How can Facebook lead your business into the marketplace

Facebook reaches an audience of more than one billion people, which makes it a powerful platform in today’s competitive advertising market. In addition to adding a more human element to marketing, Facebook has numerous features that bring value to by building brand awareness and providing direct contact with customers. The power of Facebook provides large and small businesses the opportunity to create a platform for brand discussion and sharing.

Facebook as Research Tool

Facebook is a great marketing resource, but is only as effective as your business website or business model. Consumers use Facebook as a tool to learn about companies and products, and often judge a company on how active they are and what other consumers say about them.

Just as consumers use Facebook to research a company, businesses can use Facebook to learn more about their audience and experiment with posts, ads, and offers to generate more traffic and sales. After identifying your audience, publish content that is both appealing and represents how you want your company to appear.

Sharing information is an important component of social media and is how consumers research through Facebook. Businesses benefit from sharing promotions or major business events, sharing photos or videos important to the company’s services or products, and addressing questions or comments in a timely manner. Responding to consumer’s comments or questions provides an important human element and demonstrates commitment. It can turn negative exposures into opportunities to educate your audience about your company.

Business Exposure

Many businesses use Facebook to foster a foundation for their brand, and sales can be made by asking for feedback and responding. Businesses also run contests, create polls, and create other activities to engage customers and keep them active.

Effective Facebook posts share information about the business and the industry. Authenticity is created when businesses are willing to share mistakes and ask for feedback from the target audience. Additionally, linking to your company’s website will increase traffic and generate more interest in your product and services. Providing pictures of your product encourages further page exploration while strengthening the connection between product and consumer.

Targeting your Audience

Small business Facebook users benefit from simple online-marketing provided by the social network. Posting and updating a Facebook page creates a unique opportunity to interact in a personal way. When small businesses provide niche products or services, Facebook provides the opportunity to reach out to niche customers and directly compete with larger corporations.

The first step is to identify your target audience and what content connects with them. Facebook makes finding new customers within that target audience easy by creating ads using specific targeting options. Your business can target an audience by location, interests, and demographics. Businesses can increase page traffic by offering coupons to consumers who have already “liked” their business page. A company may not get millions of “likes,” but will build a loyal brand audience of engaged consumers who will advocate for the company among others.

For more information on how social media and Facebook can help fuel your business’ growth or promote your brand, contact MEWS today.