Facebook Fan Page Marketing Tips (Hubspot.com)

Marketing on Facebook – Effectively Building and Using your Facebook Page
I recently attended a webinar put on by http://www.hubspot.com/ .  Have to say, they have some awesome webinars – very informative, particularly on social media marketing.  This webinar was called “How Marketers Succeed in a Social World“, speakers were Mike Volpe, VP of Marketing at Hubspot, and Victoria Ransom, Founder and CEO of Wildfire.  I want to focus on the specific tips Victoria gave for Facebook Fan Page marketing – she had great, tangible points.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that Facebook is the number one social network out to date.   1 in every 13 people on this earth has a Facebook profile.   Many credit its innovative ways of communication as an instrumental tool in galvanizing the recent international revolutions.   Of course, like anything else gaining extreme popularity, it has attracted the attention of businesses looking to use it as a marketing tool.

It is now as common (and as necessary) for businesses to have a Facebook page as it is to have a website.  In fact, it has the potential to become more common:

• It’s free
• It requires no web development knowledge
• Similar to an email list, it keeps a steady connection between businesses and their “fans”
• The beauty of social network is “in-bound marketing” – meaning your market comes to you.   This rapport is less invasive than traditional outbound marketing – for example, hoping your market will catch an ad or flyer you put out.

So to the nitty gritty! How can you use Facebook page to effectively help your marketing?

Victoria Ransom had some great tips:

Her philosophy is built on 3 pillars…

• Grow
• Enagage
• Monetize

GROW

Facebook Ads

• Spend Ad Money. At the end of the day, a significant portion of fans come through Facebook ads.  Facebook ads are very targeted based on users’ interests (their ad system is growing and is slowly but surely gaining ground from Google Adwords).  Do set aside a portion of your budget for this – the fans you gain can potentially yield an easy return.
• Give your prospect a reason to click your ad. Rather than simply putting information about your business – promotions, incentives, and contests will give you a better click through rate.
• Don’t drive people out of Facebook (to an external site). You’ll increase your bounce rate.  They came to Facebook to be on Facebook.  Lead them to a customized landing tab on your Facebook page.  Get them to “like” – establish that connection so you can market to them later.
• Advertise to friends of Fans. Facebook allows you to do this, and it builds credibility if their friends like your page.
• A/B test your ads. It’s important to test ads and keep them fresh.  If users see the same ad consistently, they are more likely to ignore it.

Promotions/Contests/Giveaways

• Pages that employ incentives have twice as many fans as pages that don’t.
• Keep contests simple.  If fans have to join a thousand things, click here, go there, etc, the amount of energy it’s forcing them to spend will make them quit!
• Make it social by offering a prize for referrals – have fans bring fans!
• Keep your audience relevant by offering prizes related to your industry.  For example, offering an iPad will definitely get all types of participants, but may not be fans that are interested in your clothing store, for example.

ENGAGE

• Engagement begets more engagement. Just because you post something to your wall doesn’t mean your 1000 fans will see it.  Facebook has an algorithm that decides if your post will be “fed”.  A big factor is engagement with that post, so it’s important your posts get interaction.
• Actually explicitly ask fans/friends to engage – Post “Like this!!!” or “Share This!”
• Pose open-ended questions to get fans to answer. “What are you going to do for Earth Day?”
• The quality of your post is more important than quantity of posts.  Posting 100 times a day could saturate your wall.  Choose quality posts over quantity.
• Build a calendar of posts around events.  For example – post Christmas related questions and promotions around Christmas.

MONETIZE

• Make your buying process social.  Not only include a cart in your store, but offer coupons/prizes to facebook fans.