We talk a lot here about using Facebook as another tool in your online marketing arsenal. Here are more specifics about how the social media site can help you.
First, a “minor” fun fact: more than 500 million people worldwide have used Facebook (as of July 2010). Users tend, on average, to peruse the site for an average of 55 minutes a day.
So how can your company really use this powerful social media site as a marketing tool?
You now can set up a Facebook “page” for your company. You can do so and then set your profile so that this page becomes your Facebook home page, instead of the standard profile “wall” page.
You will have to sign up with a personal site to do this. We recommend keeping this Facebook account business-only, so use a business e-mail address, if possible, when you first set up your account.
You’ll then see a “Page Manager” icon when you log in to your account and you’ll go here to upload and enter content to your business page.
Since this is a Facebook presence for your business, change your account’s settings so that your business’ page becomes this account’s home page, the first page any visitor will see when they visit your account’s Facebook presence.
Be careful as you choose your name and category for your business’ Facebook page. Consider the keywords your target audience uses in search engine searches when they’re looking for the products and/or services you offer. Do so well and your Facebook page itself could come up high in search results.
Facebook provides several applications that can help your business’ page get more exposure.
One of these you should use is Simply RSS (http://apps.facebook.com/simplyrss). This allows you to show RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds on your business’ Facebook page, letting you display your the feed for your business’ main website on your Facebook page.
Another great application is Twitter APP (http://apps.facebook.com/twitter). This app will make your tweets appear automatically on your Facebook status. It also places a Twitter icon next to that status, broadcasting for all your Facebook visitors that you’re on Twitter, which will help you attract even more followers.
Social media requires that you participate regularly. Visitors want new content each time they visit. While we don’t recommend that you spend more than 30 or so minutes a day updating your business’ Facebook page, we do encourage you to update daily.
Make sure your posts are relevant to your business and your target market. Try to use keywords in your posts, as well. Ask for “friends” for your business and be sure to “friend” other businesses. You could “friend” direct competitors, but you definitely should link up with businesses similar to yours, but not direct competition. A maid service, for example, may want to “friend” carpet cleaners.
Just as backlinks from high-ranking sites to your main website help your main website rank higher in search engine results, the more profile pages and people you have linking to your business page, the more the search engine spiders will “crawl” it, giving your business’ Facebook page higher ranking in search results.
Call GoMarketing.com to create a great Facebook page for your business. We’re social media and SEO experts and we would love to create an online presence for you that gets results — growth and more sales for your company. Contact us today!
