When was the last time you actually talked about your business and what you do for people on Facebook? Do the followers of your personal profile have any idea what you do for a living? Or are you on Facebook keeping up with college buddies and parent friends from your kids’ school?
This bears repeating, even if you’ve heard t beofre: If you don’t toot your own horn once in a while, nobody else will do it for you. Don’t sit back and wait for people to find you. Be proactive and step out from behind your computer and tell people what your business is all about.
True, you don’t want every single post (or even every third post) to be self-promotion because that gets really old really fast, and could turn followers away from you. Instead, develop a social media plan so your posts are a good balance between personal, business, and fun.
Facebook allows at least three different ways to reach your audience, and if you’re wanting to use Facebook for business, you should utilize all three, because not everyone will see every post you publish. Using all three avenues raises your odds that the people in your target market will see something of interest.
Optimize Your Personal Profile
Prospective clients will check out your profile on a daily basis if you do a good job of posting consistently and reaching out to others as friends. In order to grab their attention when they do, be sure you fill out all the space on your personal profile page as completely as possible.
- Add a bio – describe to your followers what makes you tick and how you’re unique
- Add featured photos – a nice, visual way to grab attention with photos from conferences, workshops, speaking engagements, etc.
- Add your workplace information – link to your website, Facebook Group, and Facebook Business Page
- Link other social media profiles – under the “About >> Contact & Basic Info” section
Even though your personal profile is meant for personal stuff, you can certainly announce the launch of your book, post photos of your recent trip to a mastermind retreat, or talk about the convention you attended and met your favorite mentor. While these are business-related, you’re not purposefully promoting your business via your personal profile.
Create a Business Page on Facebook
The standard unwritten rule of Facebook is to use a business page to promote your business, while your personal profile is meant for personal communication. So, to stay in good standing with expectations, create you business page, and optimize it in the same manner as you did your personal profile.
Business pages have come under fire recently because users complain that they never see page posts in their news feeds, even though they have liked the page. While this is aggravating, don’t give up yet. If for nothing else, you can add your website link and other contact information here and, since it’s a business page, you can talk about your business and promote your products every single day, even multiple times a day, without penalty.
You can also run contests from your business page as well as add an opt-in offer to one of the tabs. Consider this a quick overview of your business where your followers can decide if they want to move forward with a consultation. Put a “Send Message” button on your business page to make that appointment booking even easier.
Use Facebook Groups to Engage Prospects
Facebook groups can be another great resource to connect directly and personally with prospective clients. Public groups can also be a good way to handle customer service questions. Closed or Secret groups are best used for specialty discussion topics, or memberships. Keep in mind that successful groups need daily interaction from their host so they don’t forget about you, but that’s easy to add to your overall Facebook marketing plan.
In closing, always remember finding clients is all about building relationships, and that doesn’t happen overnight. Talk about your business, showcase your expertise, reach out to your followers, and when the time is right, they will remember your name because you dared to talk about what you do in a friendly, personable, and transparent manner.
Photo by Con Karampelas
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