So you have a Facebook business page, but are you using it properly to engage your audience? Many businesses don’t. Don’t be one of the business owners who falls asleep at the Facebook wheel and loses business as a result of not properly engaging their audience. Below are five easy-to-apply tips to get you on track and keep your Facebook business page engagement cruising along.
1. Show up – Just as you show up for work every day, you also need to interact on your Facebook business page every day. This doesn’t mean spending hours on the web searching for and posting content. You just need to interact with your audience on a regular basis to keep them engaged. Set aside 10-15 minutes every day to post a status update, share information, and respond to comments and questions posted from clients and fans. If you’re not staying actively engaged your followers will lose interest and/or not take you seriously.
2. Entertain and Inform – The majority of people use Facebook to find and share information and to be entertained. Give them what they want. Post entertaining status updates, share interesting and helpful articles, and also directly promote your products and services. There is a “posting rule” I once read somewhere that stuck with me. The rule is 70:20:10. Make 70% of your content valuable and relevant to your Facebook fans (status updates, photos, articles, blog posts, etc.), 20% should be shared content that you share from other people’s content (it’s also a bit like networking in the world of Facebook because many businesses will return the favor and share your content with their readers at one point or another, exposing your page to a different audience – always a GREAT thing!), and 10% should be centered around your business (product updates, events, new services, etc – aka ADVERTISING).
3. Toot your own horn – Let your clients and fans know when something great happens with your business. Were you featured in a newspaper article? Let your followers know. Did you take part in a charity fundraiser? Tell your followers. Did a client submit an awesome review for your services? Share it with your followers. Most of us enjoy hearing when good things happen to those around us. It’s encouraging, and will put you and your business in a positive light.
4. Encourage engagement – Not only do you want to provide your followers with great content, but you also want them to interact with you (staying interested in your business) and SHARE that great content with others. Try asking questions with some of your status updates. This will encourage others to participate and leave a comment. It’s also okay to encourage engagement by asking your followers to click ‘like’ (if they agree or like what you posted), share the post with their friends, and also encourage check-ins to your business. When your followers engage on your page by commenting, liking, sharing or checking in, these things will display in the news feed of their friends on Facebook, and in turn gives YOUR business more exposure.
5. Respond quickly – Try to respond to questions, messages and comments within 24 hours. People don’t like being ignored or having to wait for information they’ve requested. If you’re slow to respond, or don’t respond at all, you’ll lose followers (and customers). And we know you don’t want that! If you don’t want to be on Facebook every day, you can set up email notifications to be sent to you when someone comments on a status, posts on your page or sends you a direct message. This way you’ll know there’s been some action on your page and you can respond immediately. The faster you respond to people’s comments and questions, the more likely it is that they will do business with you or recommend your business to a friend.
If you’re interested in learning about more social media tips, then you should check out our Social Media Marketing Series Home Study Course.
Have a great week!
Mandy & Wayne
*Image courtesy of PhotoPin.com under the Creative Commons license.