40 Facebook Marketing Ideas

By Amanda Watts www.clientsinabundance.com

So how do we ensure that we show up in peoples newsfeed, and get more Facebook fans? Here are some ideas I use, and work for me very well. There are lots of tips and ideas so print this out and keep it on your desk. Do one different idea a day:

1. Post a joke relating to your business – there are many lawyer, Irish, Welsh and insurance jokes out there; search in Google you will be amazed at what you can find – guaranteed to get your fans liking your posts!

2. Link your Facebook from LinkedIn. You can list up to 3 websites on your LinkedIn profile – ensure that one of them leads to your welcome page in Facebook; drive potential customers from your LinkedIn account to Facebook. These fans will become very valuable to you. Have a look at my LinkedIn for an example www.LinkedIn.com/amandakennedypr

3. Why not devise a specific business card to drive people to your Facebook business page– you could have your Facebook address on one side and then a QR code on the other. So much easier for people to connect to you rather than a typical business card which ends up in a file or waste paper bin!

4. Run a specific ad campaign. Create a Facebook page to promote a certain aspect of your business. For example – if you run an insurance company create a form specifically for classic car insurance – potential clients can complete this form on your Facebook page.

5. Get clients to upload their pictures to your Facebook page and comment on them – for example if you are a Pub or Restaurant get them to upload pictures of your food – or a fun evening they have had.

6. Have a camera ready in your office. Post pictures of staff having fun at your Christmas bash, or office birthday parties – make your Facebook page real!

 

7. Do not self promote all the time – it never ceases to amaze me how many companies write ‘call us now to buy our service’. People will choose to switch you off and hide you in their timeline – make your page interesting and fun to keep them as your fan!

8. Ask a riddle – they are great fun and will really get people talking on your page – try and keep it industry related so you don’t go off the track too much – again Google will be the answer here.

9. Get your Facebook page listed on Google. Make sure you have joined all the relative business listings sites – yell.com, yelp etc.… Also ensure that you have your Facebook address on every page of your website, this will certainly help with your Google rankings!

10. Facebook is a brilliant place to post your customer reviews – people buy on recommendation so be sure to shout about any great testimonials you have received! Remember though, don’t promote too much – no more than a 1/3 of your postings should be self-promotional!

11. Share ‘On this day’ news – Post some news of what happened on this particular date. Famous peoples birthdays, epic events, Saints days! So many to choose from, and if you choose wisely you are sure to get a comment or two!

12. Post Funny Quotes – Everybody likes a giggle – for example if you are a public house or wine merchant you could use ‘I would rather have a full bottle in front of me, than a full frontal lobotomy!’

13. Post recommendations for other local businesses – if you have had an amazing experience then promote them too – remember the old adage ‘givers gain’.

14. If you are taking part in an Event in the community then post pictures and information about it – promoting them will help promote you in the long run too… Pictures with people in them are ‘likes’; pictures with animals or children in them are ‘loved’…. Be sure to get peoples permission before uploading though!

15. Don’t post an update and then walk away! Respond to any comments in a timely fashion, if someone wants to interact with your page they would like to hear back from you, not have to wait a day or two for an answer. Even a few hours is too long!

16. Respond to comments kindly! Always smile as you are typing and your message will come across nicely. If someone writes something negative my advice is not to remove it, but to help and deal with the problem! Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it would be best not to doctor your Facebook page!

17. Announce any new products or services that you have. People need to know about your latest developments and will find it interesting. Post pictures of the products along side the updates – pictures get far more response than just text!

18. How about a Q & A session – get people to post Questions and then you can answer them. You are the guru of your industry are you not?!

19. Like other business pages. Are you aware that you can like other pages as your business? Great way to raise your profile!

20. Avoid talking politics – remember everyone has a view and it is more than likely different others. Never discuss politics or war! Unless you are a radio or newspaper, in which case it is more than acceptable to spark a discussion!

21. Share employee related events – is someone having a baby, a birthday, going on a nice holiday? It is a great morale booster for your employees – might get them to promote your company to their friends too! Use pictures instead of just text. If you are celebrating a birthday post a picture of a Birthday Card with the text on it… the ideas are limitless and can be fun!

22. Encourage your friends and staff to comment on your page – the more comments you get the more it encourages interaction from others – it will also ensure that you stay in your fans newsfeed for longer. Most people don’t want to be the first to comment.

23. Get your family and friends to hit the ‘Like’ Button – if there are no likes on your updates Facebook will see you as a poor content provider, and you will not show up in news feeds.

24. Welcome new customers on your Facebook page. Make a post about a customer and get a picture of them on your page with a ‘welcome to the family’ quote for example! If potential customers see other customers they are more likely to buy from you!

25. Always be positive. Probably the most important tip of all. Many people use Facebook as a way to escape from their day. Sarcasm is also lost when written – see my suggestion about smile when you type!

26. Send happy holiday wishes out for certain days! We all do the regular ones but why not think out of the box:

‘Alexander Graham Bell Day March 7th, 2012

On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. His marvelous invention would come to revolutionize the communication industry and forever spare us from certain awkward face-to-face conversations.

Originally, Bell suggested we all say ‘ahoy’ when answering the phone, but then Thomas Edison totally ruined everything by changing it to ‘hello.’ So today in honor of Bell, when you pick up the phone let out a hearty ‘ahoy!’

27. Stuck what to say on a Friday afternoon? Wish everyone a happy weekend – post a picture with it of something nice that they could do… remember happy updates get many likes.

28. Always add information to any links you post – don’t just put up a link – people may not understand what it is you are trying to say or whether it is worth clicking on.

29. Don’t have too many links – getting people to click through to an external link will take them off your Facebook page. They are unlikely to come back and comment once they have left you to read an article!

30. Connect your Facebook page to your Twitter account. This is a very simple way to have your Twitter updated – but be sure to check your Twitter account for @ replies. (This is a controversial tip, I’m interested in your views)

31. Share a funny video from YouTube. Everything on your page doesn’t have to be about your business – but make sure it is nonpolitical, clean and not religious! Otherwise you are setting yourself up to be blocked by your Fans!

32. Make sure that you have completed your Business profile completely. Have you got your contact details on there; is it clear what you do? Opening times and a map? So much information can go on your Facebook page – make sure it is on there!

33. Employee bios – create a custom page that includes a picture and some text on your employees – people like to know who is behind a business – remember your Facebook page is like a mini website in its own right, if you use it properly!

34. Spread the word about local charities and fundraisers. Even if you are not involved in the event it reminds your customers that you are supporting local charities!

35. Get a ‘like’ box put on your company website. This means that any visitors to your website can automatically ‘like’ your Facebook page from it. Works a treat to build more fans!

36. ‘Ring my phone contest’ – Take a picture of your phone and then post a comment like ‘the first person to call today to book a table for their Mother’s day meal will get a complementary bottle of wine at their table!’ Very exciting and may spur people on to take action!

37. Always add value. When posting to your fans are you adding value to their everyday lives… are you helping them, advising them or making their life easier? Are they laughing and feeling good about themselves? Get your posts right and your fans will love you!

38. Get a Vanity URL… this is the Facebook webpage address that you will drive people to. When you create a page you will have really long numbers in your URL. This can be changed to something much shorter and relevant to your company. Click here to do it now. https://www.facebook.com/username/

39. Run a Charity Contest. ‘For every ‘like’ and then ‘share’ on this post you will donate 10p to Charity’ – think outside the box, have some fun and watch your popularity soar! Great way to drive up the number of likes on your page!

40. And finally…. Hire a social media manager. Why not hire me to run your page/s for you, it will more than likely cost you less to get me to run it than the time you would spend implementing all of the above. Amanda is a Client Attraction Expert. She specialising in working with health, wellness and fitness professionals who need to market their business effectively to get more clients and make more money - but without working 70 hours a week. What separates the Clients In Abundance service from other business coaches is that she ONLY works with the health, wellness and fitness industry and ONLY specialises in getting more clients and making more money, but without getting burnt out. Because of this, Amanda's clients receive proven, undiluted, and extremely specific step-by-step information on exactly that they need to do to get more clients. As a result, those who coach with her get more clients, make more money and have more free time than they would doing this on their own.