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How To Use The Biggest Web Site In The World...
By Costas Peppas
How To Use The Biggest Web Site In The World To Get New Clients In Your Own Backyard
Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Facebook. I’m not sure, but maybe the reason I’m getting all these questions is because Facebook has finally passed Google as the #1 most visited web site on planet Earth. Facebook is a juggernaut and there are so many ways it can help your business. This article will tell you how to tap into it. We’ll start with the basics, and then we’ll go in to some slightly more advanced ideas.
Personal Pages AND Fan Pages: The first thing you’ve got to do is get set up. It’s very simple to do, just go to Facebook.com and you’ll see the sign up form. Fill it out and click “Submit”. Done. You’ve just created a personal Facebook page for yourself. When you’re done with that, create a personal Facebook page for your business. Lastly, log out and go back to Facebook.com. Below the sign up form you’ll see a link that says something like, “Create a page for a celebrity, band or business”. Click it and create a Facebook fan page for your business. If you are a 1-person operation, then you can skip this step. Just make one personal page and a fan page. Your fan page should also have a form where people can join your email mailing list. (You DO have an email mailing list, right?) It’s all about cross-marketing!
Make Friends: The more friends you have, the more successful you will appear to potential clients when they’re at your Facebook page. It’s weird I know, but trust me on this. Logically, we know that the person with 2,000 Facebook friends isn’t any better at doing your taxes than the person with only 200 friends…But for some reason, we’re more apt to TRUST someone with 2,000 friends more. The old adage rings true, people do business where business is done.
In addition to that, if you have more friends, more people will see what you’re posting. These are both very good reasons to go and get yourself as many friends as possible. Here’s a few basic suggestions for building hoards of friends:
• Link to your Facebook page from your web site
• Send friend requests to your customers
• Include a Facebook link in your email newsletter and your physical newsletters
• Send personal invites through Facebook every day. Facebook will make suggestions in the upper-right corner of your home page.
One idea I’ve used is to give a coupon ONLY to your Facebook friends. Tell everyone that you’re about to do that and watch your Facebook page get flooded with friend requests and “likes”.
Networking: Make it a point to randomly check in with your Facebook friends. Every day send a personal, private message to any five of your Facebook friends (start with any birthdays listed on the right-hand side). Don’t try to sell them on anything, just stay in touch with a friendly hello. Then tomorrow, send five more to five different friends. You’d be amazed at what this can do for business.
Get Busy: Facebook is like one big, really sweet party. If you don’t stay active, then you’re the shy, quiet girl or guy in the corner that nobody talks to. If you’re going to do this thing, then let’s do this thing right. Keep your status updates updated. What exactly should you talk about? Here are a few suggestions: Tell BRIEF stories about amazing or unusual things that happened on a job. If you don’t have any, then share something from your personal life. Imagine that a close friend who you haven’t talked with in a few weeks calls up and asks, “What have you been up to?” What would you say? THAT is exactly the kind of thing you’d want to post to Facebook! (Unless you went to Vegas...That kind of stuff, y’know…stays in Vegas.) Photos are great. Especially before and after shots. Put your video on your Facebook page. Hey, if you’re already creating video for YouTube, then you might as well use it on Facebook too, right? Of course. Then there are the old standbys: Comment on a current piece of major news, tell a joke, or mention something stupid your dog did.
There are literally infinite possibilities. The bottom line is, don’t let your Facebook page become stale. The life blood of your business is your customers…however the HEART of your business is your relationship with your customers (and potential customers). Facebook is a great tool to help massage those customer relationships and build trust.
Start small and ramp up your Facebook presence over time. It will serve you well.
Costas Peppas
Costas Peppas is an author and marketing consultant who helps small businesses to think big. Visit www.EngageClientsNow.com today for a free book and CD full of marketing tips that will help you to become your area’s biggest small business. www.DigitalCharis.com
Tired of web developers who made sites that look pretty but that don’t make any sales, Costas Peppas founded Digital Charis to help businesses actually generate revenues from their websites. Costas is a website publisher who specializes in Web Development, E-Commerce solutions, and Search Engine Optimization.
For more information call 1-800-356-0397 or go to:
or email him at:
costas@digitalcharis.com
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