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The number of people actively using Facebook around the world is 1.2 billion, according to their website. Chances are you have already joined over 15 million other brands, according to Venture Beat, by setting up a Facebook brand page to market your products and services to this audience. Your page might even generate a lot of followers and likes, but there are several tips that can be followed to convert more of these fans into paying customers.
Encourage Visitors to Become Likers
When a prospective customer visits your page but does not “like” it, they can easily close it and completely forget about your company. The “Like” button connects their profile directly to yours. Without clicking that button, this connection is not made and you will end up with more sporadic visitors than confirmed subscribers. Whatever you have to do to make them want to like your page, do it, because doing so will open the door to future sales opportunities.
Do Not Forget to Include a Call to Action
You can have the best blog post or status message in the world. It could have some of the most appealing taglines and catchy slogans to effectively expose your fans to your products and services. However, all of that creative effort will have been in vain if you don’t include a call to action. Once you’ve lured and hooked them, a relevant call to action will help you reel them in to your net.
Add Links to Your Website
Without a doubt, having a Facebook brand page can do wonders for your online presence. However, this social media page should complement your existing website—not replace it. Your Facebook page should link directly to your website and vice versa. Recent reports have confirmed that the average media site integrated with plugins and links for Facebook experiences a 300 percent increase in traffic from referrals alone, according to Search Engine Land.
You can still generate a lot of traffic by operating these pages separately, but studies have confirmed you could be doing much better, and have a much higher conversion rate, by combining these two forces.
Offer Exclusive Coupons and Promotions
Your customers have to find some sort of value in coming to your Facebook brand page, which is why you need to reward them for doing so. One of the most effective incentives you can offer is an online coupon or promotion exclusively available for verified Facebook fans. Ten percent of online coupons are redeemed by consumers, which directly results in an increase traffic on the website.
This might seem to be a relatively small figure, but you have to keep in mind the average redemption rate for printed coupons is barely one percent, according to Fact Browser. Once word gets around that you’re offering exclusive discounts through your brand page, your Facebook following should expand exponentially.
Do Not Overdo It
Keep in mind your Facebook brand page needs to be able to effectively attract prospective customers and clients, not repel them. The last thing you want to do is irritate your followers by posting an excessive amount of status messages and blogs throughout the day that are constantly popping up on their respective news feeds. There is a thin line between effective advertising and spam. Always do your best to stay on the appropriate side of that line. Your fans can stop following your brand page just as quickly as they started, and it will be much more difficult for you to win them back.
Following these tips closely will allow your Facebook brand page to evolve from a social website into one of the most effective marketing tools you have at your disposal.
You do need to aim for engagement if you want those “Likes” to actually acount for something. It’s a sad face that Reach is getting lower and lower and that we’ll have to pay much more in future to get our messages out there. The fact is there is so much information online nowadays that something needs to be done to seperate spammers (who are unlikely to pay to promote something worthwhile) and those who wish to cut through the noise by paying for Likes, Boosting posts etc.
It’s not good to overdo the posting frequency because less and less people will engage and this will impact the affinity you have with fans. This plays into the Facebook algorithm (EdgeRank) which determines who sees your posts. People who have Liked, Shared and Commented in the past are most likely to see more of your content anre are more likely to engage again.