Marketing your business on Facebook is cool. Millions of businesses worldwide are jumping on the Facebook marketing bandwagon. Everyone seems to have a Facebook fan page setup. It's one of the very first things that a new business does to officially "launch". Everyone seems to think that simply having a Facebook page and Twitter account that they regularly update is going to bring them more sales. They're wrong.
Now I'm not going to label myself as a social media "expert" or "guru"...but I do know a few things about marketing via social media. Most of what I know isn't anything earth-shattering. It's more of the "no-brainer" sort. This blog post is meant to share some extremely basic, "Facebook Marketing 101" information with you on how to determine if your Facebook fan page needs some work.
As a business owner, you want to make more money. Naturally. You make more money by selling more products and services. You persuade people to buy your products and services by:
- Making them look valuable to prospective customers, and
- Making sure that they really are valuable to existing customers
Clearly you can't accomplish #2 on your Facebook page (if you have problems there, you have bigger problems), but you certainly can accomplish #1 on Facebook.
The vast majority of Facebook fan pages that I visit from time to time leave me confused. More often than not, I arrive at a Facebook page and immediately wonder what the business is selling. The status updates vary in terms of what information is being shared. The profile image is a logo but no description. There are no custom tabs that give me more information. In most cases, if I want to know what the business offers, I have to click on the "Info" tab, find their URL, and visit their website before knowing what the business is all about.
If I have just described your Facebook page, your Facebook page needs some work.
Facebook is cool. There are a TON of options available to customize Facebook pages. We offer just one of many (although ours is the best, of course). Don't you think that if visitors were able to view one or more custom Facebook tabs that were specifically created for the purpose of showcasing your products or services that you would be able to generate more sales? I think so.
Let's look at the numbers...
- EVERYONE is already on Facebook--currently Facebook has ~600+ million users worldwide
- People spend 3x more time on Facebook than they do on Google
- Facebook users spend twice as much money online than the average Internet user
- Online conversion rates are up to 2x better when a website's visitor was referred from Facebook
- Shoppers that were referred from Facebook add products to a shopping cart 3x more than the average Internet user
- Facebook fans spend 117% more money on a brand compared to non-fans
- Internet users are 17% more likely to purchase something from you if they have "liked" you on Facebook first
- Your existing customers are 28% more likely to buy again after "liking" your business on Facebook
Unless these statistics are all bogus, the data clearly supports that (1) having a presence on Facebook is a worthy use of your time and money, and (2) if you're not showcasing what it is that your business has to offer (i.e., your products and services, promotions, special offers, etc.) through designing and installing custom Facebook tabs, you're wasting your time and missing the point. Businesses that take the time to customize their Facebook presence are a big part of the reason why there is so much buzz around social media marketing. They're taking full advantage of what Facebook has to offer--and reaping the benefits of so doing.
Consider a few of the options out there and do yourself a favor--customize the appearance of your Facebook fan page by telling visitors who you are and what you have to offer.