Social media forums such as Facebook present new opportunities for businesses of all sizes. It’s not just the big businesses that can develop a true relationship with existing, new, and potential customers through Facebook and similar social networking. Facebook, however, is the fairest one of all at the moment and the one place you should spend a little time and give a proper amount of attention when it comes to marketing. Here are a few tactics that will serve you well when it comes to marketing on Facebook.
Don’t Promote Your Business – Build Your Brand
We’ve come a long way from Saturday afternoon television with used car salesmen doing all kinds of wacky commercials with bullhorns in many ways. Unfortunately, many people who are new to Facebook marketing believe that’s what they have to do. But, there are subtler, far more effective methods, to building the brand and the following you want from your Facebook marketing efforts.
Take your time and develop a lasting sense of community. Offer something useful to the people who follow you. Start conversations and contribute to the conversations that matter to your customers. The hordes of eager shoppers might not come just because you’ve built it; but if you offer them something of value and keep inviting them to come back for more they’re much more likely to do just that.
Have a Strategy Going In
This is not a time, for the sake of your business, when you want to “wing it.” You need to have a solid set of goals for your Facebook marketing efforts and a plan of action (actually written down) for how to accomplish those goals. Going in blind is a sure way to make too many costly mistakes.
If you don’t know where to begin, consider hiring a social media consultant or a full-time staff member to handle your social media presence. It can do wonders for your Facebook marketing efforts by pointing out the possible goals you may achieve and a few potential plans for making them happen.
Get Started – The Sooner the Better
The one absolute worst thing you can do, when it comes to Facebook marketing tactics, is fail to get started. Yet this is the one thing that happens to so many owners or large and small businesses alike.
The future is in Social Media marketing and Facebook is the “King of the Hill” for the moment. This means you really can’t afford to develop a strong case of performance anxiety. Get out there. Get started. Make a few mistakes along the way. Learn from the mistakes as you make them.
All of these tips will help you with the fundamentals for building a Facebook presence. You can refine your plan and make adjustments once you get started.