Small Business Facebook Strategy That Works

The tricky thing about Facebook Pages is that you can’t friend someone the way you can from your profile. People can elect to become fans of your Page, but only if they know about it. So you’ve got to spread the word organically (and keep doing it) to introduce people to your Page and to your company.

So how do you build it organically?

First identify contacts from your profile that are either business connections, people working in a field related to your business, or who would otherwise benefit from the information your company provides, and invite them to become a fan of the Page. Send a short note explaining what you want to offer from the Page (remember, people are thinking “what’s in it for me?”) and include a link to the Page.

Get That Snowball Rolling

Encourage discussion among fans by asking questions like: “what’s your favorite that?” or “what could we do to improve this?” Post updates weekly, if not daily, and point your fans to any off-site promotions, such as giveaways hosted on your website or affiliated sites (Chamber of Commerce for example).

And keep it fun! Nobody likes straight up business all the time!  It will take time to build your fan base, so remember to keep sending out invites to new contacts asking if they want to become a fan of your business Page. Constantly promote the Page in any way possible, and keep your content fresh — give people a reason to check in on your page regularly.

A Solid Plan for a New Small Business:

• Put a link on every email signature line:
  For example: “Find Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LatitudeIS“
• Send out a specific Email Marketing blast about it; remember to tell them what’s in it for them.
• Put your vanity Facebook link on all printed marketing materials; including all future business card print runs. If you have a physical location put signage up.

Ideas to encourage growth:

• Have a Facebook contest to get to a certain number of fans/likes; offering freebies to random fans once it is reached (UPDATE – latest Facebook TOS may prohibit this)
• Make an announcement at the start/end of each major event.  In conjunction with the item above this will garner super growth.
• Run a Facebook advertizing campaign to get fans; be VERY careful here as this can be a tricky method.

Happy Facebooking!