We recently added a promote page to help you get started on promoting your online store, mentioning proven methods and tools that you can use, such as Facebook. Today we’re going a little deeper on what it takes to create a Facebook Page and get started on attracting fans.
Your Facebook page is not just a page! Think of it as an extension to your website, a mini blog and a forum as well as a showcase all wrapped into one. You may not have the budget to hire a social media firm to take over your Facebook strategy, but that should not stop you from doing it yourself!
First Impressions
Your info page is your landing page and when potential fan visits, they must be intrigued to know more. Review your Info regularly and fill in all the details. A good Facebook page should include a bio, contact info, links to your site, and a well written mission statement.
Tip: create a landing page for your non fans, this can be easily designed using tools like pagemodo.
Visualize
People joined Facebook for the visual engagements. It allowed them to sneak a peek at others, and for businesses this is no different. Update photos regularly, and add videos related to your industry, and when adding wall posts with links, pick a picture that its attractive from the thumbnails they provide.
Engage
Don’t just spread news, ask questions, comment on other pages and keep the conversation going. Take advantage of the Wazala Social Promoter within your Store Manager, give out Facebook coupons and generate some buzz. Great apps in Facebook that are rarely used, but can be valuable are “Discussions” and “Questions” Start a discussion topic and allow others to voice their opinion or ask a question to get some feedback. When posting a link or a story, include a question to entice comments and likes.
Tip: The more comments or likes a posts gets, the more likely it will show up on a fan’s newsfeed.
Manage Expectations
When opening up your page for discussions, you’re more likely to get those negative responses and you should be ready for them. Be smart and know when and what to comment back. You’ll be surprised by what you’d learn. Sure, at times it may be embarrassing, but life it is full of different views and tastes, and remember you can’t please all. You can only stand true to who you are and what you offer.
Give Back
Social media contests, sweepstakes and promotions do well in generating quick traffic to your site. It’s an efficient and low cost tool to get the word out. It may not be the ideal long term acquisition tool, but it does work for the short term. Big brands are taking advantage of that, and if you’re on a tight budget consider doing it yourself, or use and affordable tool like WildFire.
Pay Up
Advertising on Facebook is easy. With the ability to choose your target by location, age and interests as well as testing ads and finally using what works, it gives you the ability brand your name. Set your daily budget and choose to pay only when people click (CPC) or see your ad (CPM). Depending on your business and industry this may end becoming a great success.
Analyze
Facebook may not have the best analytics support, but it does provide insight on your page activity that can help guide you. Keeping up with this on a weekly basis does help you grasp your audience interactions and alerts you if you’re engagement level drops.
Sell Out
fCommerce is relatively a new term, and so far it’s future is unknown, but as long as Facebook is around and your potential customers are using it, having a store and selling on Facebook is an added bonus! It’s all about capturing an impulse buyer, and those are found everywhere. The viral feature of adding Wazala to multiple sites and social profiles is based on impulse buying, so go ahead and add your online store to Facebook.
