5 Ways To Bring Your Facebook Page To Life

Creating a facebook page is only the first step in engaging your client base and growing your prospect list. The many businesses who tend to use facebook as a platform to talk about their business are missing out on many of the potential benefits of the social media site. Here are 5 steps to get the best possible results from your facebook page.

1)Ask your Clients
Find out from your existing clients what kind of information they would like to find on your facebook page. In turn this will make them more likely to become your fans. You can use email or your existing website to collect responses to the survey.

2)Have specific goals
In other words what would you like your page visitors to do when they land on your page? It could be to watch a video, share with others or make a comment. "Liking" your page is not the only action you should consider a an outcome of each visit. Be very specific, you may find that the right structure in your page will increase traffic dramatically!

3)Create a custom tab
Customizing your landing tab is not only a great way to brand your page and impress visitors. Using video, share buttons, "optin" forms and engaging through clear messages will also ensure that you can reach your defining goals. Your outcome will be influenced by clearly visualizing the process you want your page visitors to go through, and designing your tab accordingly.

4)Monitor and manage your tabs
For some companies there is an advantage in having multiple tabs for various events and seasons. It is important to monitor the popularity of your tabs and whether the desired effect is obtained. There must be only one call to action to avoid overwhelming your customers, and remember that, although specific tabs can help driving campaigns, there are only so many times you can drive your customers away from your wall.

5)Drive traffic to your Page
Creating a cool looking tab for your visitors does not guarantee traffic, just like an amazing looking website does not generate instant visits. There are many ways to drive traffic to your page including email blasts to your existing clientele, share buttons, facebook ads, youtube video campaigns, newsletters and sponsored stories. Companies have successfully used humorous videos ending up with a promotional message to their facebook page. As the video goes viral, traffic grows exponentially.

Does Your Website Suck? Like 9 out of 10 do…

I don’t mean to offend, but the fact is …Your website probably
SUCKS …
By saying it like this I do hope you will go and check,and ask
the hard questions.

It’s hard to take, right? Because you may have spent lots of
money on making sure the graphics are great, and the
functionalities are impressive. If it looks cool it will sell,
right? WRONG!

Out of all the visitors to your site, less than 5% are ready
to buy now, so how are you going to keep these visitors on
your contact list if your website does not have a compelling
system to get their details?

The second mistake that most websites make is that they don’t
sell anything. They are merely an online brochure, describing
how good you are at what you do.

As a website owner are you measuring the conversion from a
visit to an enquiry? Are you measuring the number of sales that
you can attribute directly to your website every year?

If you are not totally comfortable in answering all of the
above questions, do yourself a favor and contact us for a FREE
website appraisal (Valued $297)

This does not mean you have to redesign your site altogether.
All the necessary ingredients can be inserted within your
current site design, so make sure you look into it!

Is Social Media The Magic Bullet?

In tough times it is tempting to look for magic bullets that will get you out of trouble with little effort. However, when you scratch below the surface you will discover how it works: So called "Overnight miracles" invariably seem to be the result of consistent, dedicated work and relentless attention to the strategy you have chosen.

Is social media marketing any different? As you marvel at the fact that you suddenly have access to 500 million people, and for FREE, you actually enter an arena that has rules, traps and often false promises. The enormous power of social media marketing for yourself or your business is undeniable, but harnessing this power is a long term mission that requires strategy and determination.

Before you spend time exploring the "next shiny thing", please consider that the same amount of time could be spent relentlessly applying the strategy that you have chosen and that will work in the long run, only with true dedication and belief. If you catch yourself looking for yet a new "magic bullet" it is time to reassess your belief in what you are doing.

We are all prone to those fluctuations in motivation, that is human and normal. To add to the temptation, our mailbox tends to be full of big promises coming from strangers who claim they are doing it better and easier than you, with explosive results! The bottom line is that explosive results are possible, definitely, but only with ongoing implementation of your strategy, whether it is online or offline.

3 Under Utilised "Direct Marketing" Strategies on Facebook

In many of the social media blogs I have read over the years there is a very strong focus on quality posting, making sure you provide value to your audience and keep them interested. By now, that should go without saying! Even outside social media, you have to be interesting if you want to keep your audience. By the way your audience will grow even faster if you are interested in them, which is often an easier thing to do than find something of high value to say, day in day out.

But from a business perspective you would be forgiven for being frustrated at the limitations of just posting on your wall, simply because it is in no way guaranteed that your fans will see it. Sure you have a good chance, but only if your fans go to their newsfeed regularly.

For a more direct, perceived as "one on one" communication tools on Facebook, you can however use some readily available features, which will allow you to communicate in the "notifications" box, automatically increasing your chances of being seen. Here are 2 options that will land in the notifications, and one option that will land directly in clients' email boxes.

1) Write a "note" to your friends or your fans

That can be written in a personalized style. You can even attach a picture and select who you send from your friends lists. If you are sending a note to your fans from your fan page then all you have to do is push "publish" at the bottom and all your fans will see it in their notifications box, the first place you go to even before your news-feed.

2) Organise an event

Events can be for anything, a sale, a VIP invitation, telling people about a new item, product or course that you have. Even inviting people to "Like" your page could be an event. The great thing is that it goes into all your invited fans' and friends' "notifications" box. Remember with an event you can have several bites at the marketing cherry by simply posting some updates to the event, which will show like an advert on the top right hand side of your fans' Facebook.

3) Use the "Tell your fans" feature in the "Resources" of your Fan Page

This great but little known technique allows you to create a CSV file from your excel or outlook database and send them a "Facebook" message inviting them to join your fan page. Just go to Apps and choose "Tell your fans". Facebook will even tell you step by step how to create a CSV file from your own database. When you know that facebook messages get at least a 20% higher open rate you know this is a great way to grow your following, and once more by DIRECT, one on one communication through Facebook

So Just go ahead and experiment, make sure that your events and posts are of high perceived value...but that goes without saying doesn't it?

Why 97% of Facebook FanPages Don't Work

Every day a larger number of small to medium size businesses embrace social media as a viable marketing strategy...Or is it?
Unfortunately I see many page owners who obviously got very enthusiastic in the beginning and then lost momentum: often they have not added any posts for over a month and their page carries 120 odd likes. As a result you have guessed it, they lost interest and went back to their expensive traditional advertising like the phone book and newspapers, with no indication of their return on investment. In the worst cases they deem social media an utter waste of time and swear it was just a useless fad.
Even if you have 300+ likes, Facebook may not turn out to be a viable means of advertising, so what's the secret? How can you make your Facebook page become much more than just a PR exercise with no positive ROI? How can you make sure that your Facebook page is not sitting there like a brochure that nobody is picking up?
When initiating your social media strategy you must keep in sight this crucial fact: it's a number's game! As you engage with your clients and provide them free value, your ultimate goal is to get repeat sales from them, as well as referrals to grow your fan base. If you keep giving great value to a couple hundred people you will go nowhere fast!
So here are the 7 ways for you to make sure that your daily attendance to Facebook produces more sales AND more viral marketing to grow your account.
1. Create a customized, branded fan page with an incentive for people to click "like". This must include a compelling call to action, not even 2% of page owners have figured this out. This strategy alone increases conversion into fans by 27%, and give you an instant point of difference
2. Switch into "Use Facebook As A Fan Page" and start "liking" other Facebook fan pages in your area, or where you think your target market also hang out.
3. Regularly post on those pages, at least once a week, with free information, tips, or anything that will make you known as a business owner or a good business to deal with. You have to write several non promotional posts before promoting outright
4. Contact other page owners for a joint venture and offer their fans a free voucher, exclusive to them. Then ask your joint venture partner to do the same for you. Having establishes that relationship you will always be allowed to market on that page!
5. Offer your fans a reward for posting about your business on their wall: all their friends will see that on their newsfeed, again it can be a free voucher
6. Use "Notes" for direct marketing offers to your fans. This will be shown on their "Notifications"
7. Join Facebook Groups in your industry or locally, and get more friends that way. Then invite them to "Like" your page
Remember Facebook is meant to be a marketing strategy, not a closed shop conversation with your existing fans that only generates disappointing fanbase growth. Please keep in mind that a Facebook page that has little interaction and only 300 likes is bad PR for your business

Social Media Or Phone Book?

Social Media Or Phone Book?

Old habits die hard! Despite the rapid fall in percentage of people
looking for services through the yellow pages, business owners are
still bowing to the traditions and spending substantial amounts of
money on phone book advertising.

As you are reviewing your advertising budget I am sure you always have
in mind what's in it for you, and there is a time where you must make
an educated choice.

In a recent national radio interview one of the speakers was asked how
they did their searching for services like plumbers, or products like
restaurants in their neighborhood. One answered "I go online" and the
other one said "Word of Mouth".

In fact he revealed that he had expressively asked yellow pages NOT to
deliver the phone book to their place...But that request was declined
because the only credibility left to the phone book is its distribution!

Is it a better idea to rely on your website and your social media
marketing for your lead generation? Here are 5 reasons why the answer is
more and more overwhelmingly YES:

1.Unlimited Brand awareness
Using the web and in particular social media, there is no end to how much
information your can give about your brand. This is free, renewable
advertising real estate, with a unique chance to showcase your point of
difference. Buying this amount of space would be totally prohibitive in
print advertising

2.Interactive advertising
Online you are able to get instant feed back from clients about their
experience but also from people who haven't used your business yet. You
get to create a relationship before purchase

3. Instant Word Of Mouth
Social media marketing creates a conversation that may never happen at
the pub or around the dinner table. It also allows word of mouth to spread
between strangers. You can easily do your market research by surfing a business's
facebook wall

4. Standing Out Of The Crowd At No Extra Cost
Custom designed facebook fan pages are a key to initial interaction. As more
people use Facebook to do their research, many more businesses use custom
design to improve visitors' first impression. Check this tool to give a great
reason for visitors to "like" your page. Why buy a big expensive ad on the
phone book?

5. Controlling Brand Reputation
The Conversation you are having with your clients and prospects is a much more
credible way to control first impressions than dominating pages of print
advertising. This is where small to medium businesses have the opportunity to
compete on a level playing field, even with big companies

Your Call To Action On Facebook

As more business owners recognise the value of facebook as an integral part of their marketing mix, I am pleased to observe that more fan pages are adopting a professional and attractive look.

However, when you get your custom designed facebook page you can still leave your competitors in the dust just by using a well underrated trick.

Have you ever been to a marketing seminar and heard time and time again how important a call to action is for any kind of advertising? Yet if you open the advertising pages of a newspaper you will notice that very few advertisers actually use it...in other words they are wasting precious marketing resources on ineffective, non measurable advertising.

The same applies to your facebook page. There are 2 main calls to action that you can use on your fan page to grow your fan base as well as your email list, plus get more clients through the door. Here they are:

1) A strong call to action for your page visitors to "like" your page. But you cannot expect them to like your page if you are not serving their self interest, the famous "what's in it for me".
"Like our page and get fresh updates on our exclusive facebook fans restaurant offers" or
"Like our page and automatically become part of our VIP customer club to receive regular added bonuses and free offers". This works for beauty therapy, retail, gyms , cafes or any high repeat purchase businesses where customer loyalty is key.

2) Instantly start growing your email list by using an auto-responder "opt in" form. Have something of value to give away in exchange for their email address: "Receive our free report on 7 ways to alleviate back pain in 5 minute per day" could work very well for a chiropractor or a physiotherapist.
If you keep in mind that across all industries, only 5% of browsers are ready to buy now, you have to do something to keep your chances alive in the future. The point of the opt-in form is to increase your chance of initiating a relationship with the non committed visitors.

To help you remember how to structure your welcome page, just go back to the well known "A.I.D.A" advertising formula. It works for fan pages:

A for Attention, by having a well designed custom page with a good headline

I for Interest, tell your visitors what they will find interesting on your page

D for Desire. Create desire for them to like you page or sign up on your "opt in" form

A for Action. Strong call to action " Like our page" with arrows to the "like" button, or "Register to receive our free report or Free Gift voucher"