By Bill Fletcher

Do you have “Marketing on Facebook” penciled in on your calendar, but never do it because you’re just not sure what to do?  If so, here are a few tips you need to know. This article offers a few suggestions to help you launch your Facebook Marketing campaign successfully so that you can attract customers in exchange for your time.

Let’s begin by saying that Facebook Marketing 101: Everything You Need To Know is not going to be “everything you need to know” about Facebook.  There is simply too much to know to offer in a short article.  Instead the purpose is to give you some ideas and start the thought process.  Marketing on Facebook is not that hard, but if done wrong in can get you in Facebook jail.

Facebook is always changing so what you learn today maybe different tomorrow.  But again, learning the basics and then adapting can make you a Facebook master.

Future article will explore more on Facebook and how to market on Facebook.  One thing I have found out and hope to save you some money…as mentioned, Facebook changes frequently.  Purchase a Facebook book today and it will be out of date by the end of the month.  Stay up-to-date by using Google, YouTube, Blog sites and other social media.  Many of these sources will have better and up-to-date information.  Come back here often as I will provide updates and suggestions on Facebook Marketing as well as Blogging and other important Tips.

I have also found a few experts that you can tap into…more on that later.

Your Facebook Marketing Campaign

Before you began you really need to set down and figure out…What are your goals?  Are you marketing on Facebook:

• To get sales for your home based business?
• Maybe you have a network marketing business and your looking for leads..is that your goal?
• You looking for readers to your Blog?
• Are you using Facebook for fun and relaxation?

Answer these question first before you begin any marketing campaign.

Get a pencil and paper now and outline your purpose.  If you don’t do this simple plan, you will be just wasting your time.  “What are your goals for your marketing campaign?”

Your Campaign On Trial

You can launch your campaign on a trial basis.  Try something like “product information”.  If that doesn’t get you anywhere, change it.  Promote your Blog and change if you are not sure how your audience will react to it. Once you get a better idea of how interested your customers are, you should get some reasonable ideas for setting other goals for your campaign.

Remember in the first step you outlined your goals.  Now you can see how important that first step can be!

Facebook Insights

Make good use of Facebook Insights. You should visit this feature TAB on a weekly basis to get an idea of how many people you reached out to. You will be able to get detailed numbers for each updates as well as a weekly number of uses you reached out to.

Talk with your fans often to get their feedback on your products. If a person takes time to post on your page, make a note of what they said. You can alter your Facebook Marketing ideas to match what your customers want. When someone posts on your page, make sure to respond to them.

DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS TAB as it provides important information on the health of your Facebook Posts.

Facebook Followers

If you’re having trouble gaining followers, you can offer a contest in return for their “Like”.  Just place the contest in a tab on your company’s page and have them fill it out with their email address, specifying that only those who “Like” your page will be eligible for the contest.

A contest is nothing if it does not offer something of value.  This is where you can make a mistake or become a successful marketer.  What are you looking to gain from the contest?

True story:  A friend of mine want to start a home based business but didn’t know what to name the business.  He ran a contest on Facebook for people to summit possible names.  He had an Affiliate product he was promoting.  So he sent people over to his Blog to get and an idea about his product and his business goals.  Think what he was doing, people learned about his Affiliate product, his goals and got to know him.  Some even purchased the product out of interest.  After 3 week he had over 50 names.  He also had 20 affiliate sales and 2 affiliate partners.  That simple idea netted him $6,000 and helped launch his Affiliate Business.  He also received a good name for his business.

Contest are great but you can also do Survey’s.  SurveyMonkey is an awesome product for getting survey’s.  I find that many people will take a survey just because it is fun.

Market Your Business Just Like Any Business

While you want to advertise your products, this should not be the only content that is present on your Facebook page. You should share any information that you feel is relevant to your business. If people think that making money is your only goal, they will be hesitant to work with you.

Do not leave any sections of your Facebook page blank.  Just like any business you’re looking to market your business to current and future customers.  Many people neglect to put all of their info and this can cost a lot in the long run. If people cannot find the information they need on your business, they may look for somewhere else to get what they need.

Your ABOUT tab is extremely important.  Complete this tab before you do anything else.  Here is a TIP:  Always put your Website or Blog site at the beginning of your “Short Description.”  Then complete your description.  You want your viewer’s to see your Website or Blog first.

In the “Personal Information” I also put my Blog site URL.  Alway promote your Blog as much as possible.

If you have a company that only deals with your customers every now and again you really don’t need a Facebook page.  No one will bother following your daily posts if they don’t buy from you frequently.  Invest in targeted Facebook ads instead.

Should You Pay to Have People See Your Posts?

You’ve probably heard the news that Facebook has decreased the organic reach for pages. That means that to be seen in your community’s news feed, you need to spend some money on Facebook ads.

Go back to your goals.  What is your intent?  Now with your goal in mind, should you boost or promote your posts?   That depends.  Base your decision on which posts are helpful to your audience and further your goals on Facebook.

You don’t need to pay or boost for every post—just choose the best ones. Use the suggestions the follow to help you decide which posts will help you the most.

• Only promote your own content. Even if you’re sharing a good tip from another website, don’t boost it if it links to someone else. Why pay to send traffic to someone else’s site?
• Pick content that’s helpful for your audience. Promoting sales messages from time to time is OK, but primarily choose content that will benefit your audience.
• Promote content that gets your fans on your email list. If you’re offering something for free with an opt-in, definitely promote that content so you can transfer as many fans to your email list as possible. This includes giveaways, free webinars, free ebooks and any other type of freebie.

Remember the 20% text rule on photos. If your post has a link in it and the link pulls in a photo that has too much text, you won’t be able to boost or promote it. Use Facebook’s Grid Tool to determine if the image has too much text.

More on Boosting, When To Boost and When To Promote in the next article:  Facebook Marketing 101:  When To Promote Facebook?

Set a budget for attracting leads or likes (remember your goal).  I recommend you start with a $5.00 per day budget to get likes.  I like to use “Engagements” to get likes.

If you are in Network Marketing, target people who are in the business of Network Marketing or people who promote Network Marketing.  In my Ad Manager Targeting I have a minimum of 15 people or suggestions ie:  Multi-Level Marketing MLM, Robert Klyosaki, Tony Robins, Jim Rohn, etc.

Summery

Don’t be afraid to get personal.  People will buy from people they know, like and trust.  Even if you’re a company, getting a little personal can really do a lot to build customer engagement and loyalty. But don’t go too far! People don’t need to know every single monotonous detail of your life. Find a happy balance that gets people interested in your brand.

If you haven’t done it yet, Get out that paper and pencil in the tips I just went over. Since you have some specific things to do, you just need to start doing them.  Identify who your are trying to attract!  What is your purpose!  Become a student in Facebook Marketing!  Expect results, but marketing is marketing…what works today my not tomorrow.  Keep up with the changes.

Before you do any campaigns, know who you are targeting, what are their issues,  how can you solve their issues and what product or services can you offer?

Do these actions every time you turn on your computer and soon you’ll have more customers than you know what to do with.

And by all means stay away from “Facebook Jail”.

Thanks for the visit and again go to the next step of Facebook Marketing 101: When Do You Boost A Post?  Click Here

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