Since its launch in February 2004, social networking giant, Facebook has reached a count of 1 Billion active users and annual revenue of US$3.71 billion. Despite Facebook’s stock market value dropping to $19 after an initial opening price of $38 back on 17th May, it remains a stronghold for the majority of the world’s social media activity.
As it has become such an influence on the world’s knowledge and news, it has also become a hub of B2B and wholesaler conversation. Not only the company pages but remember it’s likely that your potential customer base uses Facebook frequently themselves. Due to this fact, through compiling days’ worth of reading (all done for you), here are 10 tips to improve your lead generating capabilities on Facebook:
Share what you find interesting – don’t be afraid to share other peoples content. If you find something interesting, it’s often likely that other B2B decision makers may agree. You could become an important news source for visitors to want to keep a regular eye on likeminded interests, thus increasing your likelihood of lead generation.
Build your brand image – Your Facebook, like all social media, is your business image. Now with cover photos, there’s no excuse to let everyone know what you’re about quickly, simply and to the point. Feature your logo, with your business strapline, which should be the single most compelling benefit your business offers its customers and keep it simple with an impactful background image that best represents your business.
Tread carefully featuring products on the timeline banner on Facebook. Recent Facebook rules highlight the fact that Facebook is an opportunity to build your brand and engage with your target audience, so avoid a pushy, in your face product feature approach. That could lead to a high bounce rate. You might consider using your daily posts to make announcements about product news and deals to lead people to your website, but remember Facebook is a chance to engage with your target audience on another level, by adding value, building your brand image and connecting in other ways that will appeal to your followers.
Use of images is crucial – like with most people, images are more effective than text. With the recent trend of using Info-graphics, even text in an image format seems to be the way forward. On your Facebook be sure to have a good distribution of images to text and look out for the guide to Pinterest for more info on Info-graphics, in the coming weeks.
Give people all the latest news about your firm – Let people know what’s happening in and around your company. Letting people know what you’re up to allows them to build an image of your company services as well as find out all the latest offerings and deals available to them.
Converse with your fans – Don’t forget that your business page fans are your existing or potential customers. Don’t be afraid to use Facebook to talk to them, find out what they like about your company, or what else they’d like to see. The more you can find out from your Facebook fans, the more information you can gather to your future demand. Facebook can be a great research tool which provides easy access to your target market.
Reward loyalty – The best retail firms use Facebook to reward loyal customers or followers and the same applies for B2B. Even if it’s just a simple shout out to a fan who has been frequently commenting on your page, or a discount code for trade orders only accessible through using a code posted on the Facebook page, it will allow you to influence more people to view your page. This is a controversial area, as some would argue for a B2B firm its opposing best interests to use B2C tactics; however, you must remember even most B2B staff are bargain hunters. Give it a go; if it doesn't work then you can always try something else.
B2B or B2C, Research shows that 92% of consumers trust family and friend’s recommendations rather than advertising – Furthermore, the second most trusted are online consumer reviews. This highlights the importance of the experience and service that consumers are exposed too. Take care of them, and they’ll take care of you. Even one positive comment or post on your Facebook page is likely to support your credibility and trustworthiness.
Integrate SEO into Facebook – Search engines are becoming more and more personal, so it’s highly recommended to stay ahead of the game. Through filtering which posts have gotten the most attention and the keywords most likely to be searched, you can use them more often to begin your journey into SEO. Obviously, this is not enough for full SEO, but it’s the building blocks that can’t hurt implementing. Additionally Facebook’s algorithm software ‘EdgeRank’ ranks content, so items like questions, news, and visuals rank well on the site.
Integration, integration, integration – This word you may see often, but it is vital to ensure your systems are running smooth and saving you time. Not only that, but by integrating your Facebook into embedded widgets and plug-ins, people always have another way to access and explore your Facebook presence.
Finally, adapt to the environment – Facebook is not your usual business style social media, and obviously, you do not want to send the wrong images about your company but learn to use Facebook lingo and adapt to the style of speech and images that Facebook users use. Facebook is a social networking site, and apart from maybe the staff behind the website, it is a place people go to let their hair down, so being too formal could have an adverse effect.
This could be the difference between someone ignoring a boring post and someone eager to find out more. This can be hard to implement and is often a trial and error test, but the rewards can often be surprising.
Yes, Facebook will not work for everyone and many will argue it’s a waste of business time. However, in 2011, 70% of B2B marketers were using Facebook and with this percentage increasing year on year, many have seen efforts invested in Facebook result in tangible business benefits. How long will you wait to implement your own Facebook strategy?
References
Guardian. (2012). Facebook Hits a Billion Users a Month. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/04/facebook-hits-billion-users-a-month. Last accessed 21/10/2012.
Hubspot. (2011). 6 Ways B2B Companies are Using Facebook. Available: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/25498/6-Ways-B2B-Companies-Are-Using-Facebook.aspx. Last accessed 20/10/2012.
Hubspot. (2012). A Crystal Clear Explanation of How Social Media Influences SEO. Available: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/25498/6-Ways-B2B-Companies-Are-Using-Facebook.aspx. Last accessed 22/10/2012.
Nielsenwire. (2012). Consumer trust in online social and mobile advertising grows. Available: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/consumer-trust-in-online-social-and-mobile-advertising-grows/. Last accessed 19/10/2012.
Hubspot. (2011). How to Master Facebook Marketing in 10 Days. Available: http://www.hubspot.com/Portals/53/docs/ebooks/how-to-master-facebook-marketing-in-10%20days%20(1).pdf. Last accessed 22/10/2012.
Hostelley, C. (2011). Struggling with B2B Social Marketing? Here's What to Do Now - Page 2. Available: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/struggling-with-b2b-social-marketing-heres-what-to-do-now-017908.php?pageNum=2. Last accessed 23/10/2012.
Spark In Bound Marketing. (2012). Facebook advertising B2B marketing. Available: http://www.sparkinboundmarketing.com/blog/2012/02/facebook-advertising-b2b-marketing/. Last accessed 23/10/2012.
Handley, A. (2012). Five Ways to Find Leads from Facebook. Available: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222803. Last accessed 23/10/2012.
Maksymiw, A. (2012). New Facebook for busy B2B Social Media Marketers. Available: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-facebook-for-busy-b2b-social-media-marketers-2012-3. Last accessed 23/10/2012.
If you would like advice or support in setting up or running your business Facebook account, get in touch with Williams Commerce on 0116 326 1116
