Since we still believe in Facebook, today we decided to talk about how to best use facebook for small and medium-sized businesses.
Those who say that this social is dead are very wrong. In Italy alone, Facebook has a number of 35.7 million active users every month.
That is why even today Facebook represents a great baggage for all small or medium-sized businesses that want to start creating a good corporate image. It is important to remember, however, that because of its great power, Facebook must be used in the right way, and that means knowing exactly what is best to do and why. Facebook is able to reach a very narrow section of users (who live in one area or who have preferences over others).
As we have repeatedly pointed out in fact, if you use it with the right shrewdness, even a simple sponsorship can bring in a lot more profit than we expect with a billboard in the center of a large square. What makes the difference is the ability to narrow down our audience to target and get straight to our hypothetical end consumer.
Having a profiled base
Unfortunately, the most common mistake for small business pages is to have a poorly profiled fun base. In fact, generally the typical followers of small businesses are mostly friends and relatives.
You will think that "okay at least we have a few followers" what could be so wrong? In this way, you trigger vortex that will lead you in the short of medium time to less and less engagement and especially few sales (which is the goal you must always keep in mind). Why? Simple: in this way your page has a completely wrong profiling.
How to understand if this is the case with your page? When you publish a post how many people actually interact with it? If the answer is little or none, this is a result of not profiling your followers. Over time your profile will also be devalued by Facebook leading to less and less visibility and it will be more and more of a waste of time.
The solution to this problem is in profiling the typical customer and trying hard to have this hypothetical personality within yourfunpage.
This will lead you to acquire profiled likes and comments and make your page a real business asset for your business. If you get to have your hypothetical typical customer within your page, it is normal that this one will be more interested in the product you sell and therefore more likely to stay updated on the latest news about your company.
Not just likes and comments
If you think your work can be measured by the number of likes and shares you are very wrong. What matters, for a small and medium-sized business is revenue, and revenue comes in sales and certainly not in likes and comments (although these can boost your ego considerably). So don't just do the number of people putting likes or comments but also take stock of what this is bringing in on the sales aspect. And that translates into assessing how many of those people turn out to be really intent on our product-all of which we assess based on the interactions we get on our website, calls and emails for information.
Not only product
Yes, it is true that Facebook should be used as a showcase for a hypothetical store but remember that this social is currently considered a pastime for most people. This means that no one (as opposed to an industry site or better yet an e-commerce site) enters with the intention of buying. So what you have to do is not only sell a product but get your audience interested around that product, and that means engaging them. All social networks work, from this perspective, somewhat in the same way: engagement creates connection between people and therefore interaction. The personal relationship must always remain first.
We do not think we will get results without investing in Adv
As we have had the opportunity to say profiled audiences, interactions and likes are important but everything must be done with constant action aimed at improvement and maximum user profiling. It is true that Facebook is free but we will never get adequate audience and engagement without a minimum of sponsorship through Ads. So, whether you are a retailer, freelancer or small business, plan to invest a portion of your budget in social advertising. It is an important part that needs to be done very well and with well-detailed profiling to get to the "real" clientele we are looking for. If done well and consistently, you will receive the results you expect.
How to invest in Adv in detail
Many small business owners think (foolishly) that just clicking on the little button under "highlight" posts will automatically get them a profiled audience. No! It really doesn't work that way. If you're in a rush and just don't have a way to do profiling, that's fine, but you'll never get the results you would with less automated, more detailed management. How?
Through the ad management panel, you will be able to do much more detailed profiling than simple Facebook automation. In fact, in this section you will be able to select ad hoc the audience to whom you want your message to reach. Knowing how to use profiling well through the management panel will enable you to invest your budget specifically.
Conclusions
Facebook if used in the right way can really be a great source of advertising for your business. Obviously though, like all things, to be done well and get results, it requires knowledge, strategy, consistency and attention. Otherwise publishing risks becoming an exclusive waste of time.