As we have all learned, social media has become a must for any business, no matter the size of the business. Simply put, you have to be where your customers are, or on social media. But how do you reach prospective customers, or more specifically, the customers you want to ‘Like’ your Facebook Page and not just fellow colleagues, family members, and friends who already presumably believe in what you’re doing?
While the statistics for the number of people who are on the internet globally vary – it’s likely in the billions – the bottom line is that your prospective customers are searching for your goods and services daily. And what your Facebook Page says and offers speaks to those millions of prospects. Therefore, if you elect to have a social media strategy and utilize a specific platform like Facebook, for example, your page has to be kept current, ‘hip,’ and full of content that is directed at your prospects. Facebook is, after all, entirely a social and fun platform, so your content has to be the same.
The following 5 objectives will help keep your business on-target in an everchanging social media world.
1. Keep it Current
If you have a Facebook Fan Page, what’s the sense in creating it and then abandoning it simply so you can say that you have one? Content is the most important factor in managing your Facebook ‘Fan’ base (and any social media platform, for that matter). It’s nice for you to say you have 100 Facebook ‘Fans’, for example, but what kind of content are you posting to drive those ‘Fans’ to your website, or ultimately, to your storefront, which then equates to actual customers who are buying or using your goods and services?
2. Know Your Customers
When you have an effective marketing strategy, you know exactly who your customers are and who your prospects need to be. You can (and should) make your Facebook Page the fun place where your existing customers and new prospects are constantly looking to see what you’re offering, and, at the very least, make the appearance of the fun place where customers and prospective new customers are learning about your fun and fact-based place of business on a regular basis.
3. Develop Your Social Media Strategy
Once you have determined on which social media platforms you’re going to be, make sure your strategy comes with a calendar of events. Facebook is the most social of all of the social media platforms available to you, so announcing fun events and contests are a must, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses who don’t have the leverage of nationally-known brands.
4. Manage Your Social Media Objectives
After you have posted regular and fun content on your Facebook ‘Fan’ Page, make sure you’re managing the number of ‘Fans’ who will be participating in your contests and events. Ensuring follow-up is critical to any successful social media marketing strategy.
5. Leverage Your Business
The whole point of social media and platforms like Facebook is to drive your customer to your website and storefront to learn more about you and what goods and services you’re offering. Take advantage of steering those Facebook ‘Fans’ to other social media sites geared towards a specific purpose. Utilize the information you’re gaining from your Facebook ‘Fans’ and turn more prospects into lifetime customers.
Keeping your customer continuously engaged in a social media world is vital in today’s marketplace, whether you have 5 or 500 employees. These are, after all, the same internet systems teenagers are utilizing to cultivate friends and emerge with chronicles of their daily lives, proving that individual businesses and small to mid-sized businesses can equally do the same.
