10 Things Business Owners Can Do to Market More Effectively on Facebook

Now that there are over 150 million active users on Facebook, more
businesses large and small are actively reaching and engaging customers
through Facebook and the Facebook Platform. Global chains all the way
down to the local pub are building social marketing strategies that
leverage the strengths of Facebook to drive traffic to their pages and
feet to their premises.

However, many business owners are daunted by Facebook’s sheer scale,
and simply don’t know where to start. Inside Facebook is here to help
guide business owners and marketers through that process.
Here are Inside Facebook’s top 10 ways business owners can more
effectively leverage Facebook to reach their target audience and drive
more business. To dive deeper on the ways you can leverage Facebook for
your marketing goals - including each of the tactics listed below -
check out the Facebook Marketing Bible: The Guide to Marketing Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook.

10 Things Business Owners Can Do to Market More Effectively on Facebook

1. Create a Facebook Page
Your Facebook Page should be the “hub” of your Facebook marketing
presence. With a Facebook Page, Facebook users can become a “fan” of
your company or product; when that happens, your name and logo will
appear on their profile page and your name will appear in their profile
feed. fbmarketingpages1In
turn, more users will be able to discover your Facebook Page through
their friends’ profiles and Facebook searches, and your Page can grow
“virally” without you even having to do much work. Finally, Pages rank
very highly in Google search results, boosting your SEO rankings.



2. Create Facebook Events for Promotions and Special Occasions

Once you’ve created a Facebook Page, create regular Facebook Events
for promotions you’re running. For example, a local bar might want to
create a Facebook Event each week for happy hour! Larger businesses
might target them around major campaign target events. When you create
Facebook Events, they are automatically promoted on your Facebook Page.
Plus, when Facebook users RSVP to your event (think “Biff Henderson is
attending to Thursday Happy Hour at O’Malleys,” etc.), their friends
see the updates on their profile or news feed.


3. Promote Your Events with Highly Targeted Social Ads
fbmarketingsocialadsFacebook’s
Social Ads platform makes it easy to target your spend to a very
specific age, gender, and geographic audience. (You can even target
based on words they’ve put on their profile.) Purchasing Social Ads
throws fuel on the flames of the “natural” viral distribution you’re
already getting from Facebook’s feed system, and you only pay for
performance!


4. Add Contests and Voting Applications to Your Facebook Page to Give Your Customers a Voice

People love fun ways of engaging and feeling like they are
contributing to your direction and decisions. Why not create a poll and
let your users vote on the next menu item addition? White label
solutions are readily available, and thousands of developers are able
to easily build custom applications that you can add to your Facebook
page.


5. Sponsor Popular Applications with Ads and Virtual Gifts

For larger chains and brands, sponsoring Facebook applications
popular with your target audience offers richer opportunities for
deeper engagement. For example, sports bars or sporting goods stores
could partner with popular sports applications, and music retailers or pubs with live music could partner with popular music applications.
What to do exactly? Sponsor or skin a whole section of the app, or
offer sponsored virtual goods (i.e. virtual “bumper stickers”) for
users to send to their friends on your behalf.


6. Go Big with Facebook Engagement Ads

fbmarketinggiftsFor those who want to achieve the widest reach, Facebook’s variety of available home page engagement ads
offer a simple way to engage millions of users. If you’re able to meet
Facebook’s minimum spend requirements, Facebook can deliver big unique
numbers.


7. Integrate Facebook Connect on Your Website

If your website is an important channel to you, Facebook Connect can
help you amplify engagement you’re achieving by spreading information
and updates about your visitors activity with their Facebook friends.
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For example, with Facebook Connect, you can publish updates like
“Peggy Bush just ordered a pizza from Mancini’s Chicago Pizzeria on
31st St” to your customers’ Facebook profiles, where they are seen by
thousands of friends.


8. Add Facebook Share Links to Your Website

Does your website even make it easy for your customers to share
information about you with their friends? Adding Facebook “share” links
is the simplest step you should take to get your URL floating around
Facebook.
fbmarketingpages2
9. Publish Fresh Photos, Videos, and Updates to Your Facebook Page


Facebook Pages are not “set it and forget it.” They require regular
updates with new content that feels authentic and community generated -
not “from the marketing guy who doesn’t get it.” Which leads us to the
last and most important point…


10. TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

Facebook is made up of people, and people want to talk to you. If
you don’t enter the conversation they invite you into, they’ll stop
paying you much attention. When you start a Facebook presence, you’ll
need to “man the wheel” by allocating staff to participate in
discussions on your Page and respond to concerns. When customers
discover that there are actually real people there, their appreciation
for you will grow - as will their willingness to let others know!

One final note…
Keep in mind, however, that while Facebook marketing is powerful, it
isn’t free. Your Facebook marketing plan should be part of a larger
strategy that incorporates all the elements that make social marketing
successful. Participating in the Facebook ecosystem most effectively
requires consistent participation and willingness to engage your
customers. There’s a good chance you will find it more rewarding than
you expect!

Original post at http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/01/27/10-things-all-businesses-should-do-to-market-more-effectively-on-facebook/