20 Facebook for Business Tips
With over 600,000,000 users Facebook is most visited website in the US, surpassing even Google in terms of traffic.
Small or Large, if your business is not on Facebook you are missing out. Still not convinced? Check out this post with several great reasons why your business needs a Facebook strategy.
When it comes to building a compelling presence for your business there are many tips and tricks that you can use, and this post covers 20 of them.
1. Write a complete profile:
Writing a complete and perfect Facebook profile that builds trust with the quantity of information you are willing to share.
2. Set realistic goals:
Don’t expect to get thousands of fans to your Facebook page within your first month, but set a realistic goal and try to make progress towards it every day.
Then if you hit something larger than you originally anticipated, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Whetever fan page you are able to acquire will help fuel your growth as your existing fans share your content with their friends.
3. Make time:
Cultivating a Facebook presence doesn’t have to be a full-time job nor something that eats up all your free time.
Try to set aside an hour a day to work on your business’s page, post updates, and communicate directly with customers and fans.
4. Learn as much as you can:
One way that you can learn more about Facebook is to sign up for our Facebook Tips and Tricks eCourse.
Take notes based on your experiences with Facebook’s pages and other business services.
You’ll find just about anything you’re curious to know within Facebook’s official help center.
Make a habit of reading as much as you can about Facebook.
5. Do it right the first time:
I recommend using Syncapse, the global leader in enterprise social media manangement.
By going with a platform as robust as the technology they offer you can be certain that you will have the cutting edge tools at hand that will give you a step up on your competition in the ever growing arena of Social Media.
6. Use a strong call to action:
Your Facebook page should feature a big and bold call to action. This will help many visitors to your page take the action you are looking for, clicking the “Like” button.
Redbull does a good job of a very clear call to action, if you are looking for a template to model.
7. Create a page for your business, not a profile:
Don’t open a second account on the social network to make a profile for your business.
Not only does that go against Facebook’s rules but it also moves you one degree of separation away from the people who are already on your friend list.
These folks are the first people you want to invite to become fans of your business’s page.
Recently Facebook upgraded their Pages product and now you can post on other pages as your page.
8. Build relationships:
Send a thank-you message right after someone clicks “like” on your page, and make a point of responding to messages and wall posts within 24 hours.
Pay careful attention to whatever fans tell you on your page, and try to respond to their needs.
9. Invest your time wisely:
It’s possible to promote your business on Facebook without spending anything.
At some point you might get the itch to buy advertising, which certainly helps but also presents the temptation to overspend.
You’re better off starting out doing small test ads to see what kind of performance you get for your money, and then ramp up when you figure out which demographics and key words you want to target.
People have gotten pretty tired of spammy self-promotion, and if you are all about yourself people will unlike you.
Instead spend time building relationships around your brand and add value. If you do this well your fans will return the favor by clicking the “Like” button and sharing your valuable content more often.
10. Create coupons and promotions:
Discounts for first-time customers really work toward generating repeat business.
But don’t limit the promotions to the first time someone engages with your company, lest they lose interest.
Periodically put things on sale if you can, in order to keep people coming back. It is far easier to market to an existing customer than it is to gout out and try to find a new one.
11. Encourage check-ins:
Wherever your business operates, that counts as a place on Facebook.
Make a point of checking in to your place of work every day you are there, even if you’re operating out of a home office.
This will put your company’s name into people’s news feeds every time you punch in.
12. Expand your network:
Facebook has a powerful Find Friends feature that allows you to find friends from pretty much any email service you might use.
You can even import a contact file, and this will allow you to import friends from contact files from networks like Linkedin.
13. Create a group:
Groups are for groups of people, whereas pages are open platforms for brands.
Facebook’s new Groups product is powerful and distinct from the old groups product.
What sets it apart is how it can be wither open or closed, and how it allows you to add friends without their consent.
Groups can be especially useful in closed format as a tool for internal communications within a business.
14. Be aware of the power of Facebook ads:
Facebook Ads are very powerful as they allow you to drill down and target a very specific demographic.
You can target ads directly at people of a specific age, 30 year olds for example, and then in the headline you could address them directly with a line like “Are you 30?”
Check out our post on Facebook Advertising Tips if you are interested in exploring this topic some more.
15. Update Facebook and Twitter at the same time:
There are several different ways to update both Facebook and Twitter and by doing so you save yourself the step of posting the same content twice.
16. Post cool status updates:
Make your profile work for your page by posting witty status updates that encourage your friends to engage with your business page.
Apply that same sense of wit to the goal of one post per day to your page’s wall.
If you can phrase it as a question there is a good chance that will inspire responses from your community.
17. Add video to your page:
If you have a YouTube channel Involver makes it easy to integrate it with your Facebook Page with the Involver YouTube application. You can also create a custom page template and embed a video against any background you like but this will of course require technical skills.
18. Integrate Facebook and your website:
Integrating Facebook with your website by installing Facebook Like Buttons and a Like Box will allow your visitors to easily join your community and share the content on your site.
19. Promote your Facebook page around the web:
Twitter is a great place to spread the word about your Facebook page. If you are on Linkedin there is an opportunity
20. Use Facebook Insights:
Facebook Insights is a powerful analytics dashboard that is build into every Facebook page.
Small or Large, if your business is not on Facebook you are missing out. Still not convinced? Check out this post with several great reasons why your business needs a Facebook strategy.
When it comes to building a compelling presence for your business there are many tips and tricks that you can use, and this post covers 20 of them.
1. Write a complete profile:
Writing a complete and perfect Facebook profile that builds trust with the quantity of information you are willing to share.
2. Set realistic goals:
Don’t expect to get thousands of fans to your Facebook page within your first month, but set a realistic goal and try to make progress towards it every day.
Then if you hit something larger than you originally anticipated, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Whetever fan page you are able to acquire will help fuel your growth as your existing fans share your content with their friends.
3. Make time:
Cultivating a Facebook presence doesn’t have to be a full-time job nor something that eats up all your free time.
Try to set aside an hour a day to work on your business’s page, post updates, and communicate directly with customers and fans.
4. Learn as much as you can:
One way that you can learn more about Facebook is to sign up for our Facebook Tips and Tricks eCourse.
Take notes based on your experiences with Facebook’s pages and other business services.
You’ll find just about anything you’re curious to know within Facebook’s official help center.
Make a habit of reading as much as you can about Facebook.
5. Do it right the first time:
I recommend using Syncapse, the global leader in enterprise social media manangement.
By going with a platform as robust as the technology they offer you can be certain that you will have the cutting edge tools at hand that will give you a step up on your competition in the ever growing arena of Social Media.
6. Use a strong call to action:
Your Facebook page should feature a big and bold call to action. This will help many visitors to your page take the action you are looking for, clicking the “Like” button.
Redbull does a good job of a very clear call to action, if you are looking for a template to model.
7. Create a page for your business, not a profile:
Don’t open a second account on the social network to make a profile for your business.
Not only does that go against Facebook’s rules but it also moves you one degree of separation away from the people who are already on your friend list.
These folks are the first people you want to invite to become fans of your business’s page.
Recently Facebook upgraded their Pages product and now you can post on other pages as your page.
8. Build relationships:
Send a thank-you message right after someone clicks “like” on your page, and make a point of responding to messages and wall posts within 24 hours.
Pay careful attention to whatever fans tell you on your page, and try to respond to their needs.
9. Invest your time wisely:
It’s possible to promote your business on Facebook without spending anything.
At some point you might get the itch to buy advertising, which certainly helps but also presents the temptation to overspend.
You’re better off starting out doing small test ads to see what kind of performance you get for your money, and then ramp up when you figure out which demographics and key words you want to target.
People have gotten pretty tired of spammy self-promotion, and if you are all about yourself people will unlike you.
Instead spend time building relationships around your brand and add value. If you do this well your fans will return the favor by clicking the “Like” button and sharing your valuable content more often.
10. Create coupons and promotions:
Discounts for first-time customers really work toward generating repeat business.
But don’t limit the promotions to the first time someone engages with your company, lest they lose interest.
Periodically put things on sale if you can, in order to keep people coming back. It is far easier to market to an existing customer than it is to gout out and try to find a new one.
11. Encourage check-ins:
Wherever your business operates, that counts as a place on Facebook.
Make a point of checking in to your place of work every day you are there, even if you’re operating out of a home office.
This will put your company’s name into people’s news feeds every time you punch in.
12. Expand your network:
Facebook has a powerful Find Friends feature that allows you to find friends from pretty much any email service you might use.
You can even import a contact file, and this will allow you to import friends from contact files from networks like Linkedin.
13. Create a group:
Groups are for groups of people, whereas pages are open platforms for brands.
Facebook’s new Groups product is powerful and distinct from the old groups product.
What sets it apart is how it can be wither open or closed, and how it allows you to add friends without their consent.
Groups can be especially useful in closed format as a tool for internal communications within a business.
14. Be aware of the power of Facebook ads:
Facebook Ads are very powerful as they allow you to drill down and target a very specific demographic.
You can target ads directly at people of a specific age, 30 year olds for example, and then in the headline you could address them directly with a line like “Are you 30?”
Check out our post on Facebook Advertising Tips if you are interested in exploring this topic some more.
15. Update Facebook and Twitter at the same time:
There are several different ways to update both Facebook and Twitter and by doing so you save yourself the step of posting the same content twice.
16. Post cool status updates:
Make your profile work for your page by posting witty status updates that encourage your friends to engage with your business page.
Apply that same sense of wit to the goal of one post per day to your page’s wall.
If you can phrase it as a question there is a good chance that will inspire responses from your community.
17. Add video to your page:
If you have a YouTube channel Involver makes it easy to integrate it with your Facebook Page with the Involver YouTube application. You can also create a custom page template and embed a video against any background you like but this will of course require technical skills.
18. Integrate Facebook and your website:
Integrating Facebook with your website by installing Facebook Like Buttons and a Like Box will allow your visitors to easily join your community and share the content on your site.
19. Promote your Facebook page around the web:
Twitter is a great place to spread the word about your Facebook page. If you are on Linkedin there is an opportunity
20. Use Facebook Insights:
Facebook Insights is a powerful analytics dashboard that is build into every Facebook page.