The following article is from expert contributor Drew Larison, CEO and Founder of The Larison Company based in Kokomo, IN. Drew is an expert and speaker on the topics of social media marketing, small business marketing, consulting and more.
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The year was 2010. I had stumbled into the world known as social media marketing, and I couldn’t be more excited. You see, back in 2010 it didn’t take much to call yourself a “social media expert”. If you knew how to setup a Facebook and Twitter page, you were more intelligent on the topic than 90% of all business owners. Things have changed in 5 years.
In 2015 there now things like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook paid ads you have to worry about. There are now even college degrees for social media marketing. 5 years ago, you could simply setup your Facebook page and you were ahead of the curve. That doesn’t fly anymore. Here are 3 things you have to be doing on Facebook to be successful in 2015.
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Have a Facebook ad strategy
Ever since Facebook went IPO in 2012, they have started taking the whole “ we need to be making money” concept more seriously. In 2010 a brand could post a status on their Facebook page and 75%-80% of the people would see that content. This is what Facebook calls reach.
There are 2 different kind of reach, organic and paid. Organic reach is the amount of people a brand’s Facebook status reaches without any paid budget or “boost” behind it. In 2015 a brand is lucky to reach 10%-15% of their fans with their organic reach. The reason is obvious; Facebook wants brands to start spending more money on Facebook. If you really want to be intentional about your Facebook marketing and have your fans see your content, you HAVE to pay to play.
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Run intentional contests
Facebook contests have been a thing almost from them beginning of the social network. However, this doesn’t mean that Facebook contests have always been the same from the beginning. In 2010, brands used Facebook contests to simply have something to post. In the last 5 years, us marketers have gotten a little bit smarter. Brands and marketers have gotten more intentional about running these contests and it has made it more enjoyable for the user and also more effective for the brand.
When you run a Facebook contest make sure that the user always has to do some type of sharing. Whether that is sharing the status update, or sharing the page make sure that your brand is being shared across their networks. If your small business runs a contest with the share strategy in mind, your page could receive hundreds if not thousands of new likes in a week’s time. Don’t forget to “boost” your contest status with Facebook ads either. (See above)
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Dress your page for success
In 2015 it’s really hard to trick Facebook users. People are smart. They are constantly looking at brands online and they can spot the good ones from the bad ones. When we were creating our social media pages for The Larison Company, we could have just thrown up a logo that I created in Microsoft paint and maybe used an image from Google Image search for “marketing consultants” for our cover photo, but we didn’t and you can tell the difference.
Hire a graphic designer, hire a professional photographer and ask for your peer’s feedback before you jump onto Facebook with your branding. I can’t stress enough how important this is. In most cases your brand has 1 shot of making a good impression on a Facebook user, don’t blow it because you were lazy at the start when it came to dressing your Facebook page for success.
Facebook is one of the most powerful tools your brand can use when it comes to your online marketing strategy. Follow these 3 steps and I can promise you success.
If you have any questions or would like more details on the things listed in this article please contact us today and we would love to help you and your business be more successful on Facebook.
Cheers,
-Drew Larison
