How to Properly Use Facebook

In a nutshell, this is why you need Facebook:

• 700 million daily users
• Most daily users spend about 20 minutes on Facebook
• 2 billion connections can be made using Facebook's community

The amount of exposure that you can get as a business owner on Facebook is almost impossible to obtain through traditional media, unless you have an unlimited marketing budget.
Frequently asked questions
Question: I post to Facebook every day, yet do not get the visibility of 700 million daily users. What am I doing wrong?
Answer: There are a few tricks we suggest to maximize your visibility on Facebook.

1. What times are you posting? Research shows that a large percentage of Facebook users access Facebook first thing in the morning, sometimes before they even get out of bed. Posting early in the morning can be a key to getting your content visible before your customers newsfeeds become inundated with other information.
2. What are you posting? Facebook has instilled an algorithm on it's newsfeed so that certain posts are more visible than others. Photos typically get the most visibility, standard status updates are the next visible, and links are the least visible. Reference your wall, are you posting content that has links to outside sources? Try posting images directly to your wall, and then commenting the link if necessary.
3. Are you engaging back with your fans? Another factor in visibility is your affinity with your fan base. Your company will show up more often in a customer's newsfeed if your engagement back and forth is strong. Any time a customer shares, comments on, or likes your post make a step towards engagement back.

Question: How do I get more likes?

Answer: Although it is important to note that "likes" aren't necessarily the most important factor on a Facebook page, it is still worth addressing. There are several ways a business can utilize Facebook to increase their community:

1. Facebook ads: Just like ranking highly on Google, or having the most elite website costs money, you can expect to pay a fee to have a popular Facebook page. Facebook advertisements are very advanced and allow business owner's access to a demographic specifically interested in products like yours. Facebook ads are run through "Power Editor" which allows you to customize your audience through targeted ads.
   
   
   1. You can targeting those in your e-mail lists for particular Facebook call to actions
   
   
   2. You can use 'partner categories' to find an audience that is "likely to buy" your product.
   
   
   3. You have the ability to adjust controls to target local Facebook users in particular demographics
2. Integrate your Facebook strategy with the rest of your digital strategy: Consider running different contests from other platforms to encourage more traffic. Maybe on Twitter you suggest "send us an email that includes [this code] to win [whatever giveaway makes sense]. From the emails you collect you can then send a targeted Facebook ad to request likes.

Question: I have noticed that we aren't getting traffic to stay on our Facebook page. How to I make it more engaging?
Answer: In order to keep your consumers engaged you need to pay very close attention to the user experience on your Facebook page.

1. How is your page designed? Consider posting all of your wall images with a 600X600 pixel size, and your cover photo with a 851X315 pixel size. Also think about how your profile picture and cover photo can work together to be aesthetically pleasing.


2. Update your cover photo often. Each time you update your cover photo you are increasing your visibility, as we mentioned before photo updates get the most visibility on a newsfeed.
   
   
   1. Each time you update your cover photo you should follow these steps:
      
      
      1. Your image is professional-grade. You are a professional therefore your presence online should replicate your professionalism.
      
      
      2. Your image has your business name.
      
      
      3. Your cover photo should have a narrative in the caption that includes a link back to your website. If the link is in the description of the photo it will not lower the visibility of the image on newfeeds, and will allow your consumers to find your website easily. This link should be located above the "see more" option if your content exceeds a particular length.
3. How are you crafting your content? Your content needs to be written in a way that asks for engagement. Some great tips are to write updates that are open-ended questions. Trivia, contests, and slightly-controversial updates are always great. Be careful when asking for likes or shares. Facebook technology is advanced enough to know when a business is "gaming" the system.

Know that you're not alone. Sometimes there are other "fan pages" that are just starting to build their community as well. If you find other fan bases that share a similar demographic to yours, but is not a direct competitor it makes sense to reference each other to gain exposure from both of your developing communities.

By Michael Jordan Schultz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Jordan_Schultz