When I attend networking events or visit with people about what I do, I am always a little surprised by the number of people who express their fear of social media marketing. It's not really a fear, but more a lack of understanding on how it all works and how to make it an effective part of growing their business. Most people really want to know more about using social sites to market their brands but either don't take the time to learn or don't want to hire someone to help them. I also find that they have tried to get started and lose momentum or the desire to be consistent with managing their business' social sites.
Social Media Marketing is not complicated and it should be part of your marketing plan, but it does take an investment of your time and money. My plan is to give you the simple basics of how to get started. This is part one of several posts on the basics of Social Media Marketing - I will address each social platform in a different blog.
Facebook Page
Building a business Facebook page:
1. On the left side of your personal FB page, under the "Explore" tab you will see an orange flag that says "Pages", click on that tab. You will be taken to a new page and at the top right corner is a green tab that says "Create Page"
2. You have a choice between a business/brand page or a community/public figure page.
3. When you make your selection you will be able to create a name for the page and add a category as well as an address and phone number if you choose.
4. You will be asked to add a profile picture and then a cover photo. - There is an option to skip this, but I highly recommend you do not skip this step. You will also be asked if you'd like to add a booking tool to your page (this is optional and it's free so why not if it makes sense for your business?)
5. Once you are taken to the page you can edit the username which makes it easier for people to find your page in search. You will see that option under your profile picture and page name.
6. When you've created your user name you will be encouraged to grow your engagement by asking friends to like your page, but don't do that quite yet. You want your page to have some content and you want to customize your settings first.
7. Facebook will give you the option to learn about some helpful tips to make your page better, they are easy to follow and I encourage you to do them.
- Add a button that is a call to action on your page (Contact Us) is a good one.
- connect your website!! This is a very important one and you will want to go to your website and ad a link to your Facebook business page as well.
- You can also add Business hours if applicable
8. Go to settings - you will find lots of information that you can edit.
The first thing you should do is unpublish your page until you are ready for it to be visible.
- Under general you will see Page Visibility, click on unpublish and tell FB that you are not quite ready yet.
9. Now go down the list of options and edit as you see fit for your business. I recommend that under the section "Visitor Posts" you edit that you want to review anything before someone can post on your page. This is your business page after all and you don't want people adding anything negative or inappropriate.
10. After you've reviewed and edited all of the general settings, edit your Page Info
- Add a short but informative description of your page/business, list your business category, add contact info, etc
11. You can scroll down and edit each section in settings as you see fit for your business.
- You can change your template, connect your Instagram account, set your audience, add content etc. I recommend that you really spend some time doing this now and make sure every setting is what you would like, once the page is set up, you probably won't need to worry about this again.
12. Now go back to your page tab and under your profile picture there are other options to add additional information to the page.
-Definitely Edit your story and add a picture, make sure your "about section" has all of the correct details that you set in general settings.
13. Now create some content before you promote the page.
- The type of content will depend on the business. Add photos, share articles, create a post (or a few) that pertain to your business or industry.
14. Finally you are ready to share it. Go back to your settings and change the page visibility back so that your page is visible to everyone. Send a customized request to your personal Facebook friends. (you can select all and create a message encouraging people to like and follow your new page or you can pick and choose who the message goes out to) Don't shy away from asking your Facebook friends to like your business page, this is a great way to network and share your business with people you already know.
That's it, you're done.....
No, not really. Once you have created your page and asked people to like it, you need to make sure you stay active on it. You don't need to post something new everyday (and you shouldn't because people don't want to see you in their news feeds constantly) but you do need to post at least once or twice a week.
- Post content that is relevant and fresh, add pictures or even share an article that pertains to your industry.
- Create a calendar of future posts and reminders to stay active. Some people like to set a specific time/day they set aside for their social media marketing.
So what about those Facebook promotions and ads? Stay tuned, I will walk you through the basics on that later this week.
Social media marketing (SMM) does not need to be intimidating and it really is a great way to advertise your business and stay engaged with your customers while growing your brand. When I started my digital marketing consulting business I never thought social media marketing would be one of the top jobs that people hire me to do. But I now understand that many people really feel overwhelmed when it comes to managing social sites or they just don't have the time or desire because they are busy running their business. Let me know if I can help you with your social media marketing, I am very comfortable with all social sites and can help you grow your online presence and overall business through SMM.
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