5 easy facebook marketing tips that will help you grow your community

If you’re like many business owners or entrepreneurs you have probably found yourself in this situation. You know you HAVE to be on facebook but have no idea how having a fan page is going to land you more sale. Heck, you probably don’t know how to encourage people to become fans in the first place. You are probably so occupying so many roles that growing your fan base is just another daunting task. Don’t fret, in this case you are probably in the 99% :).

Over the years I’ve attended many facebook marketing “how-to’s” seminars, talks, meetups, etc. Lucky for you, I’ve taken lots of notes and I’m going to share the 5 most kick-ass facebook marketing tips that will help you grow your fans.

Before jumping into the goods, I’d like to share a simple model that if followed correctly can help you see success in your online marketing strategy. The reason I start here is because it is important to understand why you are (or should) be investing resources (time or money) into growing your social presence.

1. Set up your foundation
2. Grow a fan base/tribe (more info on Tribes by Seth Godin)
3. Create ongoing engagement
4. Turn fans into profits

So the idea is that by growing a fan base or tribe and providing value, your fans will most likely buy from you instead of your competition. Sales occur when there is a transference of emotion, not a presentation of facts. In this post I’m going to assume you have already worked on the foundation piece of your social media and facebook strategy, and the tips I’m sharing with you today will help with growing your tribe and create ongoing engagement.

1. Kick your banner up Banner

Include something other than your logo as your fan page picture. Sure, you should include an element of your brand in your facebook profile “banner”, you can even include your logo, but include something that showcases your brand, or a project your are working on/promoting. You can actually upload an image 600px(height) x 180px (wide) so you can get really creative.

2. Use a reveal tab (landing page)

I’m sure you’ve seen them, many successful facebook fan pages are using them. The reason they work is that psychologically as humans we want to be in on the “secret”. By having to do something as simple as clicking “like” to enter your page, you have just created exclusivity. After a person likes your page the gate opens and the fan content appears. The great news is that there are now many companies that offer landing page services and barrier to entry is very low. Some do-it-yourselfers (both offer free and paid versions: Pagemodo, Wix and of course Static HTML iframe tabs. The benefit is that you can start creating right away with little or no cost. If you do want something a little more customized then I suggest you setting aside some budget to get this done. Usually hiring someone to do this for you is anywhere from $250-$1000 depending on what you are looking for.

3. Add Value

Nobody wants to come to your page to see that all you do is plug your products. Sorry to say, but that is no way to build a community. You have to provide engaging and relevant content, get to know your fans and reveal a little about yourself (or your organization). Give people a reason to visit your page and to come back. Ask questions, provide information such as ebooks or videos related to your industry. Take your FAQs or industry issues and answer the in an engaging manner. As a rule of thumb contribute 4 pieces of interesting/unique/engaging content and 1 promoting your company/brand/product.

4. Post often but don’t overshare

You want to stay top of mind and working off  tip # 3 provide engaging content that your community is happy to share with friends (either by sharing directly or by commenting or “liking”). However, you need to be conscious that you  don’t become “spammy”. There are many tools out there that can help automate your postings so you don’t need to be setting your alarm to remind you to post. A good one to try is Hootsuite (yes, it’s free!).

5. Advertise

What better way to target your audience than by running some highly targeted ads to reach your ideal customer. facebook announced yesterday that they will likely reach 1 billion users by August. This is 1/7th of the world’s current population. Regardless of industry, I am willing to bet this could mean MANY potential customers for you. With facebook’s highly customizable ads (both look and target audience) you are sure to stumble on a new fan or two by running a couple ads. Study competitor ads, analyze what works for them and budget around $500 to get started.

How To Be Awesome Online

2011 has been a year of exponential growth in the social media scene. From Google Plus, changes to Facebook and Twitter, it is no wonder marketers struggle to stay ahead or on top of trends let alone changes. So how do you achieve success in this landscape? How do you become Awesome in this space? Well,  for starters you need to stop thinking from a traditional perspective and do something different. (For those of you interested in traditional vs. new media marketing click here). People on Facebook and Twitter don’t want to hear about your sale, new product, or brand, they want to connect, so why not create something to engage WITH them.

Before building your social media strategy you need to define your core message. Who are you and what do you represent (not what are you trying to sell) and who do you want to connect with? This simple exercise will help you gain clarity on what role you should be playing online. Once you have this foundation piece you can build your strategy to support this message. When you have a clear core message you can engage with your customers online by contributing substance instead of trying to sell them your latest widget.

To be truly Awesome online you need to do like you were taught at 5 years old: sharing is caring. Think about this social media as kindergarten recess. Those with the coolest snacks (who shared of course) had the most friends. Nobody wants celery sticks when they can have gluten free chocolate peanut butter cups. Build a community based on mutual values, interests and desires. Of course remember that just as any other marketing or communication function this requires planning, strategy, impecable execution, measurement and feedback. Unlike the Mad Men days when organizations could sell with a shiny ad an no substance, consumers today require substance and authenticity.

If you were your customer, what would make you stop? What do you have to offer that would top peanut butter cups? (gluten free of course)

In with inbound marketing

If you are a marketer, entrepreneur or have a Facebook or Twitter account chances are you have heard about inbound marketing. It isn’t a new concept, however with so many social media tools, people connecting online and low barrier to entry it is quickly becoming a strategy of choice for many marketers and organizations.

Voltier Digital compares Inbound/Outbound (traditional) marketing in a striking and fresh manner through the infographic below.

What do you think about the fact that 44% of all direct mail goes unopened or that 86% of people skip TV ads. Does your company have an inbound marketing strategy? Is this something on your radar for 2012?

I’d love to hear your comments below.

Going Social Part II

Ok, so by now you’ve seen the video (here) and know that if you don’t start doing right away you will likely be left behind like ’70s disco pants. 

Now, its really simple to hit up some popular social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, sign up, and forget about it. Delving into a social lifestyle is very much like starting a workout routine. It takes consistency and dedication to see results. What I’m going to be focusing on in my blog is using these tools for business, whether you are a one person shop or a large corporation. Of course the rules of how, where (responsibility lies), and what, is going to depend on industry, organization size and personal preferences, the framework will more or less look the same. I’ll be candid about the tools I use and recommend, some of course will be a better fit for certain groups and not others. I’ll also focus on measuring results, as social media is just like any other marketing/communications platform where results need to be analyzed. (And yes, by my last sentence you will notice that I’m a little biased as what business units SM tends to fall under.)

If that’s not enough to convince you that you not only need to get onboard, but create a meaningful experience, here are some great statistics from Insites Consulting.

– Awareness of Facebook is nearly 100% (Ok, so my 75 year old Grandmom may not be on Facebook, but she sure knows what it is)

– Over 50% of people are connected to brands online. Do you have a platform for your customers?

– 20% of location-based users (aka Foursquare, Facebook Check In feature, do you offer your customers any “benefit” for checking in to your place?

– Over 600 million people use some sort of social network daily

– Average consumers follow a brand to get a direct benefit (You need to “activate” (a term popular in sponsorship) and make the interaction meaningful)

Click on this link to see the entire presentation.

Let me know what you think!

– K

Going Social (as described by Socialnomics)

So why do you need social media? A picture is worth a thousand words but a video?

Socialnomics sums it up pretty well in this video. If you haven’t already seen it, it is definitely worth a watch.

Breaking the Ice

Here it goes, my very first post. Loss for words? Not really. Let me begin with a little story that starts…oh 24 years (give or take) ago…

Kindergarten. Yikes. I don’t really remember much, but I do know that every year since I started school every teacher I had either said, wrote or called my parents about the fact that I talked too much. Ok, maybe not my proudest moments, or so I am led to think. See, I the reason why I was always a “social butterfly” was that I have always been interested in people’s stories. What is wrong with that? Apparently I was just preparing for the future. Fast forward some time and I still very much feel the same way about communication. Throw a bit of business school, real world practice and technology  and VOILA…

SOCIAL MEDIA

I love this stuff! There are now tools to connect, share stories and build relationships that span time and distance. How amazing is that! Now we can communicate with whomever, whenever.

However on this journey I’ve discovered not everyone feels the same excitement. I hear “oh social media, what a waste of time!” Sure, it can be a major distraction…but what if I could show you how to leverage tools and platforms to effectively communicate your message, whether your are an individual or a business? Or what if I said that there are ways to measure the results of the conversations and connections you have/build online? Or what if you know you should be “doing it” but have no idea where to start? No problem! My hope is to use this platform to help you solve your social media conundrums simply but effectively. If you have any specific questions be sure to drop me a line – kcalasin@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until later,

Karla