Did you know that 2.6 million New Zealanders use Facebook every month? Alexa announced earlier this year that an average of 2 million Kiwis looked at their Facebook page at least once a day; most people logged into their accounts at least 14 times a day and spent 42 minutes reading, posting, commenting and liking others Facebook posts(!). Another 1.6 million New Zealanders access Facebook on their smartphones, and 76% of us do this on a daily basis. A staggering 91% of 25 – 34-year-olds use their mobile phone to access Facebook, and 87% of 35 – 44-year-olds use their phones. Do these numbers surprise you at all? Have you even considered Facebook as a platform to advertise your business?
More businesses are moving away from using traditional methods of advertising and are instead spending their marketing dollars using social media to advertise their business. An interesting statistic from Nielson Media Research found that 56% of Facebook users who discover a business or product on Facebook then go to that business’s website to read about it further. A mere 36% of us then go on to share that information with our friends. The numbers speak for themselves – Facebook is the best new place to advertise your business.
Facebook have improved their tracking capabilities and have developed advanced back-end analytics, which guarantees your business marketing strategies will receive a good return. Facebook has introduced ‘Conversion lift’ which means the advert you have paid Facebook to put in front of Facebook fans is now more targeted to a niche group of people. You can be more specific on the age, gender, and interests of your new customers when placing your ad. However, you do need at least 30 Facebook fans to get a real benefit from the back-end analytics.
Advertising with Facebook allows you to fine tune your advertisements to better target and attract your audience. So, are you ready to try a few of these free Facebook marketing tips to grow your business? Regardless of whether you have a large or small number of fans, try increasing the interactions you receive by using these tips. Remember, the purpose of using social media is to increase your ability to engage and receive a response from your customers.
The following Facebook marketing tips are not going to cost you money, just time to think up something that will be thought-provoking and worthy of a response from one of your customers or your Facebook fans.
Ask your fans a question
By asking your fans a question you are providing the equivalent of a ‘call-to-action’ response. When you compose your question, think about how you would respond if you saw a similar type of question come from another business or a well-recognized brand on your Facebook wall. Would you click reply and answer it? Or would you just answer it in your head and not bother about leaving a reply in the comments box?
Think of a question that is easy to answer, appeals to someone on a personal emotional level and doesn’t take too long to answer. You don’t want to ask a question that is too vague and boring, requires a lengthy explanation or requires repeated responses. Try to make it answerable with a single word, but make it relevant to your business.
Click the ‘like’ button
Get your fans to engage with you is by clicking on the like button. Write an if-then type statement, for example: “Click like if you want a chocolate bar” You’re practically eliciting a Pavlovian type of response. Use an image or infographic to capture your fans’ attention and entice them to click. It may not seem like a convincing prospect, but you’re building a relationship and ultimately forming a habit. Importantly, you’re getting a response.
If you use this marketing tip regularly on your Facebook wall, then your Facebook fans will expect interesting and interactive content from you and will become part of the advertising strategy for your business. Think of something that has a universal appeal and is relevant to your business.
Write a happy statement
People naturally gravitate around happy, optimistic, go-getter types of people. So think of something which happened recently and turn it into a positive statement. Sound excited and upbeat when you write it. Add a few exclamation marks. Provoke a sense of enjoyment and excitement.
State the obvious
It always quite surprises me on how many people naturally comment on the most mundane of topics. Think of a topic which is fairly innocuous yet universally relateable and write a statement or two about that – for example: “Looking forward to the long weekend – look out for these great specials this coming Labour Weekend”. Keep your sentences positive.
Fill in the blank sentence
A well-crafted fill-in-the-blank sentence appeals to the clever-ness that is within us. Who doesn’t want to reply and come up with the most interesting, uniqu-est, wittiest, smarmy-est response which someone has posted? We feel compelled, almost forced, to answer. The one-liners which your readers read either cause them to roll their eyes, groan, simply sigh or smile. They are all some form of a response.
The human brain doesn’t like incomplete, unfinished anything, so automatically tries to finish the sentence. Leave the blank either at the beginning or the end of the sentence. Try this sentence as an example: “Today I feel….” Did you automatically answer and complete the sentence?
A further piece of advice: please don’t just log into your business Facebook page now and write/post whatever pops into your head. It pays to plan first and post later. Think carefully about what’s relevant and would appeal to your audience, your business and your industry before you even begin to type a single character into that status box. If there’s no good reason for you to ask your fans if they would like a chocolate bar, then why ask them?
Finally, remember that the purpose of trying these Facebook marketing tips is to increase your level of engagement and interaction. Engagement is only engagement if you’re involved as well. You don’t just get to ask a question and then leave your fans to their own devices. If a fan answers and replies, then that is your cue to respond. If you have three people like your post, then post a comment on it.
With Facebook ads driving more traffic to your product or service to advertise to the right people, it pays to try some of these Facebook marketing tips, or pay Facebook to help spread your message further. With so many New Zealanders regularly using Facebook, doesn’t it just make sense to advertise your business to such a captive audience? If you want to know more about Facebook advertising or how to run a cost effective online advertising campaign, then get in touch with me and we’ll discuss some options.
