by Michal Weinstein
Over the past few years SOCIAL MEDIA (particularly Facebook) has become a big part of the services my company MLWDESIGN offers. It was a natural progression considering how it works hand in hand with web design and requires at times customized graphics. So it’s safe to say, between personally being a facebooker and administrating dozens of pages, I have become quite expert in all things FACEBOOK.
This morning, approximately 5am, I woke up and started my day as I usually do…checking up on all my PAGES. I like to see if they went up in fans overnight and if anything new is going on. Because I am able to see behind the scenes of many pages, what works and what doesn’t is very obvious to me. So based on my experience, I’d like to present the top ten tips for a business to succeed on Facebook.
Now I think it’s safe to assume that as a business owner, your number one goal when delving into the world of social media is to increase awareness of your brand, ultimately leading to an increase of your bottom line. In order to successfully accomplish that goal it’s imperative you understand Facebook and it’s nature before jumping in. Your social media strategy should keep the following ten tips in mind in order to succeed, otherwise you will languish with few fans and waste a lot of time and money.
1) DO NOT BE AN ANNOYING TELEMARKETER!
SELL! SELL! SELL! NOT! Let me ask you a question. Imagine your phone ringing 4-7 times a night and each time you answer it an annoying pre-recorded voice booms messages loudly such as this: “Quick!!!! Our cars are on sale today only!!!! Come to our showroom and get a great deal while you can!” or “Just got in a great dress, perfect for the beach! Must see!!!”
Eventually you screen your calls carefully or even stop answering your phone. Now imagine the calls were different. It was from an actual human being leaving a JustDeliverIt ringless voicemail. It could be someone you know from the neighborhood establishment you frequent, or Raphael the hairstylist from your salon, or Warren the Shihan from your local dojo.
“Hey. How’s it going? Can you believe this heat? How you handling it? How are the kids now that schools out? Oh, you feel overwhelmed? I hear you. Well feel free to drop them off at the Dojo anytime. We are having a camp thing going on this week.”
” Hey just checking up on you. How’s that smoothing treatment we did holding up? Great! So glad. After the summer you will need to do it again but for now enjoy your friz free hair. ”
This, my friend, is the difference between a successful sell and a massive fail.
Facebook works the same way. People are not on Facebook to buy buy buy. They are there for the social experience. To connect. To keep up. To bust boredom. To see how others live. To learn more. To laugh. In a nutshell, to be entertained! The places where you need to sell are where people are going to go with the intention of buying things; your website or an app. If you don’t have an app, you could contact Expedition Co. to see about getting an app developed. Keeping it off social media is key. So do you now understand the approach you need to take to be successful? Do not be that annoying telemarketer. Give your clients what they are seeking and as a result they will become more loyal and your bottom line will increase.
2) BE A FRIEND!
Let’s talk about a few of my most successful FB clients and friends. Bits of glitz, an online costume jewelry store that sells great, glitzy, fun, glamorous, costume jewelry. Owner Chaya is a mom working from home and she has managed to amass almost 7,000 fans. That’s right you heard me…7,000! She did not do this overnight. She worked hard for her fans. As a fan of her page you feel like you really know her. She is her brand and her frequent posts reflect that. She doesn’t just sell sell sell. She posts sayings, inspiring images, funny quips. Her personality oozes through her choice of words. And when she does sell you are already hooked on her and it feels like its coming from a friend. A friend you want to hang with. Hate to break the news to you but FACEBOOK is a popularity contest with the most interesting, cool, hip, fun, funny, pretty getting the followers. Don’t be a wallflower. Don’t post nerdy things. Don’t pick your nose while posting either…..just be friendly and try and make friends.
3) STIMULATE YOUR NEW FRIENDS!
Yes giveaways help you get more fans. The bigger the better. However rather than ask your Fan to just like and share to win… Yawn! Why not do interactive giveaways that allow your fans to utilize their creativity and brain power. People like that. They feel like they are working for their prize and it s much more satisfying than just sharing and hoping you get lucky. It’s like the difference between winning a scratch off lotto ticket vs. winning an academy for your work and having the world acknowledge your brilliance. A great example was a campaign I helped run for JEN K DESIGNS where fans had to guess the number of stones in a jar. Or 100% kids current campaign asking people to come up with a new name for their company. The interactive responses are amazing and the numbers of fans going up don’t lie. So be creative and don’t jut take easy way out by asking your fans to share.
4) STEAL
The Internet is ripe with great images and quotes and funny thoughts. Become more aware of things your fans would appreciate and share it. Remember this is all part of being entertaining. You don’t have to be computer savvy. You just have to know how to save images, cut links and paste. Very Basic skills. If you don’t know how…time to ask your kids to teach you.
5) BLOG
Take advantage of blogging. The ideal scenario is for your company to have a blog for the sole purpose of search engine optimization. Google loves blogs because they are rich with great keywords. The more you update your website with these rich keywords the higher your ranking on Google. Businesses will regularly update their blogs and look into various affordable seo package options to further increase traffic and site visibility, converting to unique users and hopefully sales. Blogs are great too because they give you a platform for selling but in an informative entertaining way. Similar to Facebook but the only difference is people have to come to your blog whereas your fb posts go to your fans. So sharing your latest blog articles on Facebook or if you don’t have time or skills to write your own, sharing someone else’s blog article (giving them credit), is a great way to entertain and provide a service. Note: Make sure those articles are geared towards your audience. A fashion site does not want to hear about nuclear science advances.
6) DON’T FORGET YOUR ROOTS!
Fashion-isha, AKA. Sharon Langert, a dynamic mom from Lakewood is an example of a blogger who uses Facebook magnificently. She too has a healthy number of fans in the thousands. It is obvious she started blogging about fashion and lifestyle for the refined woman because of her passion to share her knowledge and talents. Along the way businesses noticed that when she writes people listen and so her blogging has opened up many great business opportunities for her. But it is clear she has not forgotten what brought her here in the first place. Her blogs continue to be entertaining, meaningful, educational, peppered with her promoting things that target her market. As a fan I always am interested in the latest shoe company she discovered or event she’s involved in because she’s offering me way more than just trying to get me to buy. It’s no different than a magazine that sells ads but provides juicy content. That’s my friends is what Facebook is all about.
7) BE IN IT TO WIN IT!
If you are not in it than don’t expect to succeed. How on earth do you expect to understand Facebook and what works if you are not on it yourself? And if you are against being on it than do yourself a favor and hire someone else to run your page or get a relative or employee who is on it to do so. But I will warn you: nothing replaces the real owner. People are not stupid and can feel the diference between a hired company that tries to post personable stuff vs. the real deal. So if you are the business owner I strongly suggest being more hands on.
8) DUH! TELL PEOPLE YOU ARE ON FB.
This one is obvious but you’d be surprised. Add your FB page to your business cards, website and of course promote it in your place of business. Let people know you are on FB. I recently came across a great site that sells clothes that I love. Naturally I fanned them because I know if I don’t I’ll forget about them. Your customers will want to be your fans, but sometimes you have to remind them or nudge them. Also if you are on FB push your friends to FAN your page. Even if it means inviting them frequently. If they’re your personal FB friends they should want to support your page…otherwise you might as well DEFRIEND!
9) YOU SCRATCH MY BACK AND I’LL SCRATCH YOURS.
Give frequent shout outs to others on FB who please you be it the place you just did your child’s party at (SHOUT OUT TO BREEZY’s WHO DID A FAB JOB ON MY DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!) or the beautician who gave you a great facial (SHOUT OUT TO LEAH’S BEAUTY CONCEPTS!) . By sincerely complimenting others you are spreading goodwill and in return you may just get a shout out too. And that’s the best form of advertising. Unsolicited shout outs!
10) FINALLY…TAKE A CHILL PILL!
Stop complaining that it’s hard and that you don’t have enough fans. Understand that nothing is without effort. Sure you can buy fans… There are services for that. For $25 you can get 1000 fake fans to boost your numbers and make you look more important. But let’s be real…nothing compares to building quality fans one by one and developing a connection with them that will both give you personal satisfaction and ultimately lead to an increase in your bottom line.
And isn’t that what it all comes down to in the end?
Michal Weinstein is owner of mlwdesign, a full-fledged web design and graphics firm that specializes in social media. If you’d like to reprint this article you can do so by giving credit to michal weinstein of mlwdesign.com..
Jun 22, 2012 / Blog / Musings