How to Build a Facebook Presence that Delivers for Your Business ...

How can your small business get the most out of Facebook? During the judging phase of OPEN?s Big Break for Small Business^? contest, I asked my fellow judges to talk about how business owners can use Facebook to promote their companies. Facebook?s Heather Freeland, Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn and ?SmallBizLady,? small business expert and best-selling author Melinda Emerson all had insights to share.

(Note: You can help choose this year?s Big Break winners by clicking on the ?Big Break for Small Business? tab on American Express OPEN?s Facebook page and casting your votes by August 31.)

How can business owners new to Facebook get the most from it?

Emerson: Start by creating a business page and posting status updates to it regularly. Share links to articles and your own blog entries, if you have a blog. Post thought-provoking questions along with the links to encourage fans to participate. Facebook is a great place to share visuals, so post photos and videos as much as possible.

Dunn: Remember to treat Facebook as a two-way conversation. If you?re self-serving, you?ll miss what social media is all about. At Bonobos, (a men?s clothing retailer), about 80 percent of what we say on our Facebook page isn?t self-promotional. We do quizzes, and we ask questions like ?What?s your response when someone says, ?Nice pants??? It?s the interaction that counts.

Freeland: I recommend using the Page Insights tool to better understand who your fans are and what type of content engages them most. It lets you see how many fans you reach with each post and how they respond?for example, by ?liking? your posts, commenting on them or sharing them. You can also use the information provided by this tool to target prospects who resemble your current fans, which can help expand your pool of contacts.

What are some effective examples of social media marketing on Facebook?

Freeland: Last year?s Big Break contest winners provided some terrific examples. Spoonflower, a custom fabric printing company holds weekly fabric-design competitions on its Facebook page. Designers ask their friends to vote for them, which builds awareness for the company. Another winner, Big Daddy?s Barbeque, brought its physical community online by printing ?Like us on Facebook? on receipts and handing out promotional cards with the same message outside churches and salons in their community. Relatively simple actions like these can be very effective.

Dunn: Integrate your website?s login with the Facebook Open Graph so your site experience ties seamlessly to the social graph. In addition, featuring limited-time offers on Facebook can amplify awareness via the social graph?allowing customers to share the deals within their networks.

Emerson: I like to use my SmallBizLady page on Facebook to highlight special fans. Each month, I choose a fan to write a guest post on my blog and then promote the post on Facebook. If I have a photo of the fan, I?ll post it as well. It?s an excellent way to give a shout-out, and the fan is thrilled. This is one of the methods I use to generate traffic to my blog from Facebook.

Bonobos has seen great success with Facebook advertising. Could you describe your approach?

Dunn: Facebook ads have been a fantastic source of customers for us. When you launch a brand, you?re trying to create demand for a brand that doesn?t exist in customers? minds yet. Facebook?s highly personalized display ads give you a powerful way to do this.

Our core customers are 18- to 40-year-old men who are active and like to play sports. Many of them live in New York, California, Illinois, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Facebook allows us to distribute ads directly to this group. We can also run several different campaigns and analyze the responses. Based on the results, we decide which campaigns we?ll invest in further and which ones we?ll retire.

What advice would you give to a business owner who has tried marketing on Facebook but hasn?t yet seen strong results?

Emerson: Try again and really focus your efforts. You need to know who your target audience is and provide them with helpful content on a daily basis. Inconsistent and undisciplined social media marketing efforts won?t pay off.

Freeland: Building an effective Facebook presence takes time. Look into resources that can help you make the most of your business page, such as the Facebook Marketing Classroom and the Facebook Marketing page. These resources provide wonderful tools, tips and webinars to help you optimize results. You can also build your knowledge of the basics of Facebook by taking the OPEN Forum Crash Course, Facebook for Your Business.

I hope these tips have given you inspiration for marketing your company using Facebook. Stay tuned for my next blog post, where I?ll talk with the Big Break judges once again for more tips on using social media to attract and engage customers. Looking for additional resources to build your online presence and grow your business? Explore American Express OPEN?s Shop Small toolkit.

American Express OPEN and Facebook are giving five small business owners a Big Break for their business and community. Winners will get $25,000 to help grow their business and drive customers to their door, plus a one-on-one strategy session with American Express OPEN and Facebook to put it all into action. Additionally, the winners? communities will get statement credit offers for American Express Cardmembers who spend at area merchants that accept American Express Cards during one weekend in September. Voting for the five winners will take place from August 20, 2012 through August 31, 2012 on facebook.com/OPEN.

Limit one (1) vote per person/email address per Video Entry per day. Votes should be cast for the small business owners who the voter thinks shows the most passion for their own small businesses and have an interest in using social media to promote their small businesses, in addition to giving back to their community, as expressed in the Video Entry. Voting ends 11:59 p.m. EST on August 31, 2012. See Voting Terms for complete details.

Source: http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-to-build-a-facebook-presence-that-delivers-for-your-business

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