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34 | HIRE
AND
RENTAL
NEWS
| MAY 2012
INDUSTRY IN FOCUS
To set up your business
Facebook page, you need
to set up your own FB
profile first, remember this
profile could be associated
with your business. You can
create a profile that is a
‘ghost’, purely there to link
into your business page and
make your separate personal
profile an admin to the
business page.
To get the most out of FB, you need to
ensure your business is set up as a page,
not a profile. With a business page you get
more functionality and visibility than with
a profile page. A page is public and users
can like and become a fan of your page,
unlike a profile where it’s private, pending
your privacy settings and friends are by
invitation.
Facebook is about engagement,
therefore you need to be prepared to post
regularly or have someone to do it for
you. The FB wall is where you build your
community and interact with your ‘fans’.
Studies have revealed FB users like company
pages to see promotional offers and to
share your information with others in their
network.
Posting is an important
part of FB and research has
shown mornings or weekends
are optimum for getting the
most engagement on your
page; this is due to the time
when users are spending their
time on FB. How much to
post is a common question;
you don’t want to inundate
your audience however you want to keep
them informed and keep your page top
of mind. Some of this depends on your
business, however once a day or every
few days is good. Don’t post for the sake
of posting or saying something. Good FB
pages don’t preach or sell to their fan base,
they engage, unlike when you walk into a
physical store where the salesperson doesn’t
understand your needs and does the “sales
pitch”.
To engage, ask questions, post useful
links, share articles, post tips and share
information, this will ensure your audience
will Like and Share on their profiles and
Facebook for your business
With over 800 million users Facebook (FB) is the place to be these days. Most businesses have taken the first step, or
at least thought about setting up a Facebook page. Many are challenged on the best way to set it up, and how to
maximise its potential for their business.
pages. To further develop this relationship,
spend time following up on posts and
responding to questions and posts on your
wall. It’s ok to promote your brand, product
and company every now and then but not
all the time. I would suggest using the 80/20
rule, if you post once a day then maybe
once a week you promote your product or
service. Once you have your FB community
engaging with you, you can then start to
develop posts that will spread virally.
Custom tabs are a great tool for
businesses on FB, you can create a landing
page to promote your business, offer a
promotion and/or get them to like your
page and share it. Tabs are a great way to
create calls to action and to further engage
with FB users. A tab can be used to create
an email subscription via a competition,
newsletter, e-book or just requesting them
to sign up to receive relevant information
from your business like new products and
offers.
The most effective tab is the welcome tab
that comes up when someone stops by your
FB page that is not a fan already. These can
be created in with an iFrame application
and once the user likes your page, they will
be automatically directed to your FB wall.
Informal studies have shown a welcome
tab could increase your Like conversion by
50% if done well. There are lots of options
for businesses including discussion tabs and
developers are continually
creating new tools for FB all
the time.
A great way to review
what is available is to take
a look at some of the big
brands’ FB pages, like Coke,
Oprah etc. These tabs use
coding languages including
HTML, JavaScript, CSS or
any other language used to
build webpages including
Wordpress, or you can purchase a package
from companies to set this up on your FB
page but if you know some coding then
you can create it yourself.
Profile pictures are the first thing your
fans will see. Most people use their basic
logo files or a photo but if you have a
designer or access to one, get them to
create an image that defines your company,
brand, product or service. Your profile
picture can be increased up to 180 pixels
wide and 540 pixels tall, you may as well
use the space being offered and this will
allow you to be a bit creative with your
image. Ensure you keep consistency for all
your branding for all your online presence.
How do I grow fans and followers?
You need to have something
that makes someone want to
become a fan of your page or
like your page. Good content
people want to engage with
is imperative as is supplying
relevant and timely information.
Where possible create a call to
action that encourages people
to like it and then share it on
FB. The more your business
shows up in your fans’ FB news feeds the
more exposure you get.
Link your social media where possible
with Twitter and LinkedIn. Integrate
social content on your page incorporating
content from social channels like YouTube
and SlideShare. Promote events in FB to
promote your own business and customer
and supplier events using the events tool.
“Like” other businesses’ pages such as
vendors, suppliers, customers, business
partners etc. and where relevant post on
their walls and their posts. In turn they may
like your page and then expose you to their
network and fans.
continued p36...
You need to have something that makes
someone want to become a fan of your page
or like your page. Good content people want
to engage with is imperative as is supplying
relevant and timely information.