By Nadia Hearn – probably South Africa’s best brand coach, founder of Get Published and radio host of 2oceansvibe Radio’s PR & marketing small business talk show #onTheFLIPSIDE
Facebook continues to be the most effective social network to set up your business page on. It’s an absolute no-brainer to be on there and one of the least expensive marketing strategies you’ll find. Why and what exactly are the top questions you should ask before setting up and investing in the potential benefits of having a Facebook business page?
Happy that you asked.
1. Can you increase exposure to potential customers?
You need to ask yourself what is the real potential of finding new customers or generating quality business leads on Facebook. There are 1.19 billion Facebook users. Currently, Facebook has more than 60 million active business pages. Need I say more?
If your business can’t find new customers on Facebook, maybe you should rethink your line of work. We live in a mobile age, finding new strategies to move your business forward can be key to your business’ existence. According to Facebook’s latest stats over 1 billion people are using Facebook on mobile phones daily. Revisiting your marketing plan will be the perfect starting point.
2. How can you be sure you’ll reach the correct target audience?
Yes! The golden question, and very important. I know that you might be thinking just because there are 1.19 billion Facebook users, it doesn’t mean they all want to “like” your business page or you might wonder whether it’s the correct potential customer for your product or service. Although you might want all of them to “like” your page, only a small number of them will be interested and may engage with your posts.
The answer is that if you target the correct audience, you will build and get the correct potential customer to “like” your business page – yes, the type of customer that you want. In my training Facebook for small business workshops, I provide examples and step-by-step instructions on how to do this. However, you can simply target people who already have an interest in your industry, business service or product that almost guarantee that many of them will “like” your page if you are promoting it correctly. If you are a local business, direct your page and ads to target those in a 10-50 km radius. It may cost more to run ads, but the “likes” and potential customers are spot on.
3. What if Facebook is here today and gone tomorrow?
It’s understandable that we’re all concerned that we may invest a lot of time and money, only for social media channels like Facebook to disappear. Here’s the answer – if you haven’t made a connection with your followers outside of Facebook, then you’ll be in trouble.
However, if you follow what other smart businesses do, then you are safe. Gather leads in the form of email addresses or other contact details. You can then contact with your community outside of Facebook to build a value-adding relationship that will educate them about your product in formats such as newsletters and offer rewards through competitions and giveaways. This will support your lead generation Facebook strategy.
Be careful how you use your leads and that you are addressing their needs. For example, don’t spam fans with daily e-mailers (or posts), pushing affiliate products, only sales and other fluff – unless that’s what they signed up to receive.
Contact Nadia Hearn for further information on Facebook campaigns and book your seat at the nearest Facebook for Small Business Workshop nationwide (South Africa), as well as in Namibia on info@get-published.co.za or visit http://get-published.co.za/contact-us.
Proudly brought to you by the NSBC.