You hear about it all the time… Social media this and social media that. What’s so great about social media? A lot, in fact! Everyone is online, or so it seems. Believe it or not but in today’s technologically advanced and connected world, you’re the odd one out if you don’t have social media. But that doesn’t just apply to you. Your business is an extension of you and it should be online too! Facebook is about so much more now than just sharing a few photos with your closest friends.
Here are a few of the main reasons why your business needs to have a Facebook page!
- First and foremost, getting a business page on Facebook doesn’t have to cost you anything. It’s a free service that allows you to connect with the community and those interested in what your company has to offer. Should you decide that you want to pay for advertising, you can do so. But if you don’t want to, you can still access most everything for free.
- It allows you to post recent, relevant and even real-time updates. With a simple click of a button, you can post anything that’s going on with your business that you would like to share. This allows people to feel connected with what’s going on.
- According to to sproutsocial.com, “the average American spends 40 minutes per day on Facebook.” Most people don’t even spend that much time eating, showering, or getting ready. 40 minutes a day means people care enough about Facebook to dedicate almost an hour of their day to it.
Okay, so now you have a few reasons as to why you should be on Facebook. But what’s the next step? How can you build a Facebook following?
- On your Facebook’s business page, you have the option to invite friends from your personal Facebook account to like the page. It’s a great first step to invite people that you know and people that care about you to like your business. These people have a personal tie to your business so this is a great place to start.
- Post stuff that people find interesting, creative or catchy. If the people that are following you begin to start sharing what you’re posting, this will attract even more people to your page. The more people that come to your page and like it, the bigger your network will become.
- Try different scheduling tools. Hootsuite is one of them and it allows you to auto schedule your posts to the best time for engagement according to their algorithm. There are many tools just like this that are out there!
- Post regularly on your page. Have a plan on how often you’re going to post and what you’re going to post. This will keep you committed and on track instead of causing you to neglect your social media pages.
There are more advanced ways to build a following that include using paid services and boosted posts, but the most important thing is to start somewhere. If you want to go beyond organic reach, you can start considering paid options. But in the beginning, the most important thing is to start somewhere and grow from there.