Despite rumors to the contrary, Facebook is not dying a slow and painful death. It remains a vibrant, thriving social media network. It should be one weapon at your disposal in your digital marketing arsenal.
In fact, it has expanded to be so much more than just a social media channel. It’s a marketplace where small business can showcase their offerings and even sell their goods directly to consumers. And, when handled correctly, it can be a forum in which your customers can indulge in lively conversations about your product offerings.
Smart business owners have successfully established either a Facebook Page or a Facebook Group to market themselves and their companies. In fact, some of these retailers have found Facebook such a valuable part of their social media strategy that they even deemed the site worthy of supporting both a page and a group.
You might be wondering what your own small business should be doing to improve its presence on Facebook. Let’s take a look.
Facebook Statistics
Through 2018, Facebook remained the most widely used social media platform on the planet. Here are 5 impressive statistics that prove that Facebook is, indeed, alive and kicking.
- Facebook hosts 2.23 billion visitors each month.
- Of those 2.23 billion people, 66% of worldwide users and 74% of American visitors log in at least one time daily.
- 68% of American adults have active accounts. This stat outpaces Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
- 200 million users participate in “meaningful” Facebook groups vs. 1 billion overall group members. This means those 200 million actively engage in meaningful engagement rather than being inactive members.
- 80 million small- to medium-sized businesses have pages; this marks a 23% increase over 2017. 6 million of those business owners advertise on the channel, as well.
So, are you now convinced that Facebook still thrives?
Facebook Page for Your Business
Let’s look at how a Facebook business page works and why it’s an integral part of your social media marketing plan.
It’s very similar to your personal page, with a major difference. Your business page is all about your business where your personal page is all about you. Your personal page followers are your “friends” and your business page followers are “fans” of your business. There is a distinction. To maintain a professional vibe on your business page, it’s critical that you understand and respect the difference.
Your page should serve as a mini marketing brochure and is your opportunity to politely brag about your business.
At a minimum, it should include:
- Your physical address and map to your location (if you have a physical storefront).
- How to contact you.
- A header image and profile photo that represents your brand. This can be photos of your location, your logo, some product offerings, or whatever best reflects your business.
- Visually appealing and engaging content about your “story.” These shares can be featured products, success stories, funny memes, links to your recent blog posts, or even user polls (with a little help from EmailMeForm). Your goal is to foster visitor likes, comments, and shares.
- Collection of reviews from customers.
Once you have mastered those basics, you can expand your Facebook page to share more information and increase your digital marketing efforts. Those extra efforts can include:
- Adding a Facebook storefront and selling your products.
- Sharing events to your audience. Having an online party? Hosting a grand opening? 10 Year business anniversary sale? Invite your users and watch your attendance skyrocket.
- Creating video advertising. Video advertising engages visitors for longer and can bring your products to life.
Make your Facebook page a place where your business gleams like a diamond.
Facebook Group for Your Business
We established that your Facebook page followers are called “fans”; followers of your group are “members.” They request to join and you can allow all who request in automatically or individually approve each applicant.
Your group should garner more engagement than likes and shares.
It should function as a communication tool or discussion forum where members can share their love for your business. You’ll interact with your members in more hands-on ways than a simple post share.
Prompt interaction by sharing how-to videos, running contests exclusively for group members (which also helps build membership), polling your members, and engaging in lively discussions.
Your goal is to reinforce brand loyalty for your business and convert your members into your best salespeople.
Here’s an Illustration of the Differences Between a Facebook Page and a Group
If all of the above information leaves you a little fuzzy, here’s a real-life illustration to further clarify these points.
The American broadcasting network TLC has a page with 3.3 million followers. On this page, they list information about each of their programs, share upcoming episode teasers, and post their corporate contact information. They will like user comments but don’t interact with fans very frequently.
One of their programs is called “90 Day Fiance.” This show has a 90 Day Fiance Group with 7,600 members who love and/or hate the show .. As each show airs, these loyal group members dissect the behavior of the cast members, leave supportive comments to the network and cast members, or berate the network for editorial decisions. It’s an active group of people engaging with the group in a way that is “meaningful.”
Whether you love or hate reality tv, this example clearly differentiates pages vs. groups.
Use EmailMeForm to Boost Your Social Media Engagement
Now that you know precisely why it’s essential to keep Facebook in your social media marketing, let’s look at how you can use EmailMeForm to boost engagement.
Sure, the interaction in Facebook is amazing, but it can get messy sometimes.
For example, if you ask users who interested to avail of a sample, you can ask them to leave a comment. Seems easy and doable, right?
But then…
Compiling interested users is where the heavy workload falls upon.
You have check each of the comment. Click on the profile. Click on the message button. And copy paste the same message all over again!
How many hours will you spend going back and forth the thread? And do the repeatitive task?
You don’t have to deal with the trouble if you let EmailMeForms do the work for you.
Here’s how:
1. Share an application form link in your Facebook posts
2. Link your Facebook Page Button to a booking form (or any other form)
Make it easy for your page likers to book a call with you or send an application form. Or whatever it is that you want them to do.
Aside from saving time by collating all responses and data in an organized manner, you can also do more automation behind the scenes:
- Forward all form data to Google Sheets or your favorite CRM like Hubspot
- Collect payments via Paypal, Stripe, and more
- Create Trello cards for every new entry you receive
- Send customized thank you messages after users submit the form
- And many more integrations with 50+ web apps
Yep, you don’t need to hire a VA to do these things for you because our forms can do all that for you.
Ready to Get Back to Facebook?
I bet you are ready right now to head over to Facebook with a renewed sense of confidence in using the channel for digital marketing. Now that you have a thorough understanding of the difference between Facebook Groups and Pages, you can determine if you need a page, a group, or if you’ll use both.
And, if you’re a bit curious on how to implement the forms into your Facebook Page or Group, here’s a read that teaches you how to do it.
It’s simple, we promise!
If you don’t have the time to do it, we have CustomWorks Specialists that can do them for you.
Deborah Tayloe
Deborah is a blogger and freelancer who often writes for EmailMeForm. When she’s not blogging, you’ll probably find Deborah working on DIY projects around her home in North Carolina.
