In our last blog post, we already covered the stats and the reasons why Facebook is still your way to go when it comes to an online presence and online advertising. Since we kinda pride ourselves with our role as your social media coach, we thought we’d provide you with a plan to get you started. And if you’re reading this, we assume you’ve decided that Facebook fits your business.
So, let's get your marketing game ON. First of all, you - of course - need to make an account, if you had not made one yet. Make sure to make this a ‘business’ account, instead of a personal account or page. It makes it easier for you to scale up, later, when you would like to start advertising for example. Facebook guides you through this process, it’s really not hard at all! And as we said, we're here to coach you through it. Because the page alone is not going to cut it. It takes two to play this game! Well alrighty, let’s get you going in four easy steps…
Set goals and determine your audience
Coming up with goals requires you to do a little research. What is it exactly that you are after? Is it brand awareness? Engagement with your audience? Social customer care service? Are you trying to sell your product? Or do you ‘just’ want to drive traffic to your website? Once you decide on the goals that you’re going to set, then think about your audience. Who would you likely want to engage with? Is there a specific audience that you want to reach? You can dive into the 2020 Social Media Demographics by Sprout Social to get you going.
Knowing who your audience is, helps you determine the tone of voice, and also the content. Because once you decide on your audience, then think about what you’re audience is looking for! What is it that they like? What would make them want to ‘like’ your page, what could be scroll-stopping for them?
Engage pro-actively with your audience
There are a whole lot of thoughts about how to engage with your audience, but let’s start with: make it personal! Your audience wants to connect with you, with your service, your products. Don’t go ‘safe’, and just post product pics. Go authentic! Post pics and videos that show your store’s personality, your crew, your brand’s values. Reach out and engage on a personal level, it’s sure to get your numbers up!
So, how? Well, you can post pics, text, and videos on Facebook. If you want to become a pro at this, be sure to have a quick look at the right dimensions for all those. We’ve told you before, we’re suckers for canva! We love using templates to make sure our posts have the same look-’n-feel. You could use canva to create your Facebook header for example, and work your store’s logo in there!
So, a post can be anything from a few lines of text, sharing thoughts, or just sharing a pic or video. But Facebook offers more ways to engage with your audience. You can also ‘tag products’ on pics, ‘check-in’ at places that are of interest to your audience, or that can start a conversation. You can ‘support a non-profit organization’, and show your commitment to topics dear to your heart. And, you can even start a video party! All you have to do is select a video, invite people to watch with you. And - depending on your store - this could lead up to amazing conversations! You just gotta push 'the right buttons'.
Then, you’ve got three more opportunities to engage with your audience on Facebook. The first: events. You can schedule an event for your store. For example, an online event (happening so much right now…, like a webinar, a Q&A Session, a live session) or a planned event a little ahead of time, that allows you to easily invite all of your friends and ‘followers’! People can 'follow' an event, let you know that they are interested, and you can target those followers real easy.
Last, but not least: stories and LIVE video. Especially during COVID19, stories and LIVE have spiked with 40%! Video, and more specifically, stories (short clips of video that disappear after 24 hours, started on Instagram and are now going everywhere - even coming to LinkedIn and Twitter we’ve heard!) and LIVE, like Instagram TV truly are lifesavers right now. Back to Facebook, you’ve got the option to either post real short stories, these can be video or pics, and you can add stickers and all sorts of cool stuff to them. People notice stories quickly, and stories are kinda taking over… definitely a way to go if you want to increase your engagement!
And, lastly, you can go LIVE. Which basically means you broadcast live, and your followers can ‘tune in’ to hear what you’ve got to say. Are you in your store, wanting to show customers something new, something cool? Or just go live to tell them that you miss them in your store? Video is an amazing way for us to connect. And while we know that making vlogs is a whole different ballgame, scary, all of that. It’s SO worth your time and effort!
Schedule your content, yet stay in control
Getting this all figured out takes some time, but as we’ve said before:
This all sure sounds like a lot of work and to be honest, heck yeah, it is. But no matter how good your products are and how experienced you are, if you don’t ship your story, you don’t exist. You really need to bring your business to life and you need social storytelling to do so.
There are ways and means though! What you need to realize, is that being active on social media requires time and effort, as in, you need to post regularly. Not just once a week, but more like three times a week, at the least. On Facebook that is... Instagram could even use a daily post. So, to give yourself a break, and consistency a chance: use planning to have a minimum of 2-3 posts per week. But make it flexible, because we just never know what life brings us, and you don’t want a happy-happy-joy joy-post to post to your timeline, pre-planned, on a day that feels everything but happy. That could really rub the wrong way, and would not be the kind of engagement you’re after! So our number 1-advice: don't outsource your complete social media, stay in control of what’s posted, and when. In real-time!
You could use Facebook’s planning tool, as a business page, or you could use a separate tool. Most planning tools are available on your computer, you upload the pics you would like and you can pre-plan when to share this to your page.
In your Embrosa app, you connect your Facebook page (and Instagram grid for that matter) directly to all our content, and thus you could share both branded content (all your favorite brands’ marketing materials available in our app), general content (think of all the material we’ve made for you, like special days), and personal pics that you have made with your own phone. You could plan ahead, OR, you could ask us to plan it for you (Embrosa Premium).
We’ll look at the brands that you have in your Embrosa app, and we’ll send you a ready-made Facebook planning that is made especially for you and your social media, consisting of a minimum of three posts a week, branded and general content. Basically, you're dealt with the right set of cards, ready to play, and it didn't cost you your valuable time or crazy amounts of money!
Well… okay, we could have just said this right away and saved you a lot of time (and possibly anxiety!).
Encourage cheerleading
The last piece of FUN advice would be to get your cheerleaders ready to cheer you to a social media win! Your best cheerleaders are your own employees, or of course, your loyal customers! There’s nothing like a happy review, or even a personal story from an employee, about why they love to work for you. What makes your store a great place to work? Or to shop? In the US, having an employee of the week or month is a very normal thing. In The Netherlands, this is not. But wouldn’t it be cool if you were to post about those employees that make a difference? Or those customers, for that matter?
Again, video works amazing and is sure to drive your numbers up when it comes to engagement. Remember, it’s all about personality. This doesn’t have to be an amazingly edited video! It could even be a picture of a customer, or employee, a community member, with a story in text.
And, often we forget about this one thing… make sure everyone’s aware that it matters to be out there. Emphasize that you would appreciate employees sharing your store’s Facebook page within their communities, and amongst their relatives. That together you can make a difference, have the biggest impact and reach, and are more likely to hit the 'engagement jackpot'!
This blog should definitely get you started on social! Are you ready to give Facebook a try for your business? Facebook's sure ready for YOU! And if - in the meantime - you need A's to your Q's, just hit the chat button on this page. Or, of course, turn to google for those practical questions that you might have because there’s just sooooo much useful information out there, like how to use canva, how to write catchy short updates, when’s the best time to post, how to make a post, event, story, et cetera…
We’ve developed Embrosa app for those people that are either social-shy, or that want to spend less time on figuring this all out. Download our app (Google Play / App Store), register, select your industry, and add your favorite brands to see all the awesome available branded content. You can either download directly and post later or start planning your social media from within our app!
We’ve made it so easy, that it actually becomes fun! Go ahead, and play your best marketing game on social media! Be #embrosapowered! Oh and, hashtags... read all about those in our 'How to get started on Instagram'-blog post. #upnext #whywouldyou #inthenameoflove #hashtags