How To: Effectively Market Your Business on Facebook, pt. 2

Filed under: Social Media

Now we’ve covered why your Raleigh business should be marketing on Facebook, it’s time to jump in. Today we’ll go through the basics of setting up your company’s Facebook fan page.

Facebook page – not profile
Notice I said Facebook page? That’s key. A seemingly simple error many companies make is setting up a Facebook profile or group. Pages are designed specifically for brands to interact with fans, which is why they’re perfect for you. You’ll need your own personal profile to set one up, however, so if you don’t have one, do that too.

Confused? Go to Facebook, click “Create a Page” (it’s under the sign-up form for profiles) and follow the steps. Simple.

Why a page?

  • Other Facebook users can become “fans” of your company, instead of just “friends.” As a friend, you’d be lost in their list of friends on their page. When a user becomes a fan of your page, your page logo is prominently displayed under the info section on their profile.
  • Pages have the ability to create custom tabs, fill out hours and parking information, gather and display client reviews, create Facebook ads and more features specifically designed for businesses.
  • Page administrators have access to metrics, called Page Insights. These insights show how many times your page has been viewed, interacted with, the fan number growth over time and more. As you’re marketing your business through Facebook, this is a goldmine. Use it to improve your marketing efforts.
  • When savvy Facebook users look for your company on the site, they’ll search pages – not profiles or groups. They know how to work the site, so you should too.

Setting it up
Common sense rules here. When filling in your company’s Facebook page, think from the perspective of your audience. What might Facebook users want to see on your page? What might your clients find useful? What would keep perspective clients interested?

Here’s a tip: fill in information. A lot of it. If a Facebook user comes to your Facebook page to learn about your business, you want them to find that information, not leave with basic questions unanswered. Fill in your location, phone number, e-mail address and a link to your website, YouTube and Twitter accounts. Help people find you on the web and in real life.

Choose a logo that clients and prospective clients will recognize as yours. Add your motto to the description. Upload a photo album with photos of your workplace, store and staff. Don’t skimp on content – according to a study done on what makes Facebook fan pages successful, pages with the most fans had significantly more content (photos, videos, etc.) than pages with low numbers of fans.

Celebrate!
All set up? Congrats. Now you’ll have to wait til the next post to find out how to get your Facebook page found by clients. I know you’re on the edge of your seat (ha), but this is a lesson in patience – you’ll need it in social media marketing.

Posted on January 25th, 2010 by Hannah

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Mobile Web Marketing: Click-to-Call Ads Up the Ante

Filed under: Search Engine Marketing

Yesterday, Google Adwords announced that they’ll soon be offering click-to-call ads on mobile devices like the Android and iPhone. These ads will display a business’s location-specific phone number in addition to the company’s site url, allowing mobile web users to click on the number and call the business directly. What does this mean for your Raleigh company, in regards to mobile web marketing?

With 1 in 5 Americans accessing the mobile web each day, it’s not like you needed another reason to start targeting your marketing toward smartphone users. But click-to-call ads are just that. Have you ever searched Google from an iPhone? If you have, you know that Google Adwords ads are even more prominent on the mobile web than on your desktop. Now imagine that your company’s ad is not only top of the search results on Google, but also features a way to call your Raleigh location with just a click.

Instead of clicking a link to your website to retrieve your phone number (and possibly getting distracted in the process), with click-to-call ads, mobile web users will soon be able to contact you with just one click. How much does it cost? That’s also good news: Adwords advertisers will be charged the same amount for a click on their phone number as they would be charged for a click to their website. Same price, better results.

While click-to-call ads will be a boon for plenty of businesses, think of the possibility for those dependent on local traffic. Scenario: Hungry shopper yens for a sandwich on her way home from the mall. Searches “Raleigh deli” on her iPhone. Several delis show up in search, but yours is at the top, prominently displayed with a phone number she can call with a click. Where do you think she’ll take her lunch business?

With experts predicting that the mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years, marketing for mobile devices has become more important than ever before. Google’s new click-to-call ads are only the beginning.

And here’s the shameless plug you’ve been waiting for: At Click Optimize, we can help you explore your options for marketing on the mobile web, whether that means creating a new version of your site designed specifically for mobile browsing, click-to-call ads or even an iPhone app. Our Raleigh marketing team is ready to start executing these strategies for you, so your company can blow away the competition on the mobile web.

Posted on January 6th, 2010 by Hannah

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