Posted by Koz Khosravani
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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If you're looking to expand your business by marketing on Facebook, you're not alone. Social Media
Marketing is a great way to reach more potential clients with minimal effort and expense. There's definitely a right way and a wrong way to go about it though, and unfortunately most people get this horribly wrong. They're using a sledgehammer when they should be using a gentle nudge. Get this wrong and you're going to alienate your potential clients before you ever get your foot in the door.
When you make the decision to market your business on Facebook, you need to be aware of one crucial point: people are on Facebook to connect with other people. It's a social experience. Your audience wants to connect with you -- you just have to make sure you're not driving them away. Unfortunately, many people think that “connecting” with their audience means spamming them with blatant advertisements about their business. This is a great way to ruin your social reputation and sink your Facebook marketing efforts in record time.
So, how do you connect with your audience without alienating them? The answer is this: making effective use of wall posts.
To get the most out of your marketing efforts using wall posts you need to keep in mind that there are two different types of wall posts. First, your own wall posts. These show up on your profile and will also appear in the news feed of all of your friends, keeping them informed of what you're up to. These are the posts you will be using the vast majority of the time to market your business.
The second type of wall post is posting on your friend's wall. While it may be tempting to post about your business on your friend's wall, this is generally a bad idea. Think of your friend's wall as their personal space. Posting blatant advertisements on their wall is like throwing a brick through their window with your business card. Don't do it. This is where most businesses get Facebook marketing wrong. The only exception to this rule is posting a friendly message to their wall after they've added you to their friend's list. This is a great way to show that you are genuine and to start building trust with your audience. Commenting on their wall posts is also an effective way to establish a connection with your list.
Now that the differences are clear, let's focus on how to maximize your marketing results using your own wall posts. First, the ground work. If you have a personal Facebook account, don't use that for your marketing efforts. While pictures of your niece's birthday are cute, you don't want them mixed in with your business wall posts. Setup a separate account specifically for your business marketing. This allows you to keep your wall posts on topic. Make sure you set your wall's privacy setting based on your needs. The Facebook business pages are for organizations, businesses, authors, celebrities, movie stars and bands to showcase their talent, products and services in an official, public manner to those who choose to connect with them.
Second, since your wall posts are going to be seen by your target audience, make sure you're presenting the right image with your profile photo. A great headshot with a personable smile will go a long way towards connecting with your audience. You should also take the time to fill out your entire profile, explaining what you do in a friendly and conversational manner. Don't turn your profile into a sales pitch. Remember, Facebook is about relationship marketing. You want to establish trust with your audience first. Once you've done that, it's much easier to turn them into buyers.
Now that you have a solid foundation for your marketing efforts using wall posts, it's time to focus on the content. Always remember to stay on topic and be informative. Not only do you want to connect with you audience but you want to be seen as an authority figure. A great way to do this is to post tips about your business based on your experience. Better yet, reference current events in your posts and pose questions to your audience. For example, “How big an impact do you think the BP oil spill is going to have on real estate in the Gulf?” This is a great way to encourage your audience to interact with you and to pay attention to what you have to say.
Another great way to market your business is through the use of videos in your wall posts. People love to watch videos. Video posts will also be more visible in your audience's news feeds because they will appear with a thumbnail. Your audience will be able to play the video directly from their profile without even leaving Facebook. Content wise your video can be a simple informative slide show or maybe a property walkthrough with a call to action at the end of the video to join your mailing list or to contact you. This is an extremely effective way of getting your audience into your sales funnel without alienating them by using a hard sell.
Remember, marketing on Facebook is all about relationship building. Use your wall posts to establish yourself as a trusted authority figure by sharing valuable, relevant information and you'll soon be converting your audience into red hot leads. Feel free to connect with me and Trump Initiative to get the ball rolling.
Koz Khosravani is an Internet expert, a Computer Information Systems consultant, an Information Technology and educational technology lecturer, and a national speaker who has shared the stage with The President of the United States, Donald Trump, Tony Robbins, George Foreman and many other top speakers.
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