Do I need Facebook for my business?
If you are looking for an effective way to promote your business, this one is for you. A business profile page can be created for free. However your posts will not get seen by a lot of people unless you pay for Facebook advertising which can be expensive. Someone once told me, “All advertising works. You just have to figure out which type of advertising is most effective for you.”
Advertising your business is a real necessity, it informs and encourages potential consumers to avail products or services. It has a very large impact for the success of your business. You can advertise your products or services in two ways such as traditional marketing and digital marketing.
Traditional marketing are those such as, newsletters, billboards, flyers and newspaper print ads, including the television spots or commercials, and radio spots. These ways of advertisement can be really expensive. It requires hiring the services of other people to help you. For example, if you use flyers to promote your business, you have to print your materials, it will a lot of take time and you still need to hire people to distribute them.
On the other hand, we have this digital marketing which mainly uses the Internet, it includes the use of mobile phones or any other digital medium. This way of advertisement is cost-efficient and can be done by your own self. One of the best yet cheapest way of digital marketing is through social networking.
What is the most effective social networking for you to advertise your business?
Facebook is an online media and social networking service launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking site in the world, as of December 31, 2016 it has more than 1.86 billion monthly daily active users. As of 2017, there are 201,810,000 Facebook users in the United States of America.
We all know that Facebook nowadays is part of our daily lives. We use it for personal purposes such as posting our pictures, expressing our feelings and in communicating with other people especially those who are miles away from us. So, why not use it for business purposes?
Let me show you the way on how to use your Facebook in promoting your business.
1. Create a Page
Go to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create
Put your business name.
Select your page type.
Fill-out the information needed.
2. Customize Your Page
Change the display photo of your page and its cover photo.
(I suggest that you use your logo for your display photo and your products or services pictures for the cover photo.)
Go to About section and describe what your business is all about. Make this section full of information and an interesting one.
Customize also your username for your page be easily find.
3. Invite Your Friend to Like Your Page
By using your personal Facebook Account, you can invite your Facebook friends to like your page for FREE! The more likes of your page, the more your products or services can be advertised.
Tell them to invite their Facebook friends to like your page too.
4. Ads
You may or may not have it. It depends on you but I suggest that you apply for it when you are just starting your page. It will make your page to have more likes. You can also target the audience you need for your Page.
How much would it cost? It will depend on you and your budget. You may check it out through the Facebook itself:
facebook.com/business/learn/how-much-facebook-ads-cost
5. Post, Post and Post
Post your products or services as necessary, keep it to their News Feed.
Add description to your product or services. (e.g. condition, price)
If you are posting photos, make sure that it is in high resolution. I suggest that you edit the photos, if needed, before posting it.
You may also post photos of satisfied customers or their messages for you.
* Make sure your posts are creative enough to capture audience’s attention and curiosity.
6. Keep on Posting and Updating Your Page
You have to remind your consumers or potential consumers that you have these products or services.
Update the Page as necessary as possible. (e.g. if it still available, current price)
7. Keep Your Page Interactive
Let your consumers interact with you. You may ask for their opinion about your products or services.
* Make sure that you answer their comments and messages as soon as possible.
See how easy it is to use Facebook to promote your business? You just have to create a Page and it can be easily done. All you need is a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone with internet connection and you can now instantly promote your business. You can do it anytime without going out of your house. You no longer have to print materials for advertisement, it can save you a lot of time and money, and it is also eco-friendly.
Compared to traditional marketing, using Facebook as means of advertising your business offers an interactive way of advertising. Meaning, the audience can interact with you because it allows them to comment or message you on the time you posted something. Also, it allows you to reach audiences not just those in your local place but also those miles away from you. You may target international audiences.
We are in an era where social media has become prevalent that it tends to play an important role may it be for personal use or for business purposes.
As of 2017, there are 201,810,000 Facebook users in the United States. So if you are a small business I would definitely recommend using Facebook.
BIO
Frank Medina, independent insurance agent. He started his auto insurance agency back in 2013.
Source:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
statista.com/statistics/398136/us-facebook-user-age-groups
