Promoting your business on Facebook

Forget websites – a social media network is the place to promote your business, says Greg Miles.

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Having a business page on Facebook (which now has over a billion users) lets you reach individuals all over the world who are interested in your products. What’s more, a Facebook page is totally free, unlike a website that can cost thousands of rands to maintain and develop. And if you do have a company website, you still need a Facebook page!

Interactive
Another advantage of a business page on a social media network over a standard website is that it’s fully interactive. Your clients can post feedback, and you can have daily updates and run competitions and promotions. Research shows that people interact with their favourite brands on Facebook more than on any other social network. After visiting a page and becoming a fan by hitting the ‘Like’ button, people are more likely to recommend and purchase a product.

Creating
Before creating a Facebook business page, you will need to have a personal Facebook page. Go to: www.facebook.com/pages. Once you’ve chosen a category and filled in the necessary information, you can easily upload a cover and profile photograph. On your personal Facebook page you’ll be provided with an option to switch between your personal profile and your business page.

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You’ll automatically be appointed as administrator of the page and you can grant ‘administrative access’ to others to
assist you in the day-to-day running of the page. (The public cannot see who the administrator is – this information is available only to the page owner/administrator.)

Promoting
You can invite friends individually to your page or use the Facebook  ‘Invite’ feature, which makes use of your email address book. Another way of promoting your Facebook business page is with ‘pay per click advertising’ (PPC). This allows you to create an advertisement for your business targeting your exact audience by location, age and specific interest.

Meryl Rosenberg, co-owner of www.neigh-bours.co.za, won an award for Best Use of Social Media in Central and Southern Africa in 2012, and was a Top 10 finalist in the Best Equine Social Network awards worldwide in 2013. She says that she always has PPC advertisements running on Facebook, and these have proved to be the best way of marketing her page online.

Contact Greg Miles at [email protected] with ‘Online Farmer’ in the subject line.