Harnessing the Real Power of Facebook
The true power of Facebook lies in your ability to create content that increases engagement and can go viral, which leads to super fans who help you market your company for you! Please stop the eye-rolling. By viral, I don’t mean like the video of the cats that fight inside the dryer. I mean the kind of content that people will post on their own walls to have their friends see it too, and which will prompt them to comment and take part in the conversation about your topic.
Social media and Internet marketing always come back to great content…let’s be very clear about that. If you expect people to post on their walls about your lists of sizes of electrical tubing available, then you really have been working too hard. Perhaps you will find unique ways to shoot video about how your electrical conduit stands up to 1,200-degree heat so your family stays safe. Then you have content people will want to share on Facebook.
One potential bank client told us his great idea for Facebook was to add the bank’s standard brochure text and images to separate tabs. That is hardly engaging. Video mortgage tips would be a far better way to go, or sharing news about the direction mortgage rates are heading, or offering tips about saving money for college. People want to make connections these days, so making yourself not only interesting but available for responses to comments is essential.
You have to realize the difference between content that engages and content that doesn’t.
No one cares about you marketing your business…especially on Facebook. What they care about is written, or photographed or videotaped content that they are convinced their “friends” will appreciate.
That content naturally links back to your site and can occasionally close deals right inside Facebook through subtle offers such as “download this ebook or white paper.” Use the 80/20 rule and make sure only 20% of your content is promotional. The other 80% should be entertaining, informational, or inspirational.
While you will surely hear about the amazing targeting on the Facebook ad platform, which can be used to promote your posts and/or website, you must make sure that just as with Google pay-per-click, you watch your costs like a hawk and create conversions either in terms of opt-ins or sales (or likes at the very least). Otherwise you are only adding to the valuation of this eighty-billion-dollar beast called Facebook (and nothing to your own).
How are you deriving value from Facebook?
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