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Someone recently told me that social media is the new word of mouth. They were spot on. People don’t talk to each other in the same way they used to. Their interactions with each other now consists of instant messages, pokes, snap chats and status updates. This means social media is a must for businesses these days. The simple fact of the matter is that you need to go to where your customers are; if not, someone else selling what you sell will.

“social media is the new word of mouth”

With that in mind, we thought we’d run through a small list of things you should be doing on Facebook to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

1. Make yourself look presentable
You need to make a good impression, so your company fan page needs to look good. Having a small pixelated logo and no cover image will suggest to anyone who visits that you don’t know what you’re doing, whether you do or not. If you’re unsure what is good practice, the best people to look at are Facebook. Lets face it, if anyone knows how to use Facebook properly, it’s going to be them…

2. Make sure you can be found
You need to make sure you’ve done everything you can to tell people who you are and what you do when it comes to the information you put onto your page. This means details like your website url, introduction, services, contact details and opening times should be filled in.

Get yourself a vanity URL. This makes it easier for people to find you and it makes your life easier when telling people how to find you. (facebook.com/businessname instead of facebook.com/pages/1234569/something). Just go tofacebook.com/username and you can get yourself sorted.

3. Don’t sell, share
Social media is not the place to sell your services. So, no self-promotional/selling posts. Well, maybe some, but not many. For every 5 posts you make only 1 of them should be talking about a service you offer and even that shouldn’t be “buy our e-mail marketing! It’s great” but more “Look at this! One of our clients increased sales using e-mail marketing”. The remaining 4 should be sharing information with your followers or fans. And a key point about sharing information is – it doesn’t have to be yours! Now we’re not advocating stealing content but share news stories about your industry from other blogs. Success stories and things that reinforce your message and main goals as a business. Also, don’t forget to use an image where you can. It will increase the likelihood of getting noticed and you will encourage more likes and engagement. Which is key.

4. I love it when a plan comes together…
Plan how you’re going to use this network and what you want to get out of it. Each network hosts a different customer base, so what you get out of Facebook might differ to what you get out of Twitter. Put a schedule in place to make sure you’re sharing enough information and on a regular basis. For example:

Monday – Status update
Tuesday – Share an industry related story
Thursday – Interact with another business page
Friday – Funny image or story

5. Tell people where you are
You need to fully integrate social media into your routine, and not only that, you need to shout about it too. Lots of companies are on Facebook but they don’t get much engagement because their customers don’t know they are there. Put it on your website, in your e-mail signature and most importantly, interact with people on Facebook. Go to their page and like a post or like their page.

6. Use Facebook as:
Lastly, this is how you, as a business get out there on Facebook and interact with people. This is simply a case of selecting an option in a menu that will allow you to use Facebook as your business or page. So anything you like, post or share you do as your business instead of yourself. This can be a very subtle way to get other businesses to notice you. A like here or a comment there and before you know it, they’ve liked your page and are speaking to you.

Getting the basics right on Facebook will give you a good platform to start engaging with your customers and learn more about them. After all, the more you know about them and their needs, the more you can tailor your offering to suit their needs. But the one thing to remember on any social media platform, engagement is key.

If you or your company would like to know more or if you need help getting up and running on Facebook don’t hesitate to get in touch.