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Facebook is the latest marketing tool in the hands of advertisers and marketing departments and no business can ignore its reach and wide audience with 800 million active users worldwide and growing. Google dominates the online advertising market but Facebook is fast catching up and has a more direct connected with potential customers considering it is a social network and Google is a search engine. Google has tried to challenge Facebook with Google plus but its nascent social network lags far behind the Social networking Goliath.
Now if you have decided on advertising in the online space or your business is based only online, you would need to keep a separate budget for the Facebook campaign and chart out a different strategy as well. Facebook being a social medium, the marketing can be more direct and is more of a two way approach with a direct line to the potential audience. Traditional online advertising relied on banner, search and content ads. Facebook goes further than that and works on engaging with the customer and promoting the brand and establishing a Social presence.
The first part of a Facebook campaign involves building a fan page that allows you to establish a Facebook presence. The fan page is the canvas for your brand promotion efforts and strategy.
Once the Fan page has been created, your next step is building up the fans or Likes. Now this is not easy and fans build up gradually and you need to work on it diligently and regularly. Some steps that will help you in increasing the fan base are mentioned here:
Facebook Like Button/Fan Box
Insert a Facebook like button or a Facebook fan box on your website. This will enable your website visitors to like you Facebook page and use the captive search engine audience. If you are using Google ads to promote the business, then that traffic can also like your Facebook page through the website or your blog. Interconnect your website, blog, Twitter and other social accounts with Facebook. The Facebook like button should be omnipresent and visible on your online marketing campaign.
Post regular engaging content
Creating a Facebook fan page is not enough and you would need to post regular engaging content on the page in the form of posts or conversation. You need to engage the fans and involve them with the brand. As they become more involved, they will act as a viral promoter of your business and bring more fans in. They need to be converted to brand ambassadors. Create interactive Facebook applications that engage the end user.
Run contest and give free gifts
This is a very interesting way of building your fan base. The contests can run in sync with your website or as a combination of online/offline contests. The fans get an incentive to like your page and it promotes the brand as well.
Interlinking with other Facebook pages
[via Flickr]
If you are a newcomer in the market, try to reach out with other industry pages and similar fan pages admins to see if they can like your page. They have built a fan base and if they recommend someone, it will bring in additional fans. Connect with the peers in the industry and network.
Facebook Ads
You can also use Facebook ads to promote your business and fan page and build the likes. It can give the initial momentum required. You can advertise your Facebook page to targeted users also, based on users’ interests, location, etc..
Conclusion
The aim of the Facebook marketing strategy is to convert your fans into brand ambassadors and viral promotion. You can also share your strategies and add to the above points.
Author Bio
Roberta Smith is an Entrepreneur who designs and develops solutions for a business. She also writes as a freelancer for a number of online communities and is writing this post for Kia Dealership Arizona.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You can advertise your Facebook page to targeted users also, based on users’ interests, location..Thank you for sharing this kind of info..
Hi Roberta Smith,
I am agree with your points here but, according to my experience, begin regular by posting engaging content on website increases likes as well as fans on Facebook.
Thanks for sharing.