Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses

Facebook is inundated with businesses, both large and small.

This may make it harder for small businesses, without an existing Facebook presence, to make themselves heard. However many small businesses have used Facebook to their advantage, successfully marketing themselves by integrating Facebook into their larger marketing strategy.

Using Facebook for business in this way is a good idea for any small business, even if you audience is small to begin with. Not only will Facebook provide your business with a more personal identity, it’s a great platform from which your target audience can learn more about your business and interact with you directly. And since consumers are more likely to make purchasing decisions based on the recommendation of a friend than they are from an advertisement, getting sociable with your customers can only be good for business.

Conversations VS Marketing

Social media optimisation is capable of driving traffic, and therefore sales. But Facebook is predominantly about enjoyment, not marketing. Users don’t want to feel as though they’re being advertised to, as can been seen from the controversies which have arisen as a result of Facebook incorporating paid advertisements (sponsored stories) into their front page newsfeed.

For this reason alone, it’s important that businesses do not treat Facebook like a pure marketing platform. Instead, its value arises out of providing a forum in which your business can interact and communicate directly with customers. This will, in turn, support your marketing efforts elsewhere, particularly if these efforts are integrated into your regular Facebook posts and conversations.

Regulated Use for Regular Results

The most important thing to remember about implementing a marketing strategy on Facebook, just as with any other social network, is that you cannot simply set up a profile and wait for results. Social media marketing requires constant monitoring, both to maintain regularity in your posts and to monitor and manage your brand’s social media reputation.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be on Facebook 24/7. In fact, many small businesses have achieved success by automating their status updates and then visiting their page only once a day, or a few times a week. Scheduling your updates can be done quickly and easily through services such as TweetDeck.

A Real Voice is Better Than a Robot

The main advantage of posting regularly on Facebook is that your brand will experience increased visibility, and therefore greater reach. However don’t rely on automated services such as this to do all of your work for you – the NRA have proven quite recently how automating any kind of social media post can easily go horribly wrong. Whilst automating will allow you to maintain a regular presence, you should always make sure your brand’s voice is consistent with both your users’ expectations, and any relevant current affairs.

In addition, maintaining a consistent human presence on your Facebook profile will enable your users to interact and communicate more positively with your brand, leading to increased satisfaction on their part and improved ROI on yours. It’s important to remember that sometimes the best social media results will come from performing actions which aren’t quantifiable, such as taking the time to answer a customer’s query directly. In this respect, even a little will go a long way.