Facebook In Detail

Facebook

As we mentioned before, Facebook is the most-used social network in the world. Every day, over one billion people like and comment on things they see on Facebook.

When you have an active presence on Facebook, you can become a part of those conversations and have access to instant word-of-mouth marketing. By “liking” your Facebook page, your fans will see whatever you post in their daily news feeds. Facebook is an excellent way to build your community and share locally relevant content with your customers and potential customers.

Creating a Facebook Company Page

• As a business, you want to make sure that you separate your personal Facebook from your business Facebook by creating a Facebook Company Page for your business. As opposed to a personal Facebook profile (like you might have for yourself), Facebook Company Pages are for companies only. Company pages require your customers or fans to “like” your page in order to receive your updates.
• Visit www.facebook.com/business/build to get started.

Facebook Basics

• Posts – Posts are how you communicate with your participants. They appear in your participants’ newsfeeds – the center of the Facebook experience.
  • Fun Fact: Facebook users spend about 40% of their time on Facebook on the Newsfeed.
  • Posts can be in the form of questions, photos, videos or updates from your business.
  • Your participants can “like,” “comment” on or “share” your Facebook posts. By doing so, your post will appear in their newsfeed, and reach their friends.
• Tagging – Tagging someone/something on Facebook allows you to identify a person, place or business in your Facebook Posts or photos. Those that you tag in your status updates or photos will receive a notification, and a post on their wall – linking them to your status.
  • By tagging someone or something in your Post, your message (or photo) will appear in the tagged person’s or business’ newsfeed – reaching all of their friends, in addition to your own.
• Photo / Content Sharing – Sharing has never been easier on Facebook. The field at the top of your home page (where you could just type a status), now has options for sharing a photo, video, or link to a website.
  • Another way to communicate with your participants is to share information – from another participant, business or news outlet – that you find interesting. Just click the “share” button underneath the story you wish to share, and it will be posted to your Page, and shared with your followers.

Build Your Audience

You’ve probably already got a community of friends, family, customers and employees who are on Facebook and care about your business. Here are a few ways to let them know you’re on Facebook:

• Invite them to like your Page. Under the Build Audience tab on your admin panel, you can invite existing Facebook friends to like your Page.
• Invite email contacts to like your Page. Even if you aren’t friends on Facebook, you can import a list of contacts to email through Facebook.
• Promote your Facebook Page web address through in-store signage, on business cards, on receipts, in emails or through other marketing materials.

Top Tips

• Make sure your posts are relevant to your audience and your business.
• Keep your posts conversational and short. Posts between 100 – 250 characters receive about 60% more likes, comments, and shares.
• Use photos whenever possible. Posts featuring photos receive 120% more engagement on Facebook.
• Ask questions or seek input from your participants.

Additional Resource:

No one makes it easier to join Facebook and learn how to use all of the features than Facebook itself. Visit www.facebook.com/business for step-by-step instructions on how to create your Facebook Page. They have in-depth guides and forums for Q&As.

Check out our informative blog article on Facebook for even more tips on how to make Facebook work for your business.