How to use Facebook for Business

With social media pretty much the centre of the universe right now, you can be forgiven for thinking that a broad online presence will dramatically increase visits to your website. But in reality that’s not the case. It’s best to concentrate on two or three social media channels to really give yourself any chance of building a following online.  But which network do you choose?

Facebook is a giant in terms of numbers (currently more than 1.2 billion monthly active users) so will always be at the top of people’s lists. But consider Pinterest, Tumblr or Instagram too, particularly if you have stunning visual content. But for this post, we’ll concentrate on Zuckerberg’s behemoth.

Perhaps you created a Facebook page for your business a while ago and you post 2-3 times a day yet you barely get one new ‘like’ a month. Chances are you’re doing it all wrong. Yes, Facebook has a big potential audience but unless you find a unique way of connecting with people it’s not going to work too well. So consider these steps:

• Use hashtags and @ mentions so your content will appear in searches. Facebook’s search is independent of Google so forget about SEO for a moment and focus on your content. Your priority should be adding value. You just need one person to share your content to get the ball rolling.
• Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your posts should all be related to your products and services. Think about your business as a whole – customers, colleagues and the values your company has. What makes your business different to your competitors? Find out what that is and reflect it in your content to make you stand out.
• Have fun. Facebook is a place where people try to take their minds off work for five minutes. They want to be entertained so if you can create fun content, you’ve got the most important part sorted.
• Make your content stand out with photos. When people scroll down their news feed, they’ll stop and read those that catch their eye. So if you’ve got a new product out, share a photo of it, but make that photo interesting and fun like this from Nutella.
• Tell stories. People love a heart-warming tale especially animal-related. But if animals aren’t part of your business, think of another way of telling a great story. Has someone in your office done something pretty brave or extraordinary recently? If so, get them to tell their tale in a blog and share it on Facebook.
• Advertise. Yes it means parting with your money, but Facebook has made it harder and harder for content to be seen unless you’re Buzzfeed. Using Facebook ads can get your business seen by your target audience and is worth considering.

Don’t worry if your Facebook page doesn’t get attention at first. Keep trying. The key is to be consistent and post every day. It’s not a ‘build it and they will come’ scenario, you really have to be persistent and take it seriously. Social media is not something you can spend 15 minutes a day on and expect to see results. But the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.