-

interesting (not to imply that

your business isn't super

interesting, of course).

Page 5: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

3. LINK TO YOURSELF

Facebook shouldn't be your only online presence. Different demographics use different sites:

Google+ is primarily men in their twenties and thirties who are tech-oriented; Pinterest is

mostly comprised of women in their thirties; Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and others have their

own set of demographics as well.

A common misconception is that the social media age has marked the death of the website and

blog as important. This is not the case at all. You should definitely have a blog and a website in

addition to your social media presence, as well as using tools like email newsletters. While it's

easy to get overwhelmed trying to manage too many outlets, you should utilize as many as you

can handle to reach the maximum number of potential or existing clients that you can.

Every single one of these outlets should have clearly marked links to every other one. Make

sure people can find you where they are most comfortable. It also helps your search engine

ranking.

Page 6: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

4. EVERY TOOL HAS A PURPOSE

Facebook has no shortage of tools it provides to businesses in helping to manage their pages

and attract fans. A short list of these tools

includes:

Sendible

Insights

Promoted posts

Vanity URLs

Events

Featured posts

Each of these, as well as the many other tools

and features that Facebook has put in place for

businesses, serves a purpose and provides you with an advantage in understanding the

mechanics of marketing through the site. Make sure that you understand each one and how it

can help you. They will not only help you on the back end of things, but they can help you

create the best experience possible for your fans.

Remember that the better the experience for your fans, the better your own experience. That's

probably the best tip you'll read, in one short sentence.

As a business you also need to understand that all of those things that most users disregard are

necessities for you to have a grasp of. What I mean are things like the privacy policies, terms of

use, and any other legalese that the average user pays no attention to at all. As a business you

could find yourself in hot water if you violate them. If you weren't aware, the FCC also has

regulations about social media which you need to be incompliance with as a business.

Page 7: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

5. OPTIMIZE FOR MOBILE

The desktop interface is all but dead. Well, maybe I shouldn't go quite that far, but the fact is

that with the growing mobile space eating away at desktop and laptop use, the third screen of

mobile is very quickly replacing the second screen of computers.

Making sure that your page is easy to read and navigate from a mobile device like a

smartphone or tablet is no longer a secondary consideration for your online strategy. The

viewership of social sites, and the web in general, is quickly moving to mobile for the majority

of people. Once your Page is setup and optimized for viewing from a computer, you need to

then check it from a mobile device.

Make sure that your cover image is

easily discernible on a smaller screen

and that your layout is adjusted so that

anyone viewing from their phone or

tablet has as good an experience (or

better) than those viewing from their

desktop or laptop.

You should also make sure that you can

be found through a mobile search. 91%

of people who search locally say that

they use Facebook to find local

businesses online. That's another

statistic you can't ignore.

Page 8: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

6. USE CHECK-INS

Check-ins all started with the rise of the

Foursquare app, but they have been adopted

since by most other widespread social sites and

apps, including Google and Facebook. Twitter

just bought a Foursquare competitor as well, so

don't think that check-ins are a fad that has

passed. In fact, they may only be getting started

as newer strategies are employed for their use.

Facebook check-ins are already popular, and

they are used more with every passing month.

Just like mobile optimization, this is something

you would be remiss to jump on now. Even

though check-ins are several years old, at this point in the evolution of social media using them

still puts you pretty much in the category of early adopters. Yet they are do have some time and

experience behind them that proves that they are effective as marketing tools.

Encourage your fans and customers to check in at your business, if it's applicable. Word of

mouth advertising is the kind of recommendation that millennials trust above all others, and, as

mentioned in the beginning of this series. they are the largest group of consumers now and will

be for years to come.

Page 9: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

7. MEASURE YOUR ROI

In addition to all of the previous tips, there is a plethora of other things you need to remember

and handle on a daily basis when it comes to social media in general. It can be a lot to handle

for one person or even a small team, even if they hold full time positions as social media

managers. Facebook can't be your only outlet online if you really want to be competitive. Using

other networks like Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest and managing a website, blog, maybe a

Tumblr account, or any other number of possible options is the best way to make sure that you

reach every demographic you are after.

Thankfully there are tools which make the social media management process easier, and do far

more than that. Measuring your ROI is a business necessity in any venture, unless you just want

to waste time and money. Good social media management software gives you an edge over

those companies who either don't use one or who limit themselves in the name of saving time

and/or money. The right dashboard will save you more time and increase your chances to

expand revenue far more than any shortcuts could ever hope to.

While a good social dashboard will allow your manager or team to effectively schedule posts

and track engagement, it also does a lot more than that. Reports and analytics are absolutely

necessary in measuring your ROI. They will do all of the tracking for you, leaving you only having

to act on the data rather than collect it first as well. Two beautiful features they offer are letting

you know when exactly is

the optimal time to schedule

your posts for based on

reader engagement, and

which posts your readers are

actually paying attention to

and sharing. You have to

know these two things to

ensure that your efforts are

translating into business.

Page 10: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

8. TURN FANS INTO CASH

A "Like" is not necessarily a sale, but it

can be if it's managed correctly. This is

really a recap of the first two tips in this

series, but they bear emphasizing

because it is your part of the interaction

that determines whether or not your

social media presence is something that

brings you more business or just

something fun that you do online

(translation: a waste of time and money).

Using the 80/20 rule is important

because it is what draws your audience

in and captures their attention.

Responding to your audience is

important because, according to

Desk.com, over 80% of social customers

will abandon a purchase because of poor

customer service. Make no mistake,

every comment you reply to is a form of

customer service, and conversely so is every comment you don't reply to. According to

Bluewolf, the use of social media as a customer service channel by companies will increase by

53% in 2013 alone. That is a direct reflection of the demand for such interaction by social

customers.

I hope that these tips gave you some great insight and practical knowledge that you can put to

use in your online strategy. Social media may eventually be replaced by a newer and better

platform for marketing and sales, but until that day comes it is the reigning king and you would

do well to make the most of the current opportunity.

Page 11: 8 Essential Facebook Tips for Businesses

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