In any discussion about connecting with customers on social media, one of the first social networks mentioned is Facebook. Not surprisingly, since at the end of 2011 Facebook had over 845 million monthly active users and 483 million daily users according to Facebook’s own figures.
Over 37 Million Can’t Be Wrong
Facebook also reported there were over 37 million Pages with ten or more “Likes” on the social network.
Different from Facebook personal profiles, Facebook “Fan” pages as they are called, since they ask the user to “Like” them in order to interact, are used by public figures, brands and businesses and, as the figures show, over 37 million such entities have taken advantage of this feature.
However, as it is also alluded to in Facebook’s reporting, not all pages built on Facebook have ten or more “Likes”. This brings us to the point of this post: how to connect with customers on Facebook.
Don’t Just Sit There, Connect
Just like websites, blogs and everything else on the web, you cannot be successful just filling in the information in the profile and posting a little bit of basic information on the page and then letting it sit. In fact, it may very well hurt your credibility if a potential customer finds your Facebook Page and sees that it has not been updated for a while and there appears to be no effort being made. Even if it does not hurt your credibility, it certainly does not give your customers any incentive to connect.
Since the whole reason for building a Facebook Page to promote your business is for the added interaction and opportunity to gain more customers, it is important to try to give your potential customer some reason to interact.
It’s All About Networking
Facebook, like any other social media marketing tool is about networking. This means “liking” other pages in your target market and participating in their discussions while deftly mentioning your own. Also helpful is joining relevant groups with interests in your product and/or starting your own group.
However, what should you do while you’re waiting for your networking to pay off? Connect with your existing customers first. If they “Like” you on Facebook, that will give their friends incentive to “Like” you, too. To give your page credibility, you might want to get Facebook fans from a reputable vendor.
Give Them a Reason to Visit
You have to make your page into a place people want to visit. Remember the key word here is to make a connection, which means you do not have to be all business. People love pictures and peeks behind the scenes. Share videos, company news and updates, and photos of your staff or other human-interest stories about your company or your brand.
Interact by sharing useful comment provoking information, even if it is not your own. Link to relevant content you know is of interest to your customers. Find other Facebook pages that are writing about your industry and give them some love by linking them to your page.
Start a Conversation
Use Facebook Pages as a customer service tool. Start conversations and get feedback by asking questions: what product features they like; what product features would they like to see? What are they happy about; what are they unhappy about. Respond to followers’ questions and conversations in a timely manner. Share product information and invite comments.
Make it Easy to Connect
Offer promotions on your website and on your Facebook Page exclusively to those who connect to your Facebook Page. Put up special promotions on your Facebook Page to try your website. Use the Facebook Connect feature on your website to make your Fan page easier to join. Allow your visitors to comment on Facebook using your website or share links from your website on Facebook to increase your visibility.
Promote Your Facebook Page
Promoting your Facebook page on your website, in your newsletters and other marketing will help; but building connections is the key to success to using Facebook to promote your business.
Remember, it will take time to build trust with your followers and like anything will not happen over night. However, the rewards for spending a little time to interact with your customers on Facebook? It could be priceless.
Building connections is a great way to get to know people on Facebook and many of the other sites out there on the internet. But getting the right people to your page is even more important. I have over 400 likes on my page, but the interaction is just not there. That is really what I want to learn about. How to get the people that liked my page to keep coming back for more.
Do you update it pretty often? Post links to information of interest to them? Start conversations by asking questions. If they are pages that are linked to you, do you go to their pages and comment on their posts?
Facebook has been a great tool to build current relationships as well as speeding up the buying cycle do to the building of that said relationship.. Giving them a ‘reason’ to visit is becoming more and more critical as the competition in every SM platform increases.. Thanks Patti…
Nice article Patti, networking and being useful is what facebook is all about for me. What do you think of the new timeline for pages? Will you be making use of them?
It seems like many times I will visit a FB fan page that seemed pretty interesting only to find that the last time anybody posted anything was 6 months ago. I think to myself that this is kind of sad because somebody went to all the trouble of setting up the page and the account and started on a journey of connection, but then stopped short of their destination.
It counts a lot to have regular updates, to have new images posted and just to visit the page every once in a while to change it around a bit. These are some great ideas you’ve shared today. Thank you. (time to get over to my page and do a post or two) 🙂
Thanks for the valuable tips, Patti. I recently set up a fanpage and will take your advice to actively participate in other pages with similar content. Also, I will update it more often than I have been. It’s easy to get busy on somethings to the detriment of others.
Thanks again for the advice.
Nathan
Thanks for commenting Mike and Michael. I agree that Facebook pages can be a very useful tool but done wrong can be more of a liability than a asset.
Thanks, Sarah! As for the new timeline, the way I read it, there’s not any other choice is there? I understood that on March 30th they were all going that direction.
Thanks, Nathan, I hear ya, Sometimes I think I spend more time on promoting my website than working on my website.
Hi, Patti. I have a tip to pay forward from Karin Boode at http://www.automarker.net. If you go to your own Facebook fan page, you can use Facebook as ‘your fan page.’ Then, you can leave comments on other people’s pages within your niche, or on other fan pages. Since your fan page id is on the comment, it’s a natural way to interact with others and spread your brand unobtrusively.
Social media has proven to be an amazing tool when it comes to engaging with your potential customers and clients. But it means it is a tool and a tool doesn’t work unless you use it. Patti you really spelled out the key factors in getting not only people to like your fan page on Facebook, but to also engage and want to learn more about each other which will build that trust and turn them into paying customers.
Good point about ‘don’t just sit there’… it really is about taking action each and every day. I like to plan my day with 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening to interact with my fans and other social sites. Whatever your plan is, initiate it, stick with it and never give up!
Thanks, Lynn and Steve!
You both have added some very good pointers. Appreciate the comments.
Inspiring article Patti…!
Using social media like Facebook is great way to advertise business and to attract customers. This is continuous process. To tell people about your products. Give them reasons to visit to your site. Facebook is also helping to know feedback immediately. For success it is important to connect with right people, stay in touch with them, interact with them, answer their queries and many more things like this.
Thanks, saha! Glad you liked!
Great article Patti,
It’s so true that social media sites like facebook is more then about advertising. Engaging is the number one activity that will bring your customer to want to know more about you. It’s so important for any business, big or small to offer the opportunity for their customers to know like and trust them. Whether you decide on videos, pictures, connecting one on one…the important idea is to be consistent and have fun while doing so. Great share! ~ Nathalie