Getting Facebook into the Marketing Mix!
Social media is clearly here to stay. And most of you have already incorporated it into your marketing mix with LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. One social media tool that marketers have been slow to adopt is Facebook. This is largely due to the fact that Facebook is primarily a social network focused on personal relationships. In fact, many members specifically avoid business contact connections in Facebook.
Still, Facebook is the largest growing social media website online today (over 25 million and growing). It cannot be ignored or dismissed so easily. But how do you add it into the mix? Here are two easy and cost-effective ways:
1. Create and promote a Fan Page. Facebook allows members to create a specific Facebook page for their business through its “Facebook Pages” application. This page can then be used to promote who you are and what you do. You can use this page to post alerts when you have new articles to distribute, news to announce, etc. Facebook members can then become fans of your page and receive these updates on their newsfeed as you post them.
a) Create your business page by going to the “Advertising” link on the bottom of your personal Facebook page. Choose the “Pages” tab at the top of that page, and then choose “Create a Page.” Upload your logo, enter your company profile details, and establish your settings. Once completed, click the “publish your site” button to go live.
b) Promote your Page EVERYWHERE you can. Add a “Company X on Facebook” link to your website, your email signatures, and email newsletters. Ask your “friends” and “fans” to spread the word. If you’re already on LinkedIn and Twitter, promote it there. You get the idea…Get the word out and begin building that fan base.
Want an example? Find Go-To-Market Strategies on Facebook and become a fan! Heck, tell all your friends about it while you’re at it.
2. Advertise with PPC. Another cost-effective way to add Facebook to the marketing mix is to deploy pay-per-click ads through the advertising application. Like many online advertising venues, Facebook advertising has received mix results. Still, it’s depth and breadth of demographic targeting makes it one of the most powerful tools in this space.
With Facebook advertising, you can target as tightly as specifying sex, age, relationship, location, education, as well as specific keywords (titles, favorite books, sports, movies, etc.). Once you specify your target criteria, the tool will tell you how many members in the network meet your target needs. It’s really quite amazing.
As mentioned, Facebook results have been mixed in terms of how much traffic you will really see from it. Still, given the low cost and the nature of pay-per-click, you really have very little to lose and at the minimum you are making online impressions that will help build brand recognition for other vehicles in the mix. Just make sure you set a daily “not to exceed” budget to keep your spend at an amount you can afford.
If you haven’t already engaged the above two techniques in your social marketing strategy, it’s time you you got started. Facebook has a huge audience and these tools are a free-to-cheap way to gain awareness with that audience in a way that is highly targeted and interactive.
Oh…and in the meantime Find Go-To-Market Strategies on Facebook!
