Facebook for Business

Having a strong presence on Facebook can help you reach people you may not have been able to before. Businesses worldwide are taking advantage of social media marketing through Facebook, and are building relationships with people to drive sales for their company. According to Facebook, "over 900 million people like and comment an average of 3.2 billion times every day." Wow! There are only four simple steps to drive success on your business' Facebook page.

Build Page From Scratch. As a business owner, you will build your page from scratch. You'll also build a relationship with your customers. Building your page is free and quick. Just follow these 5 steps to get started.

1. Pick a category and name for your page to represent your business.
2. Choose an image or logo that people will associate with your brand as a profile picture.  
3. Add a caption/sentence that'll give people a better idea of what you do.
4. Decide on a vanity URL that will help you not only stand out, but will also help people locate your business more efficiently.
5. Your cover photo is the first thing people see when they check out your business page. Therefore, make sure it's memorable. Displaying your products and services is a great idea for a cover photo.

Getting Subscribers. Facebook Ads are the most reliable way of reaching potential Facebook users. Facebook states that, "people who like your Page spend an average of 2 times more as your customers than people who aren't connected to you via Facebook."

1. Set up your ad by choosing the page you would like to promote.  
2. Next to "People will see", choose "A new ad" to reach and educate users who aren't connected to your page yet. 
3. Your ad copy is crucial. Choose text that will explain what you are advertising by including details of your products/services, and/or any special offers and promotions you may be running.
4. Choosing your ideal customer is crucial. Consider your target demographic so the ad knows who to target.
5. Your ad campaign can help you store all similar ads. This will be good for comparing the performance of each ad.  
6. Test and optimize your ads. Make sure to review your ads often and make the appropriate changes.
7. If an ad isn't performing well, optimize it one step at a time. Then, take note of the change's impact on ad performance.

Remember to continue to monitor the performance of your ads to make sure your ads are reaching optimal performance and that you aren't wasting money.

Interacting with your audience. Your fans will interact with you if you regularly post engaging content. One new like is a follower who cares about your brand and business - Remember that when posting.

• Your posts should be relevant to your subscribers and your brand.
• Share intriguing videos, engaging photos and relevant links.  
• Asking questions and "fill in the blanks" are great updates that encourage interaction.
• Share specials and exclusive offers with your followers.
•  Stay updated and share relevant news.  
• Stay active on your page. Posting 3-5 times a week is a great way to keep interaction high on your page.

Promote your posts. This option will help you reach more fans, as posts are highlighted and display more frequently in the newsfeed. Promoting your posts will give you a better chance of reaching users whose newsfeeds are cluttered with information. You can also see the amount of people your post has reached; you can better understand this a bit more by checking out the Page insights or looking at the insights at the bottom of each post.

You can promote a post within the first 3 days of its creation. Decide on your budget in order to promote your post and keep an eye on the impact as time goes on.

Connect with friends of fans. When your fans engage with posts on your fan page, their friends will get a glimpse of that on their newsfeed as well.

• Promote venue check-ins via Facebook by offering giveaways and specials.
• Create an event for your business page and invite people.
• Create polls to increase fan engagement. 
• Offer rewards to brand influencers.

Analyze. Always track the performance of your posts and ads. Make notes of what types of posts bring in the most interaction with your fans. Tweak your ad settings if they aren't up to par with your standards. There are plenty of business related resources on Facebook so don't give up if a certain tactic doesn't work; keep trying.