When I created my first Facebook page, it was a real fan page. Its purpose was only to bring together the fans of the basketball team of Balkan, Botevgrad, to share news about the club, to organize "fan events", etc. I wanted to get more kids to play basketball and more people to attend the games. Back then the team was in the "B" group, but it had a glorious past and I believed it had a glorious future. Well, the latter is now also a fact.
Page Balkan Botevgrad has never aimed to have hundreds of thousands of followers, simply because there are not hundreds of thousands of people in the world who like Balkan Botevgrad. The page was never intended to increase traffic to any site, simply because Balkan Botevgrad never had its own site.
During the summer the page has almost no activity, simply because the team is on vacation during the summer. The biggest activity is in May, when the playoffs are on, the whole Botevgrad gets excited about the results and is happy to like and share photos and news from the last game. People's engagement during the season is FE-NO-ME-NAL-NAL, even though the page is not maintained according to the rules we marketers usually advise. The reason: people just like the team and want to express their love and support.
Facebook is a great platform for achieving ideal goals, but it's also a great tool for businesses. While more and more business people see the web as an advertising channel, Zuckerberg and company have managed (so far) to resist the temptation and Facebook remains primarily a medium for people to share their joys, sorrows, successes, preferences, interests and events with others.
We have recently started a series of publications that aim to help small businesses navigate the wide field of opportunities online. В Part 1 I briefly tell you the benefits and give you an idea of what you can do on a minimal or zero budget to have a website. В Part 2 Nikolay introduces you to Google: what's available as services for businesses, to make you more visible to the end customer. Today I will try to be useful on the topic Facebook - where to start and what and how (not) to do.
Why attend in Facebook and what to expect?
С 1.44 billion. active users per month Facebook is too big to be ignored! Plus it's completely free, even for businesses!
Facebook allows you to show your identity and stand out. Every business is unique in its own right. You certainly have something to show that you are proud of too! The social network allows you create a kind of community around your business - a community of people who are already your customers, employees, friends. By interacting with them, you will reach more people who will like you and you will add them to make the small community big.
However, it's unrealistic to think that creating and maintaining a Facebook page will secure you a flow of customers and free you from the need to pursue marketing efforts on other fronts. Social networking is just an add-on to the variety of channels you already use and to burden them with too high expectations would be unreasonable to say the least.
What to do?
Create a Facebook page (page) - not a personal profile and not a group, but a page. One of the most unpleasant things that happens to me on Facebook is getting friend requests from "Shop for crystal: AFRODITA" (for example). There's just no way I'm friends with a crystal shop, be it Aphrodite! Friendship gives both parties access to personal moments that people don't want to share with someone they don't know. So - personal is personal, business is business. The solution for businesses on Facebook is a page and there is not a single good reason to look for another option. It's just that in this case, your ingenuity will not be rewarded.
In addition, Facebook Pages give you the option of paid advertising, integration with other channels, use of various apps that drive user engagement, and other features. Even if you don't need them yet, you don't know if you'll need to use them in the future.
A few things to look out for when setting up a Facebook page for your business:
- Profile picture - must be square to visualize well. The standard choice of businesses for a profile picture is the company/brand logo, but you can also consider something more original.
- Cover - the ideal size is 851 by 315 pixels, but if you can't create an image that covers the requirements perfectly, choose a crisp landscape-format photo (wider rather than tall).
- Category - it is important to choose exactly what category your business is. Facebook offers different visualization for different business categories. So, for example, if you are a small shop (local business), your address (important to enter accurately) will come to the forefront.
- Try to fill in all the possible fields to describe your business - they are quite free, and can be very handy and help you think of definitions of your business and products that you may not have thought of before. The right questions are often more valuable than the answers!
Viola! The page is ready. And now what?
It's a bit like with children. We wait for them for 9 months, we prepare. The birth is the big event, and as it passes, we realize that actually the real work is yet to come. I don't mean to scare you. It's not scary or difficult at all. Here's what to keep in mind when maintaining your Facebook page:
- Contents: select a variety of content - photos, videos, links to articles, websites. They don't have to be yours, but if they're not, you should credit their source or share directly from the source.
- Topics: think of topics that diversify your main topic but are related to it. We always advise our clients to lift their heads and look a little further than under their noses (well, we more politely serve it to them). For example, if you're a real estate broker, topics that interest your audience are: property, construction, but maybe also furnishings, landscaping, household tips, and more.
- Frequency of publications: post content regularly - daily or twice a day is very good, but only if you have something to share long-term. If you're a small business, a regimen of 3-4 posts per week would probably be better for you. That's fine. Keep the pace regular!
- Don't overdo it with aggressive "BUY NOW AT A GREAT PRICE", "DON'T MISS OUT ON A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY" style sales posts. Sure, use social to tell your customers about a new product, promotion or discount, but don't just inundate them with direct offers to buy.
Remember that social networks are a place where people want to communicate with people humanlyto share their experiences and learn new things. Offer them such an experience and you will have success! One more thing: people like to buy, but they don't like to be sold to. Think about how to take advantage of this!
7 ways to dramatically improve your Facebook campaigns
Some useful Facebook settings you don't know
Tips for small businesses online: part 2 - Google
Tips for small businesses online: part 1 - website
If you need a consultation or just want to entrust your social media task to a professional, call, email, ask, we'll answer: 024112656, office@proper.media
Don't miss the next tips from the Proper media team - like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ProperMediaBG
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