# Social Media Marketing: Facebook



## tancehughes (May 21, 2010)

Just about everyone these days is using Facebook. The main purpose of Facebook is for users to connect to each other. They can share photos, videos, status updates and interests with each other. As Facebook became popular businesses began to realize the value of the website. Getting your message in front of thousands of people daily for free can exponentially help inform potential customers of your products and services. Let me tell you why you need to have Facebook as a part of your marketing arsenal.


Facebook allows you to create a “Fan Page” for your business. This allows customers to “Like” your page. Once they like your page, they will receive status, photo, and video updates from your company each time you post to your profile. The updates will appear in their News Stream each time they log-in to Facebook. Keep in mind that this is all free and doesn’t cost you anything other than your time.


You may ask “How do I entice people to like my page?”. There are various ways that you can quickly build up a base of followers:


Announce to your current customers that you have a page. You could draw them in with a discount or freebie as a reward.
Place a link to your Facebook page in your e-mail signature.
Print your Facebook page on your business cards, invoices, and any print ads you may have.
If you are active on internet forums place your link in your signature.
If you already have fans but are looking for more, hold a contest that encourages your current fans to suggest your page to their friends.
 You can also utilize Facebook’s paid advertising system that can target specific customers for you. The Facebook advertising platform will allow you to target customers by geographic regions, interests, age, sex or current connections with other friends. This allows you to reach out to only the potential customers that you believe your business needs. This is also a very efficient way of spending your advertising budget.


Another great feature of the Facebook advertising platform is that you can spend as little or as much as you want. You are able to set a daily budget to ensure that you don’t overspend on your campaign. Instead of being limited to the packages a local radio station or newspaper may offer you can create your own!


Not only can you customize who you reach and what you spend, you can also track the results. Facebook will give you daily reports of how many people clicked on your ad, how much you spent and whether they liked your page or not. Don’t you wish the local radio stations and newspapers provided you with that kind of important data?

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Now that your page is set-up and your advertising campaign is in place we have a very important step to take. You must add content to your page to help people learn about you. Photos, contact information and descriptions about products and services must be on your page. You also should continually add content and interact with your customers. If one of your customers asks you a question on your page be sure to quickly respond. If someone posts a message of dissatisfaction with your business, take the time to address their problem and show that your company is proactive in resolving errors and disputes. This can greatly improve your standing in a potential client’s eyes.


While adding content and updating the world about your business is great, you want to make sure you don’t overly push your content on your fans. Update once or twice a day. Instead of promoting a product or service, tell your fans you appreciate them. Ask your fans a question. Customers love to be heard and allowing them to post their opinion makes them feel valued and heard. In a nutshell, your fans want to feel as though you are interacting with them and not simply throwing a sales pitch at them.


The Facebook platform is truly an innovative and effective way of reaching new clients for your business. With the many different ways of controlling and customizing your page and advertising campaign I highly recommend that you utilize the system to increase your customer base.


_- Tance Hughes is President of Tesep Supply Company. The company sells textile screen printing supplies and offers training and education to new and existing screen printers._


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