Many companies and businesses prefer to use Facebook as part of their marketing strategy while others avoid it after being disappointed by its outcome. Those who have stopped using it probably had too high expectations of it. So, before we start talking about the new ideas for marketing on Facebook, let’s quickly run through some factors that every small business should consider before choosing Facebook as their marketing option.
Set up a Plan
The first factor is setting up an overall plan. What does your business plan to achieve? It can be just finding out which product is the most popular or it can be a combination of many elements such as sales, answering questions, solving problems, or brand building.
Budget
Then you need to think about budget. Creating a Facebook page may be free of charge, but it’s also free for your competitors. If you want your brand to stand out you need to be creative but you also may want to invest in social media experts or sponsor stories.
Schedule
Schedule is another important factor. You need to find out when your fans are on Facebook. What good is advertising if no one can see it? Think about school hours, work, holidays etc. and post only if you know that your fans will be active on Facebook and able to see it.
Frequency
Last but not least, there is frequency. This concerns how much you post and how often you connect with your fans. A good idea is setting up a rate at which you interact and making it constant. Be careful not to be too frequent and also don’t let your fans forget that you are there.
So, having this in mind, here are some new Facebook marketing ideas that will make your brand shine and stand out in front of the competition:
Using your Cover Photo as a Free Ad Banner
One new important feature of Facebook for all marketers is displaying cover photos of people your friends add as friends in your news feed. This also works for pages your friends like and that’s why it is important.
So, imagine someone likes the fan page of your brand on Facebook. All of their friends will be able to see your cover photo in their news feed. The cover photo then works as an add banner and should be treated that way, meaning you should give serious thought on what it could look like.
Making it look appealing is obvious, even without the new Facebook feature. Other than that, consider placing a discount or a free offer. Having a celebrity endorse your brand on the cover is also very appealing but may be problematic for smaller businesses. Whatever you choose, make sure it will attract people’s attention so that they click on it and eventually become new fans of your brand.
Activate the Check-in Feature on Facebook
This feature only works for local businesses, so if you created your Facebook page under the category ”Local Business or Place” be sure to turn on the check-in option. This is done by adding your company’s address while creating the page and your fans will be able to check-in.
This feature can do wonders for your business by increasing the preference for the brand and maybe even boosting sales. All you need to do is encourage your fans to check-in on their visit.
Think about giving out prizes or discounts for every 100th visitor or even less. There are other ideas as well but rewarding your customers for loyalty is often the best thing to do and it will ensure that they stay satisfied and share their experiences.
Encourage your Fans to Interact
One of the best things about advertising on Facebook is that you can use it as a free customer service platform at the same time. Some people even find the Facebook page to be of more help than the company’s website. This Facebook popularity creates an option for customer engagement, and everyone knows how important that is to businesses all around.
Since everyone can see your name when you post on the timeline of a page, some companies create apps that take you to a form which you can fill and remain anonymous. This is excellent for people who want to post complaints, ask questions or other inquiries. Posting directly on timeline is still available of course, and often good for quick feedback.
One of the most popular ways of getting fans to interact is organizing prize contests. Ask fans to comment on your product or share interesting pictures that include it. Then, give out prizes to one or more fans by the rules you create for the contest.
About the author:
Katrina Barrow writes about small business, creative marketing, digital marketing and social media marketing. She is always searching for new ideas online. This article was inspired by tips on how to use facebook to promote your business.