4 Key Steps To Launching Your Brand On Facebook.

Your website is live, you have a great base of loyal customers but you need to take your business to the next level - Facebook marketing can be a great way to start promoting your business whilst making a small dent in your pocket in comparison to traditional advertising channels.

With over A BILLION active users monthly, Facebook continues to be the #1 social media site worldwide - so, if you are thinking about taking the first steps into launching your brand into the world of social media, of course, this is a great place to start! Here are my recommendations on how to create a winning business Facebook page...

#1) Optimise the settings within your page.

Once you have created your Facebook page, you need to make sure you are delivering the right message for your business...

-The About Section: Have a really good think about the message you want to be sending to the world about you, and what you do. Think about what your business does and how you set yourself apart from your competition. Add information about your history and link your clients to client testimonials and your website. Also - make sure you have a really good short description as this is the part your visitors will see first when they visit your page, as it appears on your timeline.

- Profile Picture and Cover Photo: Of course you need to make sure you have an interesting profile pic. If you have a logo use that (so clients will associate the page with your brand). If you are a one man band use a picture of yourself (clients will like being able to put a face to the name). Your Cover photo is a great way to push what your brand is all about - it can be anything from projects you are working on, to deals you are currently running (just don't forget about the 20% text rule). The other thing that is important with your profile and cover pictures, is to make sure you set the dimensions of the graphics you use to the correct size for facebook (nothing looks more unprofessional on a facebook page than images that haven't been correctly formatted). You can see the correct Facebook dimension below.

-Capture Your Audience: They have taken the time to visit you, so they must want to engage with you! Why not strike while the iron is hot....If you are using a program like MailChimp to send out newsletters to your clients, click here to see how easy it is to connect a form to your Facebook page through MailChimp....

#2 Get 'Likes'

It's best to start by reaching out to your easy fish......Don't be afraid to reach out to your friends and family and ask them to like your page. They already know you, like you and trust you so its an easy sell - and if they really are your friends they will want to help your business be as successful as possible. It doesn't matter if they never buy a thing from you, what matters is that they may refer business your way, and the more people you get who engage with your page, the more organic reach your page will have (meaning you don't need to spend a cent to gain access to friends of friends).

You may also want to look into running an ad campaign or competition to boost your brand exposure. I would recommend spending a little money on gaining some social proof when you are first starting your page (and ongoing for that matter) as Facebook advertising can be a great way to reach out to your target market and within your budget.

#3 Send People to Your Website

Now that you've got all these 'fans' of your business you need to ensure you are directing them to your website. The best way to do this is through creating a great blog, with relevant content! If you have an online store (or sell any product for that matter) why not showcase a small range on your facebook page with links back to the full range on your website. Ask questions, start a conversation - remember what I said earlier about organic reach!

....Not to mention - this is fantastic for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

#4 Commit to it!

There is nothing worse than having a dead Facebook page. Many businesses are guilty of neglecting their pages, with their most recent post dating back 6 months ago....or even longer. Failing to post frequently on your page not only kills your Edgerank (the system that controls your content visibility), but it also sends the message to your followers that your don't care much about their loyalty and your brand voice. Make it a priority to engage with your fans 2-3 times a week though posting, ads and imagery. Put it in your diary if you need to - just make sure you do it!

With tools like Buffer and SocialSprout readily available at little or no costs there really is no excuse for forgetting to post. These tools allow you to schedule multiple post in advance - they also have a pretty awesome analytics attached to them which monitor your fans and let you know on what day and at what time most of your fans are engaged with Facebook, so you can make sure you are scheduling your posts to go out on the right days, and at a time when they are most likely to be seen! - pretty neat huh!!

So there you have it - sounds pretty simple right?

Try to think of these four simple steps as the platform for a fantastic future in social media marketing, as they are necessary if you want to have a good chance at success.

I am always happy to talk to anyone about how we can help implement a social media strategy that is right for your business - so don't be afraid to give me a call if you would like to know more about Sass's social media marketing solutions.

Stay Social Everybody

X Ruth