You’ve heard of Facebook and see the little blue square everywhere, but you’re still not sure if your business should be using the network? Allow me to explain why in most cases, regardless of business, industry, location and size, every business can benefit from Facebook. Here are the top reasons why you need to start creating a Facebook marketing strategy for your business.
Target Market
When determining where to spend your marketing budget and time you need to stop and look at your target market and where they are most likely to spend their time. Facebook currently has roughly 900-million users with an estimated 50% of those users logging into their account at least once a day (many users way more often than that). This means that it’s not a question of IF your target market is on the network, with these kinds of numbers they are. If you’re target market is spending their time on the network, shouldn’t your business be too?
Customer Service
There is no question about it, in this day and age the average person wants immediate results, this includes when they have a customer service inquiry with your business. Because so many of us have a Facebook account one of the first places we’ll go to get answers to our questions or customer service inquiries is Facebook. If your business has a strong presence on the network you’ll be able to grab these inquiries and actually have the opportunity to answer them. If you do not have a strong presence on the network your customers are still going to talk about you, however it will be on their personal profile, giving you no opportunity to respond. It is important to know that the average Facebook user has 150 Friends. This might not be a bad thing if it is a positive experience they are sharing, however if it is a negative experience 150 users potentially just got a bad taste in their mouth about your business. Avoid this situation by having a strong presence on the network giving your customers a place to be heard.
Relationships
The economy is down and your customers are watching their spending habits much more carefully. In many cases they will not make a purchasing decision until they have built a level of trust with your business. Facebook creates the perfect platform to create this trust and form real relationships with your customers. No other form of marketing allows you connect and interact with your target market like Facebook does. Find out what your customers like about you and your products/services, find out how they use the product/service and be available for them to ask any questions they might have regarding your business. These relationships might not take place right away, however once they do you will have created a customer who will be loyal for life.
Viral
Facebook allows a unique opportunity for your brand to go viral. Users on Facebook are more than willing and used to sharing content from other users, including brands. This creates huge opportunity for your business name to potentially get in front of thousands of people, of which hundreds could be your specific target market. Remember earlier how we mentioned that the average Facebook user has 150 Friends, if you have a status update that gets shared, that users friends will have direct access to your business via Facebook. It doesn’t take many of these shares to have a reach of several thousand and can be achieved fairly easy when using the network properly and on a regular basis.
These are just a small handful of reasons why your business needs to be using Facebook. Facebook is not only a tool for young people to stay in touch or for older people to connect with old High School friends. Facebook is a gathering place of parents, teachers, business owners, grandparents, teenagers, college students, and anyone else with internet access looking for information. Will your business be found when they are looking for your specific products or services?
Are you a business owner on Facebook? Use the comments field below to tell us why your business started using the network!
Social Brothers was founded in 2011 by brothers Nicholas and Trevor Kohlhepp. Social Brothers’ focuses on helping small and midsize businesses build their online presence through social media, mobile and website tools. Social Brothers’ invites you to learn more about them by connecting on their social profiles.
