The key to using Facebook as an effective marketing tool is to get people involved with your conversation. They will like what you do, share it and comment on it if it’s useful to them: note, this conversation is usually ad free.
Ads are what real people hate about businesses on Facebook. People use social networking as a way to share in a conversation.
That conversation can be showing off the new shoes they bought, a trailer to a movie coming out, or simply a status about how they’re feeling that day. These posts generate likes, shares, and comments because they are interesting to their friends.
They did not get on Facebook to see another video selling them a new Laptop or Snuggie. They turned off the TV for a reason.
Facebook users only want to see something they agree with, are funny, unique, helpful or entertaining in some way. Check out 2 vastly different approaches.
Doritos took on a campaign of creating ridiculous images and quotes that all involved their product. They created a ridiculous marketing ad for the “dPhone”—an orange chip looking phone that imitates the iPhone.
They listed a bunch of hilarious features that create a good image of what an iPhone would look like if it fused with a Dorito chip. They created an ad, yes, but they did it for humors sake.
Its purpose was to be funny, not to sell a product. By making it funny, their images have created thousands of likes and shares, increasing their exposure.
Very quickly, people were laughing at the dPhone and creating positive associations with the product. The more positive the associations, the more likely they are to buy it come game or shopping day.
They drive the conversation with humor. Look in contrast at Random House’s Facebook page.
For those of you that don’t know, Random House is one of the biggest book publishers in the country. They focus their attention on posting about things that appeal to readers.
You can find a picture of a beautiful bookcase or armchair in someone’s house. You will find quotes from famous authors about reading.
These quotes reflect strong opinions readers have about literature, writing and reading. They like them because they agree.
Their focus is to get people to agree with what they say; that way they’ll agree with what they do—sell books. They know what their audience wants to see and cater to them.
Your conversation will increase as you make content that people agree with, learn something from, or find humorous. Think like your audience thinks and you’ll capture their attention.
Don’t worry if your conversation isn’t generating as much conversation as these two examples. Remember that their pages have tens of thousands of likes, meaning their images reach more newsfeeds than yours.
You can increase your exposure by asking people to like you. You can also run a contest that requires as little as a like on Facebook to enter you into the drawing.
These will help you increase your market reach and drive people to notice your conversation more. They can only do so much though.
It’s your content that’s going to sell people on who you are and what you do. Avoid making ad posts your primary focus.
Instead, add something that would perk your interest. It will likely perk their interests too.
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