Facebook Fan Page + Facebook Post + Facebook Ad

Last week’s International Franchise Association Annual Convention included several opportunities to learn about localizing social marketing from new IFA member Facebook and its representative Brian Wheelis, Manager of Agency Management Operations.

Brian shared valuable data including new research on where consumers are spending their time on Facebook. The good news is that they are spending more and more time on Facebook. The bad news is that they may not be spending their time on Facebook with your brand. We can fix that in 3 easy steps…

1. Create Engaging Content on Your Fan Page

Many brands’ Fan Pages consist of a slick picture and a blatant advertisement. Why would anyone return to this page after his or her first visit? Very few brands will garner millions of fans due only to loyalty and without having anything interesting on their page. These include Apple, Starbucks, and … I think that’s all.

 Your page must include something of value to a consumer: coupons, freebies, rewards, virtual gifts, or downloadable digital content.

 Value can also be in the form of assets or tools like informational (or fun!) videos, financial calculators, “ask an expert” type features, polls, quizzes, contests, and games. Remember, it must be valuable for the consumer and potential customer, not just for your brand.

 All of the above must be refreshed frequently with new reasons for the consumer to come back. Each time something new is created on your page, you must do step 2: create a post.

2. Publish a Post About Your Page’s Content

You can build the most engaging, fun, or valuable Fan Page on Facebook, but if no one knows about it, they won’t come. Facebook currently has over 800 Million users, but I’m guessing most of them are not looking at your Fan Page right now! Well-executed posts will drive some of them there.

Users spend 27% of their time on Facebook looking at their News Feed. And, with the proliferation of smart phones, most mobile users are looking at the News Feed exclusively. So on a regular basis, post a status update inviting everyone to come play your game, take your quiz, or get the new coupon. This is the quickest, easiest thing to do in all of social media! Write a little text, add a link to the tab on your Fan Page where the feature lives, and submit.

Your update will be seen by your fans on their News Feed and Ticker. Next, we move beyond your fans with step 3: create an ad.

3. Create a Facebook Sponsored Story About With The Post

The Facebook Ad, or more specifically, the Sponsored Story, is the spark that will ignite the inferno on your page.  Facebook’s Brian Wheelis says that these ads will be seen by 3 to 5 times more Facebook users than the post alone.

Why? Facebook Sponsored Stories appear not only to your fans, but also to their friends.

That’s the key! Too many brands focus only on the number of fans they have accumulated. That number is important, but the goldmine is in those Fans’ Friends.

Our team at Engage121 has recently launched Engage121 Version 2.1, which now includes the ability to instantly create a Facebook Ad out of your status update. More importantly, you can also instantly create multiple localized ads for each of your franchisees’ or outlets’ local pages.

A marketing misstep is spending too many resources on converting customers to fans. If that sounds backwards, it’s because it is! Yet we see it everyday: print displays or customer service messages asking current customers to become a Fan. I supposed that has had value, as you do want your customers to be a part of the community. But don’t stop there; the people seeing those “please Like us” messages are already in your store, visiting your website, or receiving your invoice! Don’t market Social Media to them; market your business to new people using Social Media. Using the above 3 steps will refocus your attention to converting Fans (and their Friends!) to customers!
  

 

Fan Pages:                       Seen by your Fans

Posts:                                 Seen by your Fans in   their newsfeed

Sponsored Stories:    Seen by your Fans and their Friends