You created a Facebook page for your business. Your friends and family liked it. Now what? Are Facebook fan ‘likes’ enough to grow your business?

Building your page is just the start. One of the most important aspects of having a page that users will come back to and continue to follow is content! You must keep your content fresh. What is it you want to say about your business? What message do you want to get across? Do you want to add some entertainment to your posts? Users want to know what value you bring to the table for them to not hide you from their newsfeed. For this, you have to know your audience. Look at your page insights. What demographics are ‘liking’ your page? What common interests do they have?

These are all important questions. There is not one answer that will fit every business. You must have a social media strategy. An important part of strategy for any business is to vary your posts. Including pictures, current promotions, and client testimonials are all posts that can draw attention. People also are engaged by contests. When adding posts, you must always remember the desired end result is to grab the attention of your fans and turn them into customers. You want to get that phone call or have them click on your link and make a purchase. The key to that is engaging your fans!

Engaged fans become customers, or may already be customers that will continue to use your business. Once you are up and running with your posts, come back and respond to your fans. If they send you a message, or leave a comment, they want to know someone is on the other end. Post a comment back and add to the conversation. People love to know that there is someone from your company that took the time to see what they had to say.

Get your employees involved too! If your employees haven’t liked your page, you are missing a big opportunity. Happy employees speak volumes about how great your company is. Their comments and likes will engage your fans and stimulate conversation. In addition, the more traffic a post gets, the higher it will rank in the newsfeed. When users have their feed sorted by ‘Top Stories’, those posts that draw the most attention will show up first!

Social media can take your business to the next level if you are committed to using it as part of your business strategy. Having a Social Media manager will aide you in implementing your marketing campaign. They will develop a strategy with you, craft posts that are geared towards your business, engage users, and build your audience. Then you can continue to focus on evolving your business to the company you want it to be.