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Thursday 31 January 2013

Why Advertise Your Business on Facebook?

Research has shown that the average amount of time spent on Facebook is 33 mins, compared to 13 minutes on Google and 20 minutes on YouTube so it's no wonder that entrepreneurs want to tap into the opportunities offered by Facebook for businesses.

Over half of their almost one billion users log in to the platform every day - many starting the day to see what's going on in the world rather than opening the newspaper or listening to the radio because they can also chat with their friends across the globe simultaneously.

This means that many businesses are looking at opportunities to use it as an ecommerce platform - they want to bring their website to Facebook since their customers don't want to leave it.

However, many forget that it is first and foremost a social platform and a business opportunity very much second. 

Using Facebook for Business as a social media marketing strategy

  • You can send visitors to your website or affiliate pages whatever the nature of your business.

  • You can build a list if you have an opt-in form on your Welcome page.

  • Offline marketing - it's great for communication of events. Restaurants and hair salons can let their clients know what's going on with promotions and coupons.

  • Brand awareness - your Page should be consistent with the logos and feel of your website and the same keywords should be targeted to take advantage of the SEO aspects of Facebook.

  • Groups as well as Pages - you can communicate directly with members of a group so many businesses set one up to encourage conversation about related aspects.

  • Grow the following for your blog

But you can only do these things if you can engage with your audience on a more personal level first - you can't just shout at them about your business.

One of the most effective ways of bridging this gap is by using contests and competitions on Facebook.

Facebook Advertising for Business

Sponsored Stories, Promoted Posts and Facebook Ads are the main methods of advertising.

Facebook Ads are easy to create and not as expensive as many people think - and the beauty of them is that they utilise all the information that Facebook has acquired through the engagement and interactions of its users.  It remembers everything you do there and then uses that information to show you the most relevant ads for your lifestyle.

Facebook is a different marketing strategy - friendly and social, not products and product numbers. If you use your status updates to talk about niche topics, you can suggest products later. It's a conversation not a send out of your link to the website/affiliate link.

With Facebook for business use, you should use your Page to build relationships and be a friend not a marketer.

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