Having a Facebook page for your business can help you engage with customers, build your brand and grow your business, but getting fans—and knowing what to do with them once you have them—can be a challenge.
Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner recently interviewed Dennis Yu, CEO of Blitzlocal, an agency that helps businesses with local Facebook advertising. In the 10-minute video interview Yu made a number of good points:
The number of fans you need depends on your business. While a big national brand might garner hundreds of thousands of fans, a small local dentist may only need 200. At the same time, you need more than a few. “If you only have 10 fans and you’re spending all this time posting, that’s like having a Web site that nobody ever visits,” Yu said.
Leverage other tools to get fans. Use your e-mail lists to give people incentives like coupons or free stuff to get them to become Facebook fans. Put a “Like” box on your Web site. Put Facebook signs in your stores. And leverage advertising channels to offer discounts to people who affiliate themselves with your brand on Facebook.
Remember that small businesses have an advantage. Yu points out that an enterprise using many different software applications to try to engage with customers can’t do as good a job as the proprietor of a small boutique owner who knows each of her customers personally. “That’s kind of what the real heart of CRM is—really knowing who that user is and not necessarily using software as a replacement for that personal interaction,” he said.
Watch the interview for yourself at Social Media Examiner.
