Tips for Using Facebook Strategically

Tips for Using Facebook Strategically

While some Facebook pages are quite active, with lots of dialogue and good interaction, expectations for Facebook business pages frequently don’t match reality. So how do you get more engagement on your Facebook business page?

Rule number one: It’s not all about you. While your potential customers spend a great deal of time on Facebook and other social sites, often they are socializing. As a business on Facebook, you need to interact and be social before trying to sell. Use Facebook as a way to engage with potential customers and affiliate businesses; share news and helpful information about others. Add comments and useful tips without being self-promoting.

Being social doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be strategic, however. Keeping focused on your target market can make a significant difference in your results. Think about other businesses which share your demographic as you decide what to say,where to post and which pages to target. Be generous but authentic; promoting others may lead to (formal or informal) co-marketing partnerships or alliances.

Let’s say you own a fine restaurant in a tourist destination. You’re open for dinners each night and brunch on the weekends. So who is your target customer — the one who likes the Go-Kart rentals or the one who likes the sunset schooner sail? The ones who stay at the campground or the historic inn? The organic juice bar or the Irish pub?

Make a list.

1) If you don’t already have one, make a list of 10 or more affiliate business types that share your target demographic. If you’re the restaurant in the prior example, those business types might include spas, fine gift shops, designer accessory stores, or hotels. If your business provides nutritional counseling, your list of affiliate business types could include professionals who provide integrative or holistic therapies such as acupuncturists and massage therapists, as welll as organic food manufacturers, health food stores, vegan restaurants, and personal trainers or fitness centers.

2) Drill down from your general list of business types to identify specific companies with a target client similar to yours. If your business is local, identify geographically relevant businesses as well.

3) Taking your list from #2, look for each of the specific businesses on Facebook, and “like” them as your business. Doing so will cause their posts to potentially (based on Facebook’s algorithm) appear in the news feed for your business Facebook page. Work this process for your whole list of target businesses and like as many of the pages as you can find. Your business page has now initiated a relationship with potential business partners.

4) To really engage, your connection with these target business partners must go beyond simply liking their Facebook page to sharing, promotion, and engagement through dialogue. Look at your news feed for posts from these target businesses, to explore or share with your network. Make a habit of visiting their page, review their posts and comment or share.

 5) Each Facebook business page can have two types of “likes” — the people or pages that like the business, and those pages that the business page has liked. While you don’t determine who decides to like your page, you do decide which pages to like on behalf of your business. Business pages that share your demographic may have liked pages that would be appropriate for you to add to your target list. Explore the lists of “likes” on the pages of your target businesses. While the dry cleaner or the drugstore in town many not have been on the restaurant’s initial list of business types to target, both businesses may be relevant and appropriate to “like.” 

Want more practical tips for increasing the effectiveness of your social media efforts? Check out these two upcoming workshops on using Facebook & Twitter for business.