Name your
Facebook page after your business. By
using the same business name you use for your directory listings on Google,
Yahoo!, Bing, CitySearch, Ask Local, etc., you crate consistent data which
sends trust to the search engines and helps your business rank higher in
Google.
2.
Get your
custom Facebook URL for your business. Go
to facebook.com/username and choose a vanity URL that matches the name of your
business. That way, users can easily
find and remember your page. You must
have at least 25 fans on your page to be able to claim your vanity URL.
3.
Post to
your Facebook business page at least once per day. Talk about interesting tangential news—local town
events, industry news, etc. You can of
course promote your business, but be careful not to spam users with daily
promotions. Become a trusted source of
information in your industry.
4.
Ask
questions. Posing inquiries to your
fans encourages participation, which in turn increases your engagement score
and your page’s ability to show up in the News Feed of your users. You want an engagement rate is over 2% and a
Post Quality Score of more than 5 (your Post Quality Score is a measurement of
how engaging your Posts have been to users over a seven-day period.
5.
Run a
small Facebook ad budget. We
recommend $1-2 a day to start to help you build your fan base to a few hundred
fans. Posting to your page is meaningless if you have only a dozen fans.
Overcome the chicken-and-egg issue by posting and running ads at the same time.
6.
Use
coupons and specials. Maybe
you're a cosmetic surgeon and you can offer $10 Botox on Mondays. Tell people about that, with redemption via
your coupon code, so you can track them. Better yet, have a tab for coupons on
your website and Facebook page with a printable coupon that has dotted lines
around the edge and a fake bar code.
Make sure to tell your audience that these are special promotions
offered to Facebook fans only—that way, they see a direct correlation
between being a fan and saving money.
7.
Get
testimonials. Do this across Google, Yelp, Facebook, and elsewhere.
Consider thanking folks who post a review with a special offer-- free coffee,
for example. You could also enter everyone who writes a review in a specific
time period into a contest to win a free product or service. Prospective customers increasingly rely upon
user reviews in deciding what business to select.
8.
Tie your
marketing together. Cross-pollinate between your website, business cards, Facebook
page, twitter, and other marketing materials. This has a multiplying effect. Put your Facebook URL on your business cards
and email signature, and include a link to your Facebook page and a Like button
on your website.
9.
Don't
hire a consultant, at least
not at the start. Only you can source content, ask clients for reviews,
and speak passionately as the voice of your business. Later you can delegate
tasks to your office manager or intern. You can license technology, but
you must own the marketing.
10.
Network
with other local businesses.
Not only can you share ideas, but also cross-promote your businesses. No
business can understand and identify with you better than another local
business in the same geographic area.
