Say Farewell to Free Exposure
Hosting a business on page on Facebook in 2014 is propelling business owners out of the cheap seats and promoting a pay to play approach. If you’re a business page owner and you’ve been watching the amount of people who have been viewing your posts, you’re likely noticing a shrinking number.
As a Facebook profile user, you’re probably noticing the personal posts from your friends and family in your newsfeed and the business posts pushed down to the bottom. If they are at the top, they are more than likely posts that have been paid to be boosted there. And that is no accident. If you’re a business, you can no longer expect a free ride on Facebook.
If you have a decent sized Facebook fan base (number of likes), then you’re going to need to set aside some of your 2014 marketing budget to get more exposure for your posts. Facebook is the proverbial water cooler for the majority of your ideal customers, and to get your brand in front of them, you’re going to need to make an investment.
For more information, check out our Facebook Advertising information.
Getting More Page Likes
Lots of business owners tell me that they want more people to like their business page. Facebook does enable you to reach out to your ideal customers based on criteria such as: age range, city, state/province, country, male/female, parents, education level completed and specific interests.
Depending on how large your target market is, will determine the cost of each new like for your page. When you have a larger reach with a broad audience, it is cheaper per like than for a small business with more specific criteria and a smaller geographic reach.
198,000,000 Facebook users are exclusively mobile users.
Want More Engagement? People Like to See, Not Read
Internet surfers are notorious for being skimmers instead of readers, and Facebook users are no different. They’re going there for fun, entertainment, education and to connect with others. They aren’t there to read paragraphs and paragraphs of boring sales dribble.
To get more likes, comments and shares? Try a fresh and creative approach. People like images, and even better, video. Especially when it is short and provides decent entertainment value. It doesn’t need to be professional videography either.
People like authentic content, so take a step out of your comfort zone and be vulnerable. People want to get to know the real you, so show them who you are and take the risk. What is the worst that can happen? If they don’t engage with it, try it again with a different approach. Social media is a great testing ground for determining which marketing messages are going to work. Thinking of it as your testing grounds, which might make it easier for you to get started.
Here are some great campaigns that work well on Facebook:
- Contests/Sweepstakes for product based businesses
- Sales Videos with a strategy session for a call-to-action
- Local Events
- Like Campaigns
Think Your Customers Are Too Old for Facebook?
Think again. The largest growing age group of Facebook users are the 45-54 year olds. This age group enjoys catching up with their high school friends, seeing pictures and updates from their children and grandchildren. Parents become friends with their kids on Facebook so they can keep an eye on them, but they should think again. Their kids are going elsewhere.
Where Is Gen Y Hanging Out Online?
The youngest audience, the 18-24 year olds, who originally created the massive growth of Facebook are slowing moving away from the platform. They are more interested in newer platforms like SnapChat, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. This is important to note in case this is the group that you’re trying to capture.
Some teens are also sensitive to Facebook because they’re afraid of being bullied. In addition, because the platform is so personal, they also might take breaks from it so they can avoid people like ex-girlfriends/boyfriends. At the end of the day, it’s not their main point of interest, it’s just in the background noise for them.
Still Need Some Assistance?
If Facebook Advertising is of interest to you, but you don’t have the time to manage your strategy and posts on your own, I can help. I work with small and medium sized business owners to select the best social media platform for their ideal customers, create their editorial calendars and get the exposure they’re looking for on Facebook.
If video creation is of interest to you, I can create a video for you based on the clips you’ve created on your own iPad. If you don’t have one, I can help you from start to finish for a video production.
Contact me today for your social media marketing consultation.
93% of marketers use social media for business.
