Just like other social media tools, Facebook can be very effective in helping businesses to communicate with their target audiences.
At Quest PR we maximise both traditional communications and social marketing tools to underpin our SME clients? business plans. So our first piece of advice ? before you think about setting up a Facebook page ? is, as always, to carefully consider your key messages and the audiences you are trying to reach.
The Facebook audience is massive: there are over 30 million active users in the UK, a figure that has trebled in three years. Of that audience, the majority is female, 77 per cent of users are under 40 years old and over half are aged between 13 and 29. If this isn?t your core audience you should think seriously about whether Facebook is for you.
If you?re still convinced, the next consideration is that most people use Facebook to chat to their friends and play games. The way you communicate has to fit in with this to be effective.
This means content should be a mix of customer engagement, unique offers and articles promoting your corporate social responsibility. People don?t want the hard sell.
The key is to plan your content and tie it in with your marketing activities. Although you can?t simply recreate an ad, think of other ways to communicate, for example, how the seasons affect your business, the success of events and product launches, or a celebration of the company?s birthday.
Images are becoming increasingly vital to making an impact on Facebook. The five most recent images appear at the top of the page but can be manipulated. This creates a brand identity for your page. Some big stores like Debenhams use their page like a banner ad, giving information on sales and products, whilst others like Adidas post sporting images that match their brand.
The next layer of content is videos. Why bore your audience with a long paragraph explaining how to do something complicated when a short video can convey the same message in a much more dynamic and interesting way.
A really successful Facebook site will keep people coming back by regularly updating content and offering something of value. This might be letting people know about forthcoming events ? which you can video or photograph. Transport the buzz back onto the Facebook site and complete the circle by asking people to comment on the event and what you could do differently next time.
Polls and applications can help you gather feedback or offer something extra to?visitors. Although you may need to work with a developer, you can create tools that help your potential customers before they?ve even got in contact with you.
But how do you measure success? Don?t just chase ?likes?. The link between likes and active engagement can be very tenuous: the successful celebrity pages with millions of followers show that only 0.004% of their ?likes? actively engage with the site.
It?s more important to focus on the number of unique users and to check whether your users are clicking through to your website. Ask yourself on an ongoing basis: how can the content help my customers get a better level of service or added value? Engaging effectively with your audience is key to them taking the next step of doing business with you.
Which companies? Facebook sites work well? Share your thoughts with us!
Source: http://questprblog.com/1736/can-facebook-bolster-your-business/
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