The big question is - ' How do I reach these people?'.
Engagement -Firstly, however you need to start to build your audience so lets take a look at 5 tips on how best to achieve this.
1. Page Type - Personal or Business?
This is were we often see the first mistake made. You have the choice of either a personal page which is for your friends and followers, or for a Business page where you can talk about and promote your business.
A personal page is great for your friends and friends of friends who want to get to know you. It's where you can talk about anything relevant to you and let everyone know what you are up to, what your likes and dislikes are and have fun with your friends. You are limited to 5000 friends but you can also have followers who will see your posts and can keep up with what you are posting.
A Business page is where anyone interested in your business and your posts can 'Like' your page. If you are running a Business then this is where you want to be. Don't made the cardinal sin and just post out adverts for your business.
Social Media is named that for a reason - its's Social!
Your aim here is to build a solid following of people and businesses who want to hear what you are saying.
2. Make it Easy
Make it easy for your fans to get to know you well. If you are running a business, the chances are you will have other online platforms such as a website, Twitter, Pinterest, you tube, LinkedIn etc. If this is the case then put 'links' in obvious places to let your fans move from site to site.
A great place to do this if you have the option is your About section. Put your website link in this section so that your fans can click straight through.
You could also create an app or tab. Twitter or Pinterest can have a tab on Facebook taking your fans straight to your tweets or pins.
3. Build Your Audience
There are several great ways to build your audience so let's look at a few here.
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'Like' other relevant. By relevant I mean your target audience or where your target audience are. So for example, if you are a florist, you may want to like pages of photographers, wedding shops, hair stylists, hotels etc. The people who follow these pages may also be interested in your page.
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Engage with the pages you have followed - check their posts in your newsfeed and 'like', 'comment' and 'share' them.
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'Like' other fan pages with both your personal and business page - this does them the favour of increasing their number of likes on their page and you will still get their posts in your newsfeeds.
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Engage with your fans - if they 'like', 'comment', or 'share' your
posts then rememer to thank them or carry on the conversation. Ensure
your 'Replies' are switched on so that you can reply directly to each
comment, and not just at the bottom of a list. This is a great way of
keeping things personal.
4. Engagement - speak to your Audience
Great tips about how to talk to your fans to create your engagement.
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Ask questions - people love to reply if you ask their opinion. This can just be a question in your post such as 'this is a great post - what do you think?' or 'Its sunny outside today - should I be working or will I go for a walk?' It could also be a question set as a poll so all your audience needs to do is click a box.
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Use images and videos. Everyone likes looking at pictures but few like reading alot of words online. If your picture can tell your story then you have a win win situation.
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Keep your posts very short - they say less than 80 characters if possible. That's less than Twitter!
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Don't just talk about your business - your fans want to know about you - what are you really like, what are you up to, what does your office/employees/dog look like. This is your opportunity to let them get to know the real you.
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Schedule your posts to when your fans are there - not just when its
convenient for you to post. If you turn up at a networking meeting with
a great message bang on 9am and there are only 3 people in the room,
but after you leave at half past 100 people walk in - what would have
been better? Passing your message onto the 3 people or rearranging your
schedule to talk to 100 half an hour later?
5. Join Groups
Groups are great places to meet and influence people. There are groups on every subject in Facebook so you will easily find some of interest to you.
Search for groups that are either in the same line of business as you or groups where you are most likely to become an influencer. Groups in the same business will be a good support network and is a fantastic way to keep up to date with ideas within your industry. You can also see what your peers are doing and saying within their businesses.
If you join other groups then you can easily become the must talk to person in your line of business. Just join in conversations and answer queries for others every so often and your name will soon be known.
If you would like any further information please contact us at www.creationsocialmedia.com www.facebook.com/creationsocialmedia or call us on 07786036609
