It used to be that Facebook was seen as a place for young, adolescents coming up in the world to connect with their friends and family. Eventually this spread to the older generations. Now everyone has a Facebook page. Most pages are filled with comments and pictures of family videos and happenings. However, beneath the noses of its very users, Facebook has evolved into a thriving business, networking machine and social media how-to's.
Many professionals may not even realize that there are three different types of Facebook pages or profiles.
Much of the reason for this is because Facebook pages for companies and brands has only been around for a few years. However, to ignore the marketing power behind these pages for companies and brands is to ignore what could be called the red sea of marketing generators for B2B leads and social media how-to's.
In order to be effective, Facebook marketing needs to be looked at as a continuation of any website, blog or online store. Basically, for effective B2B marketing, you need to look at Facebook as an extension of your customer's experience.
Videos and Tabs - when making a You Tube video or tutorial do not just embed the video into your webpage. Instead, post the video or tutorial on your Facebook page as a wall post. If you have a collection of videos and tutorials you might consider making a separate tab on your page that leads to your collection of information. Tabs help to organize information so that it is easily found. Each tab has its own separate URL so you can choose any of the tabs for your landing page. It is even possible to designate a tab page that leads those who have never visited your site before, directly to your lead generation form.
Like Button - make sure you have a "like" button on your chosen landing page. Then, make sure you have some sort of incentive for your customers to "like" your page. This could be any type of giveaway such as a free e-book or discount coupon. When your readers click on the like button, they should be taken to an opt in form that needs to be completed in order to receive the incentive.
SEO - another important aspect not to be overlooked if you want to generate traffic to your Fanpage. The basic layout for SEO for your page is:
Post updates about your company on your Facebook page as well as surveys and interactive forms to keep your readers attention. One of the keys for social media how-to's is to remember that your Facebook page is almost more likely to be viewed than your website, and if all your news and information is posted where your customers are already finding you, the better chance you have to capture a lead.
Facebook is planning some changes to their Pages, they have already begun tinkering with some of the news feed in order to better optimize Pages for ads. One change that may be coming soon, is to add a "need" and "want" button along with the like button. Social media how-to's feel that this could be beneficial for B2B because pages could be better optimized to fit what users are looking for.
