If you’re using Facebook to generate customers and promote your business, here are a few things you’ve probably already done: 1.) You’ve established a Facebook “business page” for your business as well as a “profile” for yourself. 2.) You’ve started encouraging visitors, friends and family to “like” your Facebook business page, and 3.) you’ve started populating your page with positive information about your product and links to drive visitors to your website.

You’re off to a great start. If you use it correctly, your Facebook business page can help expand your company’s online footprint and ultimately drive your sales. But as you move forward with your Facebook marketing efforts, keep these tactics in mind.

Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool

1. Start a conversation and build a community first. For now, save the hard sell for other marketing venues. Try to turn your Facebook business page into an appealing, busy forum full of active discussion and lots of voices. If the only voice on your page is yours, and that voice keeps repeating the same message (Buy my product! Buy it! Buy it now!), you have a problem. Start by taking the sell element out of your status updates and posting broad, positive statements that appeal to your target audience. Encourage conversation by asking questions, using humor, or inciting playful games. Share clips containing relevant industry news and post appealing images.

2. Keep your Facebook business page and personal profile separate. Some small business owners decide to start a “profile-to-page migration” by turning their own personal pages into business tools and then strong-arming their family and friends into clicking “like” and becoming fans. Not only can you lose the value of your personal page by pushing this too hard (what about all your family photos, etc?) but it can also come off as socially awkward. 

3. Build a clear marketing plan. As you launch your business page, decide exactly how many status updates you’ll post per day, week, etc. Decide how often you’ll be launching new promotions and contests, and settle on a clear “voice” for your page based on the needs and interests of your target audience. In order to understand this demographic and measure your success in gaining their interest, pay close and constant attention to your “insights” tab.

4. Finally, don’t be afraid to revise your approach. In fact, revise constantly. Always be ready to shift gears, switch tactics, and chase down your audience when their interest starts to wander. Every lost customer or quiet day on the site is a lesson in disguise. Take these free lessons to heart, and do whatever your need to do to change your strategy and stay ahead.

For more small business marketing advice, reach out to the experienced Des Moines, IA staffing pros at The Palmer Group. We can help you expand your digital footprint and strengthen your client base.

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