Introducing her topic Robyn asked those in the audience who do not use Facebook for their reasons. One of the reasons given was “I prefer personal contact” which then raised the question “How did you get your leads?”. This may have been purely word of mouth in days gone by but, the internet is today’s word of mouth and as such an integral part of a successful marketing campaign. What makes Facebook such an important tool is its reach, having grown from 1 million users in 2004 to 1 billion by 2012 and growing further since then, there more than 500,000 users who login each and every day. The question therefore is not “Should you use Facebook?” but “How well do you use it?” Here are Robyn’s 8 easy steps to help you do it well.

1. Pick your niche and identify your target market

Your niche is that unique facet of your business that most clearly represents what you are bringing to the market. It’s what your ideal customer needs. Think about this ideal customer in terms of a real person, give him/her a name and a face. Find out what their problem is and describe how your product or service has been specifically designed to resolve it. Once you have that figured out, address your marketing to that person.

2. Create your Facebook Page

Creating a Facebook Page is a simple process but it’s essential that you do it right. Go to https://www.facebook.com/create/ and click on “Create” to get started. The first step is to pick a category which for most small business owners will be “Local Business or Page”. Next is the setup screen where you can enter the URL to your website as well as create your Facebook web address. This name to be entered her should be your company name or the keyword for the niche for your page. If in doubt about keywords you can use a free tool such as Google Keyword Planner to search for words or phrases most used by your target audience.

3. Create a captivating Cover Image

The cover image is the first thing that people will see when they visit your page and as you know, first impressions last so make sure that you get this right. Points to keep in mind are:

• Use the right size i.e. 851 x 341 pixels
• People have to see at first glance what the page is about.
• Don’t include a call to action or advertising. Facebook doesn’t like it.
• Show the benefits of your product/service with picture(s) and a few words.
• Use colours related to your company logo and/or your products/services.
• Include your web address if you have one

4. Create an identifiable Profile Picture

Your profile picture is shown in the bottom left hand side of your cover image. It can be your logo, a product photo or your own photo depending on the purpose of the page. Points to keep in mind are:

• The image should be clear and not confusing
• Colours should relate to your main colour scheme
• Use minimum text
• Use the right size 180 x 180 pixels

5. Pay attention to your “About” section

The next step, the “About” section needs your careful attention. It’s the section of your page that is most looked at by visitors to your page.
The short description is the first thing that people see, so make it count.

6. Use Facebook Tabs

Facebook Tabs are marketing apps where you can add a lot of additional information and links such as;

• Welcome page
• Email subscription
• Opinion polls
• Blogging
• Sales promotions

To find suitable tabs for your page do a Google search on “Best Facebook apps for ……..”

7. Create attention getting content for your news feed

To reach your target audience and get people to Like your page and start interacting you need to publish good content that is informative in first instance. This interaction is essential as the more that people who have Liked your page do follow your posts the more people that Facebook will show those post to in their news feed. Points to keep in mind include:

• Post interesting content that people will want to share.
• The lifespan of a post is around 3 – 4 hours. Post at a time that your audience is most likely to be online.
• Include open ended questions and/or quizzes to get people to respond.
• Post often but don’t overdo it.
• Post at different times of the day and check what times get the best results.
• Keep it short and sweet, 100 – 250 characters or no more than 3 lines.

8. Get Likes the quick and easy way

The best way to get targeted traffic and Likes is by using Facebook ads. It’s easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. To create an ad click on the drop down button at the top right corner of your page and click on “Create Ads”. Facebook provides several objectives for your ad, to get more Likes select the “Page Likes” option and follow these steps:

• Be specific about selecting your audience by location, age, gender, etc.
• Your first ad will be for testing, keep your budget at a few dollars
• Check the results of your ad after a few days
• Change the various audience selection criteria and your text to find a setting for best results

Following these 8 steps outlined here should help you come to grips with how to make the most of what Facebook has to offer. Thank you Robyn for a very helpful talk on “Facebook Marketing Made Easy”. For further information and help go to www.robynratcliff.com.