#6. A Community That Chats, Grows!

Make sure you encourage your fans to interact with each other and chat back and forth. You can do this easiest by ‘spotlighting’ fans; singling out those who have interacted the most, said something cool in a post, or has been helpful to others. This gives everyone a chance to know each other and you can even swap around links and highlight your fans for free under the assumption that they will highlight you in return.

#7. Intelligent Branding

There are lots of ways to brand your Facebook. One way is to make your Facebook merely an extension of your full blown website in order to create a familiar setting for your existing customers to come. Or, you can make your Facebook page completely different from your websit in order to create a feeling of exclusivity when someone joins up.

Either version is fine; the important thing is to make your Facebook fan page something that is interesting, creative, and organic. You can do this by creating tabs to showcase your products, services, programs and contests. You can use Facebook profile skins so that your page stands out. Whatever you decide to do, make it obvious who you are and what you are. Easily identifiable logos, short promo videos, mission statements and images are all great ways to make your Facebook into a branded identity for your business.

#8. Know What You Want and Manage Expectations

You have to ask yourself “What Do I Want to Achieve With My Facebook Page and Facebook Marketing Scheme?” Your Facebook vision should be tied to your company image, but it will have some added perks. For example, your Facebook page may be there to make a community of people who will chat about their experiences with your products (or products like yours or life related to your products). The ability of Facebook to connect people from all over the world means that when done right, a local page can go global, giving you lucrative opportunities.

The main point of having a vision for your Facebook future is to give you a roadmap to stick to. Studies have shown that businesses with a clear idea of where they are going are far more likely to succeed with less stress on the part of the CEO.

Assuming you’re just writing out your Facebook mission statement, start with what your fans are expecting. What should they expect out of becoming a fan of your page? What perks can they get? How should things look? An easy way to add an exclusive touch is to show off expectations on a custom-made welcome page so that all new fans will know exactly what to expect before they start interacting via the wall and through your personal website.

#9: Go OCD With Monitoring

Social media makes it easier than ever to turn customers into social butterflies. They will share posts, chat with each other, post their own things, like posts, comment and then share everything they do on your page to the wider world. You have to be able to track all of this because there is a wealth of information in a few simple clicks.

But first, make sure you set some indicators to make sure that you stay on track with your goals for social media and your business. Ask yourself these three questions regularly:

  1. What Will Success Look Like? What are the Indicators of success?
  2. What do I hope to achieve?
  3. How often should I check back?

Having found the answers to these questions, make out some methods to track your progress through Facebook. There are a wide variety of tools available and choosing the right ones will depend on what level of tracking you want to have. You will probably want several different tools so that you can piece together a clear picture of your activity on Facebook.

Here are some things to consider monitoring:

  1. The names of key people in your business (top contributors, moderators, admin staff)
  2. Your company name
  3. Brand names associated with you
  4. Products and services associated with you
  5. Your competition
  6. Industry/niche keywords
  7. Engagement between fans
  8. The level of awareness of your brand
  9. Your influence
  10. Sentiments towards you
  11. New likes and unsubscribes
  12. Click activity
  13. How much money Facebook is making for you
  14. Conversions

It may seem like a long list, but many tools are out there which can track several of these things at once, so it’s mostly a matter of choosing the right tool for the job.

We’ve done our job, now it’s down to you! By using these nine strategies, you can make the most out of Facebook marketing and make a stronger company for it.