Having a Facebook Business Page helps businesses grow online, reach more customers, connect with larger audiences, and expand their business opportunities. Insights on seven key benefits of a Facebook Business Page.
In today’s marketing environment, having a clear and compelling online presence is vital to the success of most businesses. One popular online venue that can significantly benefit your business is Facebook, in particular, the Facebook Business Page. Facebook, as a social media platform, offers businesses the opportunity to create their own professional profile and an associated page. Since there is no cost to do this, be sure to take advantage of this marketing avenue if you have not done so already. When done well, your Facebook Business Page will enable your business to reach more people (i.e. leads and prospects), interact better with existing customers, and promote your products and/or services. Furthermore, you’re often able to do these things in a more light-hearted and friendly way than you can on many other marketing channels.
While the Facebook platform settings can be confusing, especially for advanced advertising, it’s relatively easy to set up your Facebook Business Page. You can access Facebook’s Business Page setup instructions here. Steps for setting up a Facebook Business Page, however, is not the focus of this post. Instead, we are seeking to explain some advantages to having a Facebook Business Page. Our goal is to encourage you to not overlook this “low hanging fruit” in your marketing efforts.
We’ll also discuss a few ways you can use Facebook to make your brand more visible and, ultimately, attract more potential customers to your website or sales pipeline. You may wonder how this platform can produce good results and what’s involved. Time and effort, of course. You and/or your team have to be willing and able to post photos, videos, content, and respond to comments from others. This is a cost for sure and something that must be taken into account. In short, though, using Facebook for business has the potential to get your business in front of many more people that you are likely to reach otherwise. This is especially true in our “post-Yellow Pages” environment where digital advertising dominates. Let’s dive right into why a Facebook Business Page is something to seriously consider putting some resources into!
From the introduction above, you know we feel a Facebook Business Page offers significant benefits for most businesses seeking to expand and enhance their online presence. For example, it provides a no-direct cost platform to reach a wider audience, increase brand visibility, and potentially expand your customer base. It helps you build brand credibility since you can more casually showcase your products, services, and even customer testimonials. Additionally, the interactive nature of Facebook allows for some great customer-focused and service-oriented dialog and feedback (which may include suggestions for new products and services you can offer). This exchange can be particularly good for fostering relationships and building brand recognition and long-term loyalty. And finally, Facebook can serve as a valuable tool to drive website visits.
Tip: Before we dig much deeper, please note that for most small businesses, your Facebook Business Page does not need to have your full attention. It’s probably something you should check daily and post something on a few times a week. Nothing more than that is usually needed unless it “takes off.” If that’s the case, great! But then, at this level it should essentially “pay for itself” in new business and so you can use that revenue to assign a dedicated team member or agency to manage.
What follows are seven of the main benefits we feel a Facebook Business Page provides your business. These are basics and some have been hinted at above.
Reaching a broader audience is a general marketing goal for most businesses. That’s the point of advertising. By posting to, and interacting with, Facebook’s large user base, you’re “in the running” to reach potential customers who may not know about your business. Facebook offers a diverse demographic of people across a wide range of ages and social factors. By giving them access to a variety of content (information, videos, photos, etc.), you’ll have the opportunity to reach more potential customers. In addition, at some point it may make sense financially for you to do some Facebook advertising (discussed in #5 below).
Good customer support builds brand credibility as people learn they can trust your business. A Facebook Business Page provides a public platform where you can provide help, usage tips, support, and otherwise showcase your brand’s values. Here you can demonstrate your commitment to transparency and customer satisfaction. Everyone makes mistakes, so own those of your business and correct them publicly. Interact with your audience by giving relevant updates, responding promptly to questions, and sharing useful content. Make sure things are interesting and, when appropriate, don’t be afraid to use some humor. This human-side to your business can effectively enhance your business’s credibility in the eyes of the public.
Related to brand credibility discussed above, engaging with customers on your Facebook Business Page is one of the best ways to build strong relationships and improve brand loyalty. By responding to customer questions, comments, and reviews, you show them that their opinions and feedback are valued. This exchange can not only enhance customer satisfaction, it may also lower your customer support workload. By helping a few respondents resolve issues or concerns they have, you are creating an online resource that can be used by others (including your team and other customers in future support requests). Engaging with your customers also provides valuable insights into their preferences and needs. This can help your business improve the products or services you offer so you better meet their needs.
Tip: Be sure to save the most-commonly asked questions and your best exchanges to create and/or expand a FAQ section on your business website.
Other than receiving messages directly through your Facebook Business Page, most business transactions are not going to take place on Facebook. That means you need to get them to either call you or visit your website (or whatever “lead pipeline” you have, so you can book a service call or whatever your business does). Therefore, gaining website visits becomes a focal task to consider when using a Facebook Business Page.
To attract users to your website from Facebook, share useful content and posts that point back to your website. Give partial information that is of value to them and link back to “the rest of the store” on your website. In sharing good content, insights, etc. on your Facebook Business Page, your prospective customers are able to see your expertise firsthand and that makes them more confident in your ability to deliver on the promises. You can (and should) do this without boastful claims, keeping in mind a “call to action” that encourages people to explore your products or services on your website.
Tip: If you do Facebook advertising (or “boost” a post by sponsoring it), you can use Facebook’s call-to-action buttons to link your posts to your website or to call your business. See #5 for more details.
While there is no direct financial cost to having a Facebook Business Page, the reality is, it’s not likely to get a lot of exposure within the Facebook ecosystem without the use of Facebook advertising. Note that #6 below still applies and is one of the most compelling reasons to have a Facebook Business Page. Likewise, responding to customers as noted in #3 does not require any advertising budget.
While you don’t have to spend any money to use Facebook for business, you can choose to “boost” certain posts for wider reach. This “pay to play” model can greatly increase your business’ online visibility and attract potential customers. In addition, Facebook ads can be highly targeted to your local market areas and audience. That means you don’t have to spend a lot of money trying to reach people who are very unlikely to be interested in your product or service.
Tip: One way to lower your advertising cost (and with better exposure at the same time) is to boost posts that are already performing well with your audience. Put another way, if you have a “free” post with strong interest and comments, it’s likely to perform much better when boosted than to boost a “free” one that does not have any “organic” interest.
Perhaps one of the best reasons for maintaining a Facebook Business page is so your customers can “tag” your business in their comments and posts. What is “tagging” and why is it so important? It’s one of the features within the core of Facebook that links profiles and pages together. It enables your customers to seamlessly link to your Facebook Business Page within their interactions with others. When customers tag your business within their posts and comments, it increases your visibility as their friends and followers see your business name and have instant access to your branded Facebook page. This linkage not only helps in increasing your brand awareness but also directs potential customers to your Facebook Business page (and does this for free!). When someone tags your business profile, you are, in effect, leveraging their network and turning them into brand advocates.
Tagging is such a powerful feature, let’s go over it again: When a customer endorses your business as their recommendation, their tagged link becomes a visible way for prospects to instantly see that your business can be found within the Facebook community. In addition, they can easily check out your Facebook Business Page with a single click or tap. From there, they are presented with your posts, comments, videos, etc., and, perhaps even more importantly, the reviews and ratings discussed in #7 below. By this process, you gain new referrals through what we can call “digital word of mouth” marketing. It’s one of the most valuable forms of (essentially) free advertising you can have.
Your Facebook Business page can be a great place for getting user-generated content (UGC). UGC, when it is favorable, is very valuable for businesses, especially when it includes recommendations in the form of positive reviews and ratings. Facebook makes it very easy for customers to leave their reviews and ratings directly on your Facebook Business Page.
Another reason why UGC can be extremely valuable is that it’s obviously not produced by the business. Instead, when posted by a Facebook user, the content is linked by Facebook to that user and their profile. People who know these users personally are often highly influenced by them. What they say about your business can have a huge impact on them. Even if they don’t know the reviewer personally, aggregate ratings tend to have a profound effect on most prospective customers. Put another way, when satisfied customers tag and recommend your business in their photos, comments, and/or posts, it builds trust and authenticity for your business and becomes a powerful motivator for potential customers. In short, actual customer reviews and testimonials provide what the public tends to view as authentic accounts of people’s experiences with your brand.
In conclusion, establishing a Facebook Business Page is a logical step for most businesses to take for growing their online presence and outreach. By leveraging Facebook as a social media platform for business, you can effectively engage your target audience, drive website visits, and build brand credibility with the public. Adding the relatively-affordable option of boosting your better content through Facebook ads makes this an even more valuable channel for businesses of all sizes to consider.
Make the most of the Facebook community and these marketing benefits. Be sure your Business Page is populated with high-quality posts, interesting images, and compelling commentary from your business team. By actively engaging with your followers and audience, your Facebook Business Page can become a powerful vehicle for driving your business down the road of success.
Does your business have a Facebook Business Page? If not, reach out to us. We’re eager to help you develop and expand your marketing on Facebook.
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