You can't avoid Facebook today. With over one billion users, finding somebody without a Facebook account is a rarity.
As such, I am starting from the ground up. Intermediate and advance marketeers can skip these first few posts.
Lots of F&B establishments have already started on Facebook marketing. Some have found hits, other misses.
After dealing with F&B merchants on how to launch their Fan Clubs for their Facebook Page, I have found that there are still doubts about using Facebook as a marketing tools.
As such, I am starting from the ground up. Intermediate and advance marketeers can skip these first few posts.
So why Facebook?
1. A medium which provides you with a captive audience
When Facebook first launched Pages, they added a fan button where Facebook users become fans of your Page. They made a decision to change it to Likes but it is weird to call them likers.
So those who join the Page are still known as fans.
These fans are your captive audience. Besides email, no other medium provide that online tool to give you a captive audience.
Yes, some may argue that Facebook has changed the algorithm and less fans see the post. Still, having 20% of fans see you updates is better than nobody seeing them at all. However, I will deal with this issue in a later post.
If you buy advertisement in a newspaper, your captive audience is only for that particular day and for the particular group of readers who are interested in your ad. Unfortunately, most will forget the ad the next day.
Advertising in newspaper is costly especially if you do it every other day. This leads to point 2.
2. Facebook Pages are easy to set-up and is free.
It only takes less than five minutes to set up a Facebook Page and you don't have to pay Facebook a cent.
It is also easier to update your Page than to update your website. You have an update to share with your fans, just type it in. You have a photo or wish to create a photo album, just click on the add photo link.
However, saying it is free and easy to set-up doesn't mean maintaining it is also free and easy. Yes, there will be cost involved, either in terms of $$ or time.
3. Facebook is constantly trying to improve local search
Facebook is constantly trying new ways to make your Facebook Page useful to both you as a merchant and your customers.
For example, Facebook is testing out Facebook Nearby which allows the customers network to filter out the best restaurant nearby. If you don't have a Facebook Page, it won't show up.
4. Word of mouth marketing
There is an added element to Facebook Pages which other mediums don't provide and that is the word of mouth marketing aspect of it.
Word of mouth marketing is relatively new to many and is different to traditional direct marketing. WOM is an element that sits on top of direct marketing.
Direct marketing brings your customer to the shop. After that, then what? When it comes to WOM, you want this customer to share with their friends of your shop.
So the idea here is to make your customer talk about you so their friends can see it and therefore are aware of your brand.
In my next post, I will taking a step back from the technicalities of Facebook Marketing and focus on setting goals and commitment to make your Facebook Page great.
Comments