Small Businesses And Facebook

As a small business owner are you using social media and especially Facebook as part of your marketing mix? It’s a simple question that can actually do a lot for your business bottom line.

Let’s be straight to the point here: Facebook for business is really something that small business should take advantage of as a tool to engage their customers. That’s not hardly surprising since Facebook is a great networking tool and it is where your prospective customers and current customers can, more likely than not, be found. In a nutshell Facebook allows you to target your specific customer base.

That’s because it has lot of information stored in its database. This is information that is taken from each and every member that has signed up for it. Like it or not, this is the kind of data connection that a lot of marketers would die to get their hands on and if you can make full use of it then you should really jump at the chance.

That being said you need to be a part of Facebook before you can do anything else. This is not a problem since signing up and creating your first page is simple and easy. The page is important because this is, in all intents and purposes, a representation of who you are and what your business is.

You may also want to create ads that get posted in the sidebars of the Facebook pages. This is basically how you can get the word out that your page and you exist. Think of it as letting people know that you’re open for business. The good thing is that you can even focus the target of your ad, say to all people who live in Australia between the ages of 25 and 30.

Once you get the word out your next step is engagement. This is pretty simple – just have fruitful conversations with the people that are part of your page. It’s a way of giving them valuable and exciting content that not only gets their interest but also builds loyalty and gives you the opportunity to potentially generate sales in the future.

Hard selling is not a good idea as you will find that this tactic will backfire and make you lose the contacts that you will have. Be relevant for the people who visit your page and give them information while being friendly and open at the same time.

When you post your messages do so in a consistent manner. Being all over the place can make it confusing and may put up a flag in your prospect’s mind that you’re shady or something like that. Post frequently as well. Don’t post once a week because let’s face it, people who go online have short attention spans and if you don’t engage them regularly and often they will move away.

In order to really maximize your use of Facebook for business you need to become a part of your prospect’s social world first. This means becoming one with who they are and what they are all about. This means joining Facebook groups and showing them that you are one of them and can be counted upon so that they trust you. After that it’s a matter of turning that trust into potential sales.