Business Tips From Facebook

Social media websites have made it easier for small businesses to market themselves online. Today, it is easy to get the word out about your products and services for free or at a low cost. The major cost you are likely to incur is time. Facebook is the largest social media website and is a great avenue for small businesses to reach their prospects.

The following tips will help you get the most out of your marketing efforts on Facebook.

1) Get found on the web
Ensure customers can easily find your business location online. Use tools such as Google Places and Facebook Places to claim the location of your business. Take advantage of free business listings at Angies List, SuperPages, Google Local Business Center, MerchantCircle, YellowPages.com and Yahoo! Local. Some of these sites allow users to leave reviews about your company or products and this can help you gain trust among new prospects.

At the listings, indicate your business name, URL, hours of business, location and other vital information that your prospects are likely to be looking for.

2) Become an expert
Marketing is not always about advertising your products. Prospects are in need of valuable content and will reward you by buying and being loyal to your brand if you offer them valuable content. You can create instructional videos, write how-to articles, post pictures and tweet about your business or service. Know your product well and help your prospects and customers know how to use it.

3) Create fan pages
Create a Facebook fan page for your business and interact with your customers or prospects on a regular basis. Use the page to make important announcements about your company, post tips on using your products, answer questions or queries from customers, initiate competitions to build your brand loyalty, among others. Do not talk to yourself; listen to what your customers are saying.

4) Use social media ads
If you want to steadily increase your fan page followers, go for ad funded options. Facebook allows users to initiate paid marketing campaigns. These can be effective when a business has a clearance sale, is looking for new leads, has introduced a new product or has a promotion. Facebook ads can be targeted to be displayed to prospects that meet a set criterion.

The above are some tips that can help any small business that is looking to get into social media marketing on Facebook.