When marketing on Facebook, you have a lot of competition from internet marketers, companies promoting their brands and individuals too. That is a lot of noise to try to rise above with a daily stream of posts, shares, likes and so forth. So you need an edge to help attract visitors, Facebook friends, new shares and to keep visitors engaged.
Use Photos
Photos with some carefully crafted content can encourage interaction with friends. This can be useful for companies that wish to spark interest in new products or new flavors to existing products, like products being released with new colors, designs or accessories.
Some companies such as Home Depot use their Facebook page to post photos and then ask visitors to guess the product. Others have online quizzes and contests with prizes. This can be a very inexpensive form of marketing for these companies, help keep the brand and products in the mind of the consumer, and increase overall sales.
Make Fun of Yourself
People enjoy self depreciating humor. Especially from businesses that can often be seen to be tight lipped or lacking a funny bone. It can add a human factor, reminding people that companies are ultimately comprised of people just like them.
There is a reason why movie lovers enjoy seeing blopper reels on DVD and BluRay movie extras. We don’t always want to see the final take that went perfectly. It is often more fun to see our favorite actors flub their lines and show a human side when they react honestly to their mistake. Companies that can appreciate this reality do well to show themselves in a humorous light.
However, it is important to know what businesses it would be inappropriate to show this side, such as a security-related business, where customers may not be quite so amused.
Promote a Cause
Customers frequently get behind businesses that themselves get behind a charitable cause. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream was very popular because of its stated goal to donate a percentage of the profits to charitable causes.
Companies can get equal marketing traction while promoting a good cause by offering to donate funds to a popular charity in exchange for the best tweet or the best post or the most interesting idea or best customer service story from their customers.
Get Your Customers Talking
Social Media is often at its best by getting customers talking, being engaged and freely contributing to an open discussion with fellow customers. This is an excellent way to turn busy people from happy consumers to raving fans of the brand. This, in turn, can help to pull in new customers from word of mouth. And this type of promotion is said to be about the best kind that money cannot buy. Companies may not be able to buy word of mouth advertising, but they can certainly encourage it.
