Is your business one of the 65 million taking advantage of Facebook’s free local business pages? If not, check out the business benefits below to help sway you or any reluctant managers toward including a Facebook business page in your integrated marketing plan. Facebook business pages offer a number of benefits that you don’t want to miss out on.
Brand Awareness Perhaps the best reason to develop your Facebook business page, is that likes and shares help get your content out to your followers, and their followers, etc., building brand awareness. A site that serves the customer rather than a sales agenda helps with recognition and associates users with your brand, making your followers effectively influencers. When customers post positive messages to your wall or their own, it is seen by an ever-growing list of potential clients.
Customer Communication & Support Nurture your current customers (and convert new ones) with a personal touch. A business page opens you up to organic customer engagement and the opportunity to build a community. Talk to customers, post messages and receive feedback, provide product or service updates, and listen to customer needs, responding politely and with authenticity. Take the time to invest in a long-term customer communication and support strategy, and practice it regularly.
Referrals & Reviews Think of Facebook as a networking mixer for a couple billion people. Integrated marketers used to look for new business and referrals from among a few dozen people in a small midtown meeting room, but with a Facebook business page, the world is your Rolodex. Users share their experiences working with your business, seek/receive advice from each other, or find product reviews and testimonials right on your page from other members.
Web Traffic Once you’ve built your community and fostered interactivity, you can use your Facebook business page to boost traffic to your website. Link to your site and encourage Facebook users to click through for a larger portrait gallery, more testimonials, longer posts, or to make a purchase. Those who visit your webpage are more likely to explore and convert, so offer them even more enticing content on your website.
SEO For many managers, this is the most important argument, so don’t forget to use it! Facebook business pages are quickly indexed by Google and other search engines. Ensure that the keywords you want associated with your page are used in the business page title to help Google’s bots find you. Any posts, links, and other activity that takes place on your public business Facebook page helps to lift SEO when indexed, so confirm that your page regularly features rich, relevant content.
As you can see, there is no shortage of reasons to use Facebook for business, from the obvious to the expert. Take advantage of as many of these capabilities as possible to spread the word about your business. And check back next month for five Facebook business applications that you will want to put to use ASAP.
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