Should your business have a custom Facebook fan page? Your top 10 questions, answered.
One of the discussions we often have when we’re working on an internet marketing strategies for business is how a Facebook fan page will fit into their business. Here are the top 10 questions, answered.
1. Do I have to be personal friends with everyone who likes my business or organization? Not at all. Your business page has a completely separate identity from your personal account. Personal friends do come in handy at times, though. (See #2)
2. How do I get people to “like” my business page? If you’re a smaller business, you can certainly ask your network of friends to get you started. Most people have at least a few friends who are happy to support their business. Ask friends, coworkers and clients to like your page. Once you’ve exhausted this network, consider running some Facebook Ads at whatever level you can afford. Once you’ve built a good-sized fan base, hopefully the network will take over to share your cool content. (see #3)
3. What should I write about? One thing for businesses to keep in mind is that people don’t “like” your business because they want to see endless commercials about you. A special every now and then is fine…but if you inundate people with 3 ads a week, you’ll find yourself “unliked” pretty fast. This is where you need to get creative. What are you passionate about? One of our clients, Haul Bikes, ships motorcycles. But their customers aren’t passionate about shipping — they’re passionate about RIDING. So their Facebook page gives tips, links to cool gear, and pictures of beautiful places to ride.
4. How often should I post? This is really a “it depends” question. How passionate are your fans about your cause or product? Do they want to be updated three times a day or three times a month? You also need to consider how much time you want to devote to your Facebook page. You will need to commit to paying attention to it, whether it’s one hour a day or one hour a week.
5. My product/company just doesn’t have a lot of news or exciting things to share. Why would anyone “like” it? Even if you’re a custom pipe bending company, a Facebook page has value. Facebook will give you incoming links to your site (which Google loves.) It’s one more place to connect your website and publish your press releases and videos, which can all help you improve your search engine ranking.
6. I want my page to fit my brand. How can I make it look cool? We’re glad you asked! Facebook has some new features which give you a ton of control over what you can display. You can have different landing pages for fans and non-fans, integrate an email sign up, add downloadable coupons, and even pull pages from your website into your Facebook page.
7. How do I connect Facebook to my other marketing efforts? How about having your Facebook page update automatically whenever you do a new blog post? Or running an online ad campaign that encourages people to become fans. The beauty of the web is that all your marketing should be able to work together seamlessly.
8. How do I know if it’s working? There are cool reports any administrator of your account can run that will give you demographics of your fans, how often they visit, and how much they engage. Remember, even if you don’t get a ton of feedback on your posts, every time someone sees your company name, it contributes to top of mind awareness about your company. Yay branding!
9. What about bad feedback, trolls and complainers? There are options to not allow fans to post anything to your page – that’s the ultimate level of control. But this approach kind of goes against the spirit of community and social media. Most experts (including us!) recommend that you monitor the conversation closely, and respond to any negative feedback. Others will see that you care and have a positive opinion of your company. If you get someone who is impossible and a bully, you can block them from posting on your page.
10. Can you help me? Of course! Many times businesses just need to get things set up the right way, then they can take over the page themselves. If you don’t have time to keep it up, we can get our content creating team on it and help you build a network of fans who love you!
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