Web Marketing: Face the Facts About Facebook, Part 2

After following the steps in my last article, I hope you’re up and running with your new Facebook page (or a revamped one). I’m very proud of you for getting this far in the game as you’re already leaps and bounds beyond many of your competitors. But the fun has just begun.

Some printers truly believe that if you build a social media presence, the business will come to you. That, unfortunately, couldn’t be further from the truth. The social media sphere is expanding every day and that means you need to keep up to get attention. Facebook visitors have lots of options when they log on regarding who to interact with and those they delete from view—so what are you going to do to make your page the one they choose?

Sound daunting? It’s not as difficult as you might think. There are lots and lots of companies on Facebook, but a relatively small number are “doing it right.” By following basic best practices, you’ll be well on your way to getting noticed. Here are the top tips for our trade.

Find Your Champions

There are likely people in your shop on Facebook at this very moment. Yes, right this very moment. Even if you don’t see those familiar news feeds on a computer screen, someone is likely scanning a mobile device loaded with some form of Facebook. There’s a reason they call this the social network—it’s everywhere.

Rather than discouraging your hyper-connected employees, make great use of their talents by recruiting them to be your Facebook champions. Not only will they feel important and inspired by doing something great for your company that they already love to do, they’ll also be the best fit to keep the conversation alive and ongoing. While it can happen, your path to success will be a lot more difficult if you try to encourage a non-social media user to stay engaged on the site, so go with those you know have the passion. Not only will they be better at maintaining your page, they will also likely be more familiar with what works and what doesn’t when it comes to posting information. What makes them visit a certain business page versus another? What can they share with you that will benefit your company?

Now Start Talking

Speaking of posts, you must make sure your champions are adhering to the rules of the game. There are way too many printers out there posting entirely too much sales-related content on their Facebook pages. And I’m not the only one saying that, there’s been debate about it on other social media sites such as LinkedIn. In fact there’s a group on LinkedIn I would encourage you to join called Market Your Printing Company, they’ve had a lively discussion on this very topic. The verdict? Not so great.

So how can you avoid being put on the “how not to” list of Facebook companies? Remember one simple rule: social media is a sacred space. This is where friends and family engage, where grandmas post pictures of grandkids, where long lost friends become found. Stay in that mind frame with every post and I promise you’ll find a much greater following than you might have imagined. Simply put, provide value with every post—it can be educational, complimentary, inquisitive, entertaining, or worthwhile. Let’s take a quick look at each.

Educational. This is an easy one right? If you run across a great marketing article, information on how to do direct mail the right way, or a blog post on hot design tips for the season, post it to your Facebook page.

Complimentary. Show your customers love as much as you can. Celebrate big business in your community; congratulate your customers whenever you hear they did something great. Post pictures of their accomplishments along with congrats and your viewership will climb even higher.

Inquisitive. Ask a great question; see if you can get your customers to respond. “What’s the best marketing book you’ve read this year?” might spark some great, valuable conversation.

Entertaining. Pictures and videos catch eyes. Keep them light and entertaining—photos of the company picnic sack races, a video of the employees having a little (clean) fun. People love to see the human side of the businesses they work with day in and day out.

Worthwhile. Here’s where you can add in a soft, soft sale. Post about an offer or promotion you’re running, but be sure that anyone reading your page would find great value in what you’re announcing.

A few other posting tips: Don’t post more than once per day. For every eight posts, only one can be promotional. And respond, respond, respond. There is nothing that will affect your Facebook following quicker than if you ignore customer comments and requests. You need to pay attention to them just as much as you would like them to pay attention to you.

Direct Traffic

Perfect posts by the perfect employee are one thing, but for those not so regular Facebook users you need to remind them to find you there. Be sure that your website has links to your Facebook page as well as any other social media sites you might be using. And don’t stop there, any other marketing you use—direct mail, print advertising, radio ads, etc.—should make people aware of your Facebook presence.

Once people have found you on Facebook, you can drive traffic the other way as well. Be sure your Facebook page comes complete with your website address (and make sure it’s a working link), email marketing sign up screen, and every way possible to contact you. Your Facebook page is where you’ll keep your customers engaged and happy with your business, but your website, email etc. is where you’ll make sales. Each one must feed the other to find true success.

Give Them a Great Place to Land

Following the best practices we’ve discussed up to this point will take you a long way when it comes to Facebook success. But if you want to rocket past your competitors, consider having a Facebook landing page created. Landing pages are those that are created to welcome visitors to your page. When someone visits your business page, instead of coming straight to your wall full of posts, they can be directed to a page that’s all about saying hello the right way.

Great landing pages are game changing for businesses. Take a look at Dell’s page for a good example of how the B2B world can use landing pages. This first stop is a place to put a call to action, and a much more appropriate place for offers and promotions. You’ll see landing pages that cover a company’s offerings, others that are more for fun and games, and then those—which is where I recommend you start—that reward visitors for “liking” the page. For example, your landing page could be an offer for a free personalized notebook if the visitor “likes” your page. Once that visitor “likes” your page, not only will your posts begin showing up in their newsfeed, a note on their wall will tell all their friends that they “like” your business. You can’t get a much better referral than that.

Play a Little Tag

Stretch the viral mention of your company name even further by remembering to tag every photo you post to your business page. A tag means that you identify the person or company in your photo. In turn, that photo gets posted on the “tagged” person’s wall and all their friends and friends of friends get to see the photo. If they click on it, they’ll be redirected to your company’s page. Now factor in a landing page with your offer or promotion encouraging them to “like” your page, and we’re really beginning to understand the massive potential of Facebook as a marketing tool.

The potential for this type of exposure is hard to find elsewhere so take full advantage. Post pictures of your customers as much as you can, post pictures of community events, ribbon cuttings, maybe even a job delivery now and again. Imagine how thrilled your customers will be to see their smiling faces acknowledged on your site, and if they’re one of the handful that may not like this type of publicity, they can easily “untag” themselves from any photo—no long term damage done.

Face the Facts

Facebook is more than a phenomena, it is the way in which a large majority of the world is choosing to interact these days. It’s not going anywhere—not any time soon anyway. So it’s time to embrace this monstrous, powerful marketing tool by following some very simple steps. You’ll be glad you did. And your customers will “like” you even better than they did before.

Tawnya Starr is a former successful print shop owner who is now president of FireSpring’s PrinterPresence. She has dedicated her career to educating the printing industry on proven website and marketing strategies. In 2005, she received the Industry Award of Distinction from NAQP for her service as a consultant and educator to the industry. Contact her at [email protected]. This article is available as a podcast at www.quickprinting.com/podcast and from iTunes.