If it’s your job to get the most from Facebook for your brand or business, you may be used to hearing common Facebook myths and perceptions. Like any other marketing tool, getting the best from Facebook requires time and energy and a long term plan. So, if your boss thinks Facebook ‘looks after itself’, have a read below and when you get the right moment, make the case for Facebook to him or her.
Facebook Myth #1. “C’mon, it should only take you a few minutes a week!”
Building and nurturing a network takes time and dipping in and out a couple of times a week will not work. It’s something that must be done daily. Use ‘insights’ to see when your network is most active and post at those times for optimum reach and engagement. Being active and building engagement is extremely important. They have connected with you because they want to engage with you.
Facebook Myth #2. “We should see sales straight away”.
It’s a marathon not a sprint. It takes time to learn from your network to see what they want from you. It’s important to have a strategy starting out. You need to ask yourself some straight questions…
- Who are you talking to?
- What are you trying to achieve?
- What are your targets/goals?
- Who will manage it?
- Who will contribute?
- What tools will you use to analyse?
- Who will you follow/connect with? Who are the influencers in your industry or who is currently influencing your customers online? Should you connect with them? How will you use this information to help make yourself more visible to your network? e.g. connect and start engaging as your business page, start sharing their posts etc ?
Facebook Myth #3. “It’s not a viable way to build your customer base”.
There are many businesses out there that are seeing a great return on their investment of time, and sometimes money, if they’re running ads. These businesses have…
- Listened to their customers and understand what they want from them
- Nurtured their relationship with their network
- Personalised their business and brand so people feel more of a connection
- Built trust with their network
- Opened themselves to comments and questions
Facebook Myth #4. Best of all, it’s free!”
Setting up a page may be free but your time costs money. You may also need to pay for some applications, design and even advertising if you want to reach out to your customers using Facebook ads. You need to budget for….
- Design (cover images, profile image etc)
- Advertising
- Applications e.g. competition app
Facebook Myth #5. “You can’t track conversions”
If you are using Google Analytics, they have a social media report which will tell you a lot about your social media traffic and conversions. Also you can use the Google analytics Url tool builder to track specific campaigns. Facebook ads allow you to install a conversion pixel on your site to track your Facebook ads conversions. All these tools allow you to track stats on your site but you may need to put a process in place where you ask the people who do call, where they found you so you can track ‘offline’ conversions.
Facebook can do so much for your business but it needs to be treated like the serious marketing tool that it can be. Its ease-of-use can often give the impression that it can be lightly managed. These are two very separate issues and it’s important that both you and your boss work together and focus on long term results based on solid planning and application. Talk to us today about where Facebook can take you….and your boss!