We aren’t talking about buying ads on Facebook here, even though that’s a great idea too. One of the best parts about social media is that it is a free way to reach a large number of interested, engaged customers and tell them all about the great products and services that you have to offer.
First off, let’s talk about why social media is so great for internet advertising. The main advantage that social media has over other forms of communication-such as, say, television advertisements-is that you can be sure that the people you are talking to are actually interested in your products. They decide to follow you, so you know they want what it is that you’re selling.
Secondly, social media offers real time metrics that will tell you how many people you are talking to, where they are located, and what they’re saying about you. When you once had to shell out for an expensive market research agency, you can now figure out everything that you need to know with a few clicks on your keyboard.
Social media is a practical godsend for internet advertising, and its applications are pretty much limitless. So, let’s go through the most popular social media applications and discuss what would be the best ways to use them in order to make sure that you’re doing the best you can to hype your products.
Facebook: Facebook works best as a fan page with information that has some staying power. So, if you have a sale or a contest that is going to last for a few weeks, you should tell your friends online all about it. If you have information or some pictures, this is a great place for it too. Facebook is also great for creating a community of fans that can talk to each other about your products. This way you can have your fans advertise for you!
Twitter: Whereas Facebook tends to hang out for a bit, Twitter updates come and go pretty quickly. If you have more timely information, or perhaps a one day sale, Twitter is the best place for you.
YouTube: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. If you do not have a YouTube channel, I would suggest starting one. YouTube is a great way in order to really make a connection with your customers.
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In our previous issue, we looked into the ways on how to get individuals to like your Facebook business page. Today, we will be discussing about utilizing advertising campaigns, contests and give-aways to generate more fans.
Using a social media management site entirely for promotions, contests and giveaways is a wonderful way to measure whether these said promotional tactics is working for your business. The site allows anyone to find out the number of traffic that comes to their page.
This can be a double win situation too because making the promotion exclusive will gather a new set of Facebook fans which is vital to the growth and maintenance of the company’s social network page. Contests give a touch of anticipation to your site.
Now that you know this, let’s proceed to how you can implement Facebook marketing and start making traffic-pulling contests and promos.
Well, firstly, you have to make certain that all contest mechanics and update are accessible to Facebook users alone. The business must not promote it in emails, newsletters, other social networking sites or even in their official website other than saying that the promotion is exclusive to Facebook users, of course. Additionally, the mechanics have to be clear and simple. Overcomplicating matters would make contestants think you’ve set the bar too high and can discourage them from joining.
As an early warning, contests, incentives and promotions tend to be costly as the apps needed to develop and run it are also expensive. For example, the application Wildfire has a $5 setup fee and charges $0.99 for each day the campaign runs. In addition to that, Facebook has strict rules when it comes to running contests within their system. Generally, a lot of different contests are not even made possible. You are not allowed to have an official contest posted in your wall.
There are some exceptions though. Any business that wants to run contests in Facebook must first purchase at least $10,000 worth of Facebook ads within just three months.
For businesses that are able to use contests, there are a lot of business applications that help create these. Wildfire offers all the necessary tools to create photos, videos, and graphic entries to develop a contest campaign. You can also pimp out your campaign as much as you want with these tools. You can change the look of graphics ,control contest mechanics, deadlines as well as the level of involvement of people in your network. To make navigation easy, consider placing a contest widget in your Fan Page so the competitors will be able to link straight to a mini site. Other platform services include Strutta.com and Vertigo.
To really entice a lot of participants, make sure you present incentives which people can’t resist. A company named Regus, for instance, offered a fully furnished office for the photo entry which showed the messiest office. But you shouldn’t stop there. Think of prizes such as tickets to the most sough-after concert in town.
A contest that’s managed successfully will certainly bring in lots of qualified prospects to the organization. Despite the costs and additional work, ventures such as these are really worth it if only for the brownie points you win with present and potential customers.
Be sure to read our next issue of Facebook for Business.We will talk about a very exciting topic: Earning profits on Facebook!
Using Facebook for Business and as well as creating advertisement campaigns are two best ways to achieve the best results you want in online marketing. Find out more about Facebook marketing here.
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