Just as email marketing differs from TV advertising, which is different again to a magazine ads, Facebook is a platform where a unique marketing technique should apply.

Facebook is not so much a place for the “hard sell” but rather a venue where people get to know your brand, your story and your ethos, which will ultimately keep you front of mind and see them use your products or services.

As a social media platform, Facebook is considered a fun, social place where people engage, comment and respond. This interaction should be encouraged, meaning if you have a Facebook page you need to tend to it; engaging in conversations, posting regularly and being involved.

It’s also a space to create a human voice for your business. Unlike the formality of your professional website, Facebook allows a more friendly personal tone, that still professionally represents your brand but in a warmer, more conversational manner.

In that light, manners always apply. You should filter anything you post on Facebook through a quick mental calculation of whether it reflects your brand, your image and the way you wish to be seen by clientele. After all, it is a public space and the information you post may go further than you realise.

Meanwhile, resist the urge to be overly aggressive. Repeatedly promoting products, failing to engage, comment or like others, or hijacking threads and overwhelming consumers with advertising slogans may result in members of your audience unfollowing you.

Facebook is a place where people come to relax, enjoy some online social activity and spend time with like-minded parties. Your content should be curated to reflect and encourage this environment.

Content is King:

While Facebook’s inbuilt audience building tools are invaluable, the true art of creating a following comes down to crafting great, regular content that people want to like and share.

Content for Facebook needs to stand out, be visual and conversational to engage your market.  

Be Regular:

Building and maintaining a Facebook audience is not just about creating interesting content but also about maintaining regularity.

The most successful pages post multiple times a week to keep people coming back to the page for fresh information and ideas.

Regularity means you also become a go to source in peoples week, they search you out  and look for you on your fav channel.

Tip: Consider mixing the powerhouses of Education Marketing and Facebook Live with a weekly tips session your audience can tune into.

Interaction is Queen:

Facebook is not a one-way street, it’s a platform for real interaction with your audience. If they comment, have questions or post feedback, respond in a timely manner.

In some ways this is like thanking people who have taken the time to come to a social gathering – you acknowledge their presence, treat them respectfully as guests and converse with them while they’re there.

The same goes for private messages within Facebook. Meanwhile, don’t be afraid to directly and politely respond to any negative feedback, thanking people for their feedback. But remember, the tone you use should always reflect the image, ethos and professional tone of your brand even though conversation may be less formal than in other venues.

Where possible, respond within business hours or at least socially acceptable hours of the day and night.

Content Ideas to add to your planner:

Business images Do you have an achiever in your team to profile, a product that you’re working on, an event your attending, or a moment in business life worth sharing? Take a quick snap, provide a brief explanation and share on Facebook.

This also applies to things like images of your products in a styled setting, or before and after pictures of services. I.e before and after photos of haircuts, interior paint work etc.

 

Videos Video is one of the most popular and increasing forms of content on social media at the moment. Whip up a brief explainer video for a product, walk through the why behind a product, outline a service or answer a question using video or Facebook Live.

 

Memes An image with overlaid text (known as a Meme) is a great way of succinctly relating a tip, idea, product or relevant quote/statistic. It’s a good idea to create a bank of these materials that you can post at intervals.

Offer a discount Facebook is a great place to offer limited time discounts or coupons for your products or services. It helps drive traffic quickly, lets your audience feel like their part of a special “insiders group” and often increases shares.

Facebook Offers allows you to create a coupon or discount that can be retrieved online or instore. Meanwhile, for a small fee you can widen your audience to people who are not already familiar with your page or actively follow it.

Start a conversation Facebook is about engagement so feel free to start a simple conversation with your clientele. This can be as easy as posing a relevant question or asking your audience to fill in the blank of sentence.

Answer questions another great form of engagement is to answer the type of questions that regularly pop up in your business or industry. Think about what people often ask, post it and answer it, with or without an accompanying image.

Share news If a news item pops up elsewhere that relates to your industry or business, share the post on your Facebook page.

Ask for feedback Facebook is not only a great platform to engage an audience, but one where you can glean a lot of information about what your clients want or like about your business. You can ask for what people would like to see, what they like best about a product or service and more.

Poll people Facebook is also a natural venue for polling people. This can be in general on a topical issue or regarding an item specific to your business.

Use the events section Facebook has some great features for promoting and highlighting events or upcoming activities. These include the upcoming events calendar on your page, or by establishing a specific Facebook Events page for larger gatherings.

Feed your blog posts Do not forget to feed the intro of your website blog posts to your Facebook page. This allows you to use existing content, while driving traffic to your site.

Often it’s as simple as pasting a headline, intro and link from your site or using tools within your site that automatically link to social media.

For example, WordPress has a Jetpack plugin that enables an automatic feed to the social media of your choice. Or you can use tools like MeetEdgar or Missing lettr to feed your your posts into a cycle.