Monetizing Facebook for your Business – Part 2

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Nadine Thomas

How to turn loyal fans into paying customers!

Here are some more tips for monetizing Facebook:

Facebook’s core value proposition is connecting and communicating with friends. While word-of-mouth, or “earned” media, helps brands gain Facebook fans, it can only go so far. Companies also need to contemplate using paid advertising to develop their Facebook fan-base.

Create engaging content. The simplicity of the “like” button means that there may be no actual engagement beyond the fleeting moment of the click. To be successful in this post-“like” phase of Facebook marketing, businesses need to excite their fan-base with compelling posts, interactions that spur a sense of community, and rewards for their ongoing support.

Give people a reason to become fans. Apps are a good way for any business to have engaging interactions with fans. Everyone wants the latest app, and you can place it for download on your page. The process of sharing will increase your business awareness and deliver good returns on your investment.

Use innovative apps to help monetize Facebook fan pages. For example, create apps that enable your business to post coupons for promotional discounts on your Facebook page. After clicking on the promotion, fans are prompted to provide their email addresses before receiving the coupon. Thus, you have not only increased the likelihood of a fan becoming a paying customer, but also gained a potential customer’s email address, which you can use for future marketing endeavours.

Incorporate e-commerce directly into your Facebook page. A Facebook storefront application will enable users to make purchases directly. You can also offer promotional deals to fans, but the storefront app offers the additional advantage of publishing a fan’s purchase on the Facebook news feed. This further promotes the item to your fan’s friends who can then make comments about the item.

Attracting new customers to your brand is a great benefit of Facebook fan pages; but if you have not monetized your Facebook page, then you are missing out on an easy way to generate revenue!

WSI eMarketing can help create an effective online sales process to convert fans into buyers, get better conversions and increase sales. Contact us to learn how to monetize and leverage Facebook for your business.

Monetizing Facebook for your Business – Part 1

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Nadine Thomas

Every business can leverage Facebook marketing!

Facebook is currently THE most popular social media with a total of 767.22 million users, just under 30.4 million of which are in the UK. That’s a 48.75% penetration of the UK population! (Statistics as of 18/10/11). Market-savvy brands are tapping into their Facebook audience to get instant feedback, find ideas on new product design and seek insights on how to market better. It is a great tool to build brand awareness within your target market. No matter what type of business you are in, you can use Facebook marketing to tap into your social network enhancing positive relationships for your business.

Building your Facebook presence

Remember, building and nurturing your network comes before monetization. So here’s how to get started:

After you’ve made your Facebook fan page, take advantage of the various tools Facebook offers businesses to promote their pages.
You can add your brand logo, any company photos, and as much information and content as you possibly can to build credibility.
Facebook allows you to connect your Twitter profile, your blog, and your website so they are all linked. The activities and interactions you undertake on one network will automatically be posted on all of your other networks.
Facebook also allows you to embed widgets on your website pages so that visitors to your site have the option of connecting to your Facebook page.
To jump start your business page, begin by determining which users and other Facebook groups are the most influential and which ones you should begin interacting with.
Once you start communicating regularly with other users and groups, you’ll be surprised to see how quickly the interactions on your business page increase.

Hopefully these tips will get you started on your way to tapping into the worlds largest social network. If you need any further help around this topic, Contact Us on 01454 261111 or get in touch via e-mail.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, but in the meantime our most recent whitepaper: “The Facebook Effect: 7 Ways to Monetize Facebook For Your Business” is still available for free download. Click to download now.

Image and statistic Source: http://www.socialbakers.com

Getting Started with Facebook Ads

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Elliot Sheen

Over the last 5 years, the social media landscape has evolved to such a degree that Facebook has become an integral part of even the most rudimentary internet marketing strategy. By extension, a high proportion of SMEs are today actively using the Facebook platform to promote their business.

In this article, we’ll take a look at a single but highly valuable aspect of the Facebook experience for business users – adverts.

If you’re considering paid search advertising via the internet, then you really should consider Facebook advertising. To quote their advertising home page “Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people and businesses they meet”. So let’s get started.

What is a Facebook Ad?
If you’re one of the 500 million plus users on Facebook, you will doubtless have noticed the little ad banners that appear in the far right column of the page. Whether you’re promoting anything from mobile phone deals, the latest BMW or a product specific to your locality, ads let you reach out to millions of users, 24/7…

What Are The Advantages?
Think of Facebook ads as a more refined version of paid search (PPC), or perhaps the logical evolution of PPC. Facebook ads allow you to target a far more precise target audience via an intelligent use of information drawn from user profiles. Therefore, you are pretty much guaranteed to reach a higher proportion of your chosen market.

Where Do I Start?
The good news is that it’s a relatively simple process requiring little more than your page address, an picture, title and some body text (a little traditional marketing savvy is still required here). Facebook will ask you for some basic information regarding your target audience (age group, gender, interests and so on). As a result, you will receive a rather useful demographic projection.

Is It Expensive?
This is where the more traditional elements of search marketing creep back in. There are two options: cost per impression or pay per click. Basically, this means you either pay for a pre-defined amount of ‘clicks’ on your ad (usually 1000) or per individual click through. Much has been written on both subjects, so a little research is recommended here to establish which is best for you and your business.

However you choose to use Facebook, whether strictly as a social media channel, or to network and advertise, there is no doubting its value as a unique and dynamic marketing platform – don’t be afraid to experiment and, most importantly, measure the resulting activity. If you would like to review the effectiveness of your social media marketing activities, call 01454 261111.

Social Networking for Business Growth. Harnessing the Power of the Social Web

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Elliot Sheen

Social media marketing (SMM) offers better reach, expanded area of coverage and enhances your brands awareness. Most importantly, it is a great tool for interaction and engagement with your target audience. Now is as good a time as any to adapt to the changing landscape and market your product or service through social media, if you haven’t already started.

Leveraging Social Networking in Business:

Social Networking is a Strategy Accelerator

It allows you to connect with people, strengthen your relationships with them and reach potential customers faster than ever before. How can you leverage social media for your business?

The first step is to register on a social site and create an account. Add as many business contacts, colleagues and friends as you can to widen your business circle. Online business networking sites like LinkedIn are specifically tailored to facilitate professional communication and recommendation.

Get on Facebook and set up your company as a group page (even more so now with the very recent addition of photo tagging for businesses). If you have a specific customer niche you want to reach, set up a LinkedIn or Facebook group and invite current clients and prospects to join. Update your page or the select group with regular, and engaging content as no Facebook presence is better than a lacking one that is not updated.

Social networking sites enable you to get in touch with people who may be interested in your product or service. Communities within social networking sites which are formed on the basis of an opinion (E.g: “Likes” “Dislikes”) are great ‘entry points’ into potential customers’ mind space, and you are adding the human element to your product offering by connecting with them on the ‘same level’.

Promoting and endorsing business through social networks helps build your online brand reputation.

Blogging gives greater exposure to your business / sector expertise and knowledge. You benefit as social media users, a.k.a. your prospects from around the globe gain awareness about your business.

Here are some key social networking best practices that will help you engage with the online business community:

Be Visible and Credible – Establish yourself as an expert in your field through regular updates via: blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook on news or updates in your area of expertise.
Listen and Respond – Don’t participate in random conversations. Listen in on social networks, try to find out what is the online buzz, what your prospects need or are interested in. Then offer your opinion and solutions specific to the person in mind.
Advise, Don’t Sell – Listen in to problems and offer expert advice. The more you have to give, the more you get back. People who use social networking sites have a natural aversion to receiving sales pitches. So be the expert first, build a strong online reputation in your field, and then leverage your social networking position to gently ‘recommend’ your products or services.
Welcome Participation and Feedback – Let people talk to you. Developing relationships within social communities on the web can facilitate buy in, provide invaluable feedback and crowd-sourcing opportunities.

Social Networking for Business Growth: Use social networking to work your way into the hearts of potential customers. Don’t be pushy, and respect the tone and culture of the sites that you join. Gain and dispense knowledge and expertise, and soon social networking will give you a good boost as you market your products or services online.

Want a more in-depth idea on using social media to get better leads, drive results, gain ROI? We run a series of great Social Media Strategy for Business Workshops, but don’t take my word for it, see feedback here.

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1. Ignoring the Timeline Cover Image Guidelines

Key highlights of this whitepaper: