I often get business women contacting me wanting advice on how to get more people interacting on Facebook. And never one to disappoint I like to share my ideas in a blog to spread the joy that good social media marketing can bring. And that is a perfect place to start.
You see many people think that it’s just a case of re-producing your website again on Facebook and the hordes will come, but quickly business owners learn (the hard way!) its just not so.
So before you get despondent that social media is not a cash cow from the marketing gods as with any aspect of your marketing strategy start by asking “What do I expect Facebook to do for our business?”
Knowing this is important 2 fold, firstly it enables you to assess your level of success (remember as a business owner one of your most expensive commodities is your time, so don’t waste it!) and secondly so you can ensure you are consistently taking the right actions.
And they are not to splurge your website at people. You may love the fact that your company has the fastest gizmos in the industry but that just doesn’t float your customers boats.
Remember that customer that you adore? That spends buckets with you? That comes back time and time again? When you first met what did they talk about? What were their issues? What were they complaining about? What were the words that they said just before you said “We can help you there”
That my fab business owner wanting more sales and success is where you start.
Spread the love. Whatever the issues that affected your favourite customer, its highly likely that there are ton of other people out there with the same issues so share top tips, share happy customers testimonials but not the boring ones that say “Thanks ADM Solutions for your great service” Yawn…so boring…..Share the We had this problem and ADM Solutions did this and then we had this solution and that led to this. And when you talk about the “This” if you can get in there some facts and figures it reinforces your brilliance. And ensure you use emotive words too.
Remember as with any aspect of marketing its the drip drip approach that social media enables you to bring down the points of contact so that you are the business that becomes synonymous with that profession. Because we all know you can’t dictate when someone buys but you can have a big say in who they chose to buy from.
Remember not every company needs millions of likes. If you are a plumber in Dorset unless you are planning ways to create residual income (that means you can be fixing that tap, dunking your biccie in your cuppa and selling a course on the other side of the world to people that want to fix it themselves) you are not going to need those million likes. But its good for the ego right?
But seriously it’s better to have a thousand local people liking your page than a million people that liked it because their mate did and it came up in that little feed on the side of their page. For some companies it is a numbers game but ask yourself if it is for you.
When you’ve great content flying out from your page. Ask yourself these 2 vital questions too.
Firstly is my page appealing? Are their images and videos (they are going to be big this year!) or is it just a bucket of words? In your “about” section is it easy to get in touch with us, and find our website and other social media?
Secondly ask Who are we talking to?
Just like in the real world you wouldn’t walk up to stranger and say “Hi I’m Sid from ADM Solutions, buy from me today” Don’t do it online. Go and have a chat on other people’s pages. And that’s not your cue to tell them to like your page like some needy teenager. It’s your chance to get to know other people. Think of it as effective networking.
You see getting the benefits of facebook will look like direct messages, likes and conversations on your page. My page is only a few months old and doesn’t have millions of likes, but every week I get enquiries and conversations that lead to business. So it is an effective addition to my marketing strategy.
So to clarify…
Get clear on what your reason for being on Facebook is. Get generous with your brilliance, get social, get noisy about everyone else and get loving it. There’s a reason why business owners keep doing it, it’s because it works and so if it’s not working for you (as with any aspect of your marketing strategy) ask what needs to change?
@mandieholgate on Twitter – I’ve got some top folks following me so help yourself to those fab peeps. Mandie Holgate on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MandieHolgateBizWomanCoach