Facebook is one of the fastest growing social media sites in the world. Literally millions of people worldwide log in each day to connect with friends, colleagues and classmates. Millions more people use Facebook to market their business online and to connect with their local community.
Yes, it seems strange that you should use the internet to connect with your local community but it’s really just a way to expand your networking circle. Participating in community events will certainly bring you name recognition but there might be hundreds more people who don’t go to the event but who use Facebook everyday. By using both opportunities you’re reaching more people.
Creating a Facebook Fan page is incredibly simple and will take you no longer than 10 minutes. For complete directions, check out this Facebook help page.
Now that you’ve got your fan page, here are 5 tips you should follow to make the most of your Facebook time:
- Share your fan page with everyone you know. Encourage business partners, office staff, tenants, walk-ins, friends & family to become fans and then they can click the Suggest to Friends link and tell even more people about your fan page.
- Become fans of other local businesses who have Facebook fan pages. Start a cross conversation between businesses by asking questions, leaving comments, or sharing links to promotions or coupons.
- Update your page regularly by sharing relevant information. Share community events, local school events or news, videos, or a community newsletter. Notices about your vacancies or properties for sale are fine but only if they’re mixed in with other information.
- Make it easy to “fan” your page. Put a Fan Page link on your website, in your email newsletters, or on your printed marketing materials. After you get 25 fans you can customize your fan page url by visiting http://facebook.com/username (must be logged in)
- Encourage feedback from your community. Interaction with your fans is most important in social media so answer every question that’s asked and address every comment, even the negative ones.
Social media only works if you put some time into connecting with other people. If people think you’re only on Facebook to self-promote, then you’ll start losing fans. This is your opportunity to put a face to your business name so take some time each day to solidify that good impression.
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