Part 1 of our special Facebook Marketing Series which aims at helping internet marketers understand and apply the these tips in their businesses and brands. We flag off the series with a Beginner's Guide To Facebook Marketing.
As an online marketing professional, you must be aware of the huge market created by Facebook users. Your brand on Facebook can really go viral, if promoted the right way. To understand the potential of this social networking platform, here are a few statistics given out by Facebook.
- More than 750 million active users
- 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
- There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
- Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
- There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
- People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
The numbers are huge, and untapped as yet for your brand. You need to get in there and claim your share of the pie. This is a basic view of what you need to start on Facebook.
Why Do You Need Facebook?
Apart from the huge numbers of audience involved here, another aspect is the “social” side of it. Internet marketing is turning with the social tide and Facebook is the center of things. People approach is the latest marketing mantra, and Facebook is all about people and interacting with them.
With Facebook, as a business marketer, you get a great opportunity to not only socialize but to network with people. Interacting with your target audience face to face and in real time will not only give you a huge insight in consumer behavior, but you will also work according to the specific customer feedback that you will get on Facebook.
Your Target Audience Is On Facebook
With more than 750 million users, your target audience is bound to be on Facebook. But if you need numbers, then here is the age wise break up of Facebook users- The highest numbers of users are in the 35-54 age group. The 55+ group is growing fast. Throw this thought out the window that Facebook is just for the college kids. It is not true- 9 to 99 years of people are using Facebook to connect with others. Moreover, you have the chance to get highly targeted traffic on Facebook, people that will surely lead to conversions.
The Marketing Tools On Facebook
First things first- it is advisable to hear things from the horses mouth, so this is where you can go and learn what Facebook has to say about doing business on its platform. Want a quick tour on how to market on Facebook? Watch and learn from this video tutorial-
Moving on, there are four basic ways to market your brand on the social networking platform:
- Pages
- Ads
- Sponsored Stories
- Groups
With these methods, you can connect with your target audience and promote your brand. More on these later. But first the important part- your profile.
The Essentials Of A Good Marketer's Profile
Your profile on Facebook is somewhat like your portfolio, or your first sales pitch that your make to your clients. So make sure that your profile is-
- Genuine– your name- your work details
- Completely Filled Out– your interests- specialized services – website – Facebook fanpage link should also be there on your profile.
- Slightly Personalized– Fill out the music- movie and celebrity choices too – you have to come across as a regualar person, who is just doing his job on Facebook.
- Profile Picture– A smiling well clicked photo of you.
Remember that your profile is the first thing people see, and if they are convinced that you are a genuine person, who shares their interests, only then will they interact with you or share your updates.
Go through this detailed tutorial to learn how to sign up on Facebook and create a profile.
The Facebook Marketing Tools- Pages
A Facebook fan page is a very effective way of marketing on the social platform. You need to create a page about your business/brand and use it as a platform to connect with people following your brand and attracting new followers. For a person to follow your page- they have to LIKE it.
Build your Page- Provide all the necessary information like a Photo of your brand name/logo/brand ambassador with product. Give your location and complete information about your business, and links to your site.
Create custom tabs with FBML- FBML is Facebook’s own, special version of HTML. With it you can create tabs that can feature any content you might include in an HTML page, including JavaScript. Use Apps to share your menu, stream videos etc. This video attached below is quite informative.
Create a well thought of landing page– This is an important part, as people when they reach your page, see the welcome page at first. The first impression is absolutely essential as it urges people to LIKE the page and explore more. With catchy headings, images make it as interesting as possible.
Like this page from a small business in Australia- it builds on its theme of working mothers and that is what makes it captivating. The bright red color sets the mood for the page.
Wall posts: Share exciting and new information-promotional activities on your Wall. Your fans will see it in their news feed and they can click on it to reach your page and indulge in giving feedback and comments. Post pictures, new products, and information regarding your brand-helpful usage articles etc.
Interacting With Users- This is is the crux of the entire effort. You have to encourage the users to communicate with you. Ask them questions/ tell them to share their views, give product reviews.
Thank them for any sort of negative or positive feedback you get and work on the same.
Run Contests– Contests with prizes and other benefits are specially interesting for the users, they participate wholeheartedly and even spread and share the message. Like this page by Arizona Djs is offering free CDs on “LIKING” the page:
Use PageMetrics for reviewing the efforts on your page.
The Facebook Marketing Tools- Ads
Ads on Facebook are highly targeted. Why? Because it places them according to the demographic information about its users. Not only you can target audience according to their profile information but also see the success you are getting out of the same.
Facebook lets you create your own Ads. You pick on the landing page, the text and the image of the Ad. Make sure that you use a good headline to attract the user. To capture the audience's attention, you want your headline to speak directly to the audience you are targeting. A good ad copy is necessary to keep the viewers hooked on to it. The Ad copy needs to expand on the offer or your service.
Your call to action should be very clear- in most cases- it can be a link of “LIKING” a page, or it could also choose to take it to your website straight away. And lastly use a captivating image. That draws attention- it can be funny or an interesting product image too. Here is a tutorial to help you understand this better.
Facebook ads are also available on the PPC bases. With a well worded and placed ad you can reach your audience by offering special deals and giveaways. Make people LIKE your page by offering exciting returns.
You can choose Facebook Ads to promote a Page, a website or an Event. To choose the target for your promotional activities, sort by the profiles of the people you want to reach with your ads and choose the ones suiting your requirements. You can use demographic factors to sort people or by age-gender etc ans on the basis of interests listed by them-or if they are the friends of your existing fans. Set the maximum amount you want to pay each day, and set a bid within or above the suggested range.
Review your Ads campaign with the Admanager.
The Facebook Marketing Tools-Sponsored Stories
These are the best way to promote the organic interactions between people and your brand. It works on the basis of people LIKING your page, using an APP or GAME, or Checking in to one of your LOCATIONS. Once someone does this, a report sort is generated on their friends' News Feeds and they can then click on it to land on your page and do what their friends have been doing. It is a paid tool and you have to select your budget and make the bid as suggested before.
Here is a detailed video tutorial on how to do it-
The idea behind is to generate leads with familiarity. People do believe those whom they know personally rather than an unknown business promoter. Sponsored Stories are really helpful as they are targeted and work on the people to people touch- “my friend likes this page, it must be good”
The Facebook Marketing Tools-Groups
Groups come in really handy to build a community around your company and products. They are the perfect platform for holding discussions and interaction with users. Create a group based on the industry or niche your company serves, and not by the brand name.
In groups, just set the guidelines for discussions – decorum etc and then invite people to share and interact. It is excellent for marketing as it allows to send mails to all members simultaneously- perfect for promotional activities.
With groups, you can let the people using your product or services discuss about their usage experience, what they expect from the product and even put forward their complaints. Once you create a group, promote it with sponsored stories or other things and add more and more people to the group.
Word Of Caution- Do Not Spam
In any case, pages or groups, do not post too much that your offers clog the news feed of your friends. It will turn people away, you will lose your credibility as an interested user, and will become just an aggressive marketer.
The Key To Effective Marketing On Facebook- Be Social
It is a place with real fans, and to engage their attention, you have to interact with them, involve people and give out some appreciation for their support and enthusiasm.
Checkout part 2 of our series – Facebook marketing for small businesses.
