FacebookThe Shop Window To Your Business

101

By David Ross

“Good Facebook marketing is about creating a demand in the customers mind so that they will seek you out. Not chasing customers, begging for orders and spamming peoples inbox with promotional links which can damage your BRAND, your COMPANY and your INDUSTRY!”

1. Facebook is the shop window to your business! Your Facebook profile is the shop window to your business. The people who visit your shop and those passing by, are your social audience. They are your potential new customers and distributors or simply friends and family watching the story of your life unfold.

They are the ‘likes’, the ‘comments’ and the ‘shares’ and they are all looking to buy, or they are simply looking for inspiration, ideas, help and hope.

They are not simply looking at what is in your shop, they are looking at the other shoppers, they are looking at the engagement. After all, people usually prefer to walk into a shop that has other people in it. It gives a sense of trust and credibility. People are always looking at your engagement.

It is less about being a social media expert and more about delivering great content. You are not selling services or products, you are promoting the story of your life and bringing value. There is a difference! It’s not about you promoting a business, it’s about you being in business.

While you can never replace the power of 'face to face' conversation and creating real relationships, you can use this powerful social tool to grow your list, share your story, connect with people and get those shoppers asking questions and making purchases. Most importantly you can fulfil a need and solve problems.

2. So what’s the problem?

Many people are trying to grow their personal brand and their client base. However, they struggle with what content and information to share and post to keep people engaged. There is the concern of being boring and annoying friends, family and followers by posting irrelevant or the same information over and over again. It can often be rather confusing, causing people to post content emotionally, sometimes without a considered approach.

You may have heard the phrase 'Facebook Algorithm' being used. A basic understanding of this is helpful but you don't need to worry about being an expert or understanding it fully.

Facebook’s algorithm is simply the formula it uses to decide how it shows your posts to your audience.

The algorithm has over 100,000 factors that help it serve the most relevant and high-quality content in every user’s news feed.

Consider this..

At any given time, you are competing with around 300 other posts in your news feed, so you always want to stand out!

This starts with knowing how your audience responds and understanding Facebooks rules of engagement.

3. Do I need Facebook? If your shop window was covered up and the entrance blocked, then you took your website down, you would most likely have to get outside and talk to people. You would have to encourage them to come and take a look.

So no, you do not need Facebook but learning how to use it correctly will help you in attracting new clients and existing connections to you.

In the same way shoppers looking in your shop window would want to walk in, take a look around and ask questions if they see anything they like.

It all starts with letting people know that you are OPEN for business.

Imagine everyday, you had a stage and everybody you knew and everybody who knew you was sat in your theatre. You have been given power of the platform every single day. Use it wisely.

4. What do you need to know about Facebook? Here are the four major factors that determine if your post gets shown:

How recently your post got published.

The number of likes, comments, shares on the post. Shares, comments, and likes in that order of importance and how quickly engagement is being delivered by your audience is also an important factor.

How often has the viewer interacted with the person/page previously.

Past viewer engagement with the same type of post.

5. Do I need 5000 friends?

Facebook doesn’t actually like you having any more than 2300 friends.

While followers and fans are OK, you don't want too many friends as this will create more inactive friends. Having Inactive friends means that Facebook will consider your posts to be ‘low priority’ and bury them in your News Feed.

The most significant action you can take to spike your engagement is to REMOVE people who no longer interact with you. That is people who no longer like, comment or share your content. High engagement with a lower friend count and a bigger follow rate is the ideal.

You can start to attract quality and like minded people who are more likely to engage with you when you post good quality content.

Your vibe attracts your tribe..

When you connect with a new person, see how much engagement they are getting, look at their profile.

Do they get any engagement at all from their friends and followers?

I also suggest that you ask people to unfriend you and get them to follow you if they still want to ‘see your ‘stuff’ but they are not prepared to engage. Be choosy about your connections.

6. Connecting with people and growing your list!

One of the best ways to utilise Facebook is to use it as a list building exercise, as opposed to building a Facebook business. Remember, Facebook owns your profile and it owns your list and it can take it away at anytime. This is simply a tool on loan to you and should not be seen as a business model.

Here is a great way to grow your list when you are out and about:

• During conversation, hand over your phone with the facebook app open and tell them you would like to connect. Ask them to add their facebook name and hit request.They must then accept the friend request!

The very first thing you should do when you add a friend or they add you, is to mutually 'love' or 'like' their profile pictures and get them to like yours in return to spike Facebooks algorithm!

Do this as soon as you connect. This is very important. Drop them a message saying ‘Hi.’ Comment on something you see on their timeline that you like. Ask them ‘how you know each other’ or simply thank them for accepting your request!

Facebook has revealed that it prefers 'reactions' to 'likes' with the 'love' reaction being the most powerful.

Every post you make on Facebook creates a new comments thread and collection of likes and reactions! This is a new list each time. If you are happy to keep your profile ‘public’ or visible to ‘friends of friends’ you can see people who have interacted with you yet they may not be a facebook friend.

You can also ‘like’ and ‘comment’ on non-friends in relevant or networking groups or pages or ‘go live on Facebook.’ These are great ways to build and grow your list of new contacts.

If you are using your Facebook profile to build a list and your brand, it’s important to keep your profile set to ‘public,’ though we strongly recommended you keep your friends list set to private so ‘only you’ can see it. Your list is your most valuable asset.

7. How do I get more people to notice my content?

Top Tip 1: Early engagement score is key. The first 15 minutes of a post is crucial so do make sure you are responding by liking and replying to ‘ALL’ comments on your post during that time!

Top Tip 2: Posts with less than 85 characters (letters or numbers with no spaces) WILL get MORE engagement early on so have a considered approach. Engaging your audience with questions or powerful statement is far more impacting than simply posting information. This means questions & statements are better than information… IN THAT ORDER!

Top Tip 3: Make use of background art and emojis that Facebook provides for you to include in your posts. This is great for grabbing attention!

Top Tip 4: Facebook recently followed Instagram and snap chat with ‘Facebook Stories.’ If you look at the top of your News Feed on your Facebook App, you will see how your friends are using this feature. The facebook stories feature is great for sharing product and service information without annoying too many people.

Top Tip 5: Facebook events are a powerful way to invite a lot of people to an online or offline event! ‘Events’ have the added benefit of notifying friends when they have been invited and reminding those who have agreed to attend. Do not abuse this feature as it can get flagged as spam!

8. How do I keep people on my profile page?

Your company name should NOT be searchable through your Facebook profile too easily.

This means that you want to keep people looking in your shop window and not running away. You want to create a certain level of intrigue regarding what you do and the company you represent so that people are encouraged to come in, look around and ask questions. You want them sticking to your profile like glue!

Your goal is to get people asking questions, not running off to do their own homework. If they do this, they are usually looking for negative information.Even worse, they could look to join somebody else representing your company diluting your own success.

Facebook doesn’t like company names anyway, even abbreviations. It wants businesses to be paying for exposure. Facebook is not stupid!

You should be looking to brand YOU and not ‘hammer’ on too much about WHAT services or products you offer. Focus on HOW and WHY your product, service and business has helped somebody. You can even share your own personal stories, life events and interesting daily goings on! Facebook is the story of your life and people are nosey.

Social audiences generally connect with the emotion of your stories and not the impressive data and information you boast. Stories sell! You will have plenty of stories within in your business that you can borrow and share if you struggle finding your own stories at first.

Remember people join YOU and NOT YOUR COMPANY! Your PROFILE is YOUR BRAND…IT IS YOU!

9. Get to know your audience!

Whether they admit it or not, people are looking for hope every day on Facebook, they are looking for a platform to be heard. Waking up every morning reaching for their phone and scrolling through the lives of others looking for inspiration.

People are either 'buying' or 'selling' when they use social media however you dress it up. Be a seller, a seller of stories and be a buyer of inspiration from what others share.

TIP: most people are in buying mode first thing in the morning when decisions are easier to make. Tougher choices that require ‘action’ are more difficult to make later in the day!

Facebook enables you to remain visible to your social audience so you don’t need to be a secret agent with your business.

Position yourself to be there for people when they need what you have to offer. People will reach out to you when they find themselves uncomfortable enough with their current situation.

With your posting habits, consider the difference between annoying and upsetting people who are happy and funnelling people who are unhappy towards you!

This is how you can create conversions that lead to sales.

10. How can I make my profile look better?

Most people are now looking at Facebook on their mobile devices. Their first point of focus is your timeline cover, profile picture and tagline.

Facebook is very limited when it comes to the design and edit of your profile. Here are some tips and tricks!

Your timeline cover is at the very top and should focus on children, family and lifestyle or it should tell part of your story! Your main profile picture just below on the left should ideally represent you in a professional capacity.

Try to avoid being too abstract and confusing people with cartoons and text. They want to see your face. This is where ‘trust’ begins. Do not include or use your company logo or have product placement in your profile photo or cover timeline photo. In fact avoid this altogether on your profile.

Your tagline just below your profile picture should be a brief description of your intent and passion!! You can encourage people to follow you here.

The use of emojis on your tag line is very eye catching so get creative with it. There are plenty of good examples you can copy and make your own.

If you want to attract people, then there has to be a level of professionalism and quality to your pictures!

There is an option under your tagline to add some featured images. Have a considered approach here. Find a successful person in your niche and study their profile.

11. Should I have my company name on my personal profile?

We are all proud of our company and want to shout its praises from the rooftops but ask yourself this question!

Do you want people to ask you about what you do, or would you like them to go off and do their own homework on your company because they have seen it first or simply ask somebody else?

Even if you have external links on your profile. I would still say avoid this as you are sending them away from your profile. Specific company information on products and services should be reserved for Facebook pages and groups. You ARE a walking brand. Even if you avoid using your company name and product placement, your personal profile is always your brand, which is essentially a business.

This should answer your question.

Avoid product placement and logos on your personal profile. You should review your companies policies and procedures on social media and the use of business pages.

Action Step: Check your profile and ask an impartial friend to look at your profile and see how easy it is to discover information that could point them away. Then remove it.

12. When should I post? Is there a good and bad time?

In my experience, a better question is, how often should I post?

Once a day, twice maximum is 'best,' this way Facebook will not get confused over which of your posts they should be showing in the news feed and you can keep post engagement to a maximum rather than dilute your posts.

I would refrain from making a post while a current post is still getting significant engagement.

You hear some people complaining that one of their posts hit 200 likes and the next post received only 10 likes. This is often the reason why!

I would avoid posting while people are on the way to work and while they are on their way home!

If you are intending to make a post at the weekend, make the post before 9 am or after 9 pm. This has worked well for me.

You need to test your audience and find what works well for you.

Remember, everybody’s audience is different. Most importantly, BE CONSISTENT with your timing.

13. What about Facebook Messenger?

The Facebook Messenger App has become a powerful business tool in its own right. If you imagine that your phone is your virtual business card and Facebook is your shop window, then Facebook Messenger is your shop door for people to enter or leave.

If you look inside your Facebook Messenger app, how many people are inside your shop? How many conversations are you having right now that are building your business?

The Facebook messenger service is where you will build those relationships with your potential new clients. I find a great way to monitor this is to always have at least 5 conversations with new prospects in progress.

It also has the capability to send and receive calls, have video chats and send and receive information in various forms with many new features on the way! The most powerful feature is voice memo which allows you to send and receive instant voicemail messages.

In messenger you have an option to ‘make a plan’ and set a reminder appointment between you and your contacts. This is an amazing yet underused feature.

14. What should I avoid?

Facebook is a community and it is passionate about that. It’s looking for people who can contribute value to that community. It’s also a search engine and a spam filter, not just a place for you to post at will!

One of the most misunderstood capabilities is the ability to 'share'. 99% of people GET THIS WRONG! To avoid Facebook seeing you as 'spam,' do NOT have a massively high percentage of shared posts in comparison to your own content.

Furthermore, every time you share a post, whether it be a picture, video, quote, or even a Facebook live, make sure you 'edit' and share the post with your own text and say ‘why’ you are sharing it. This will boost engagement on your shared posts and will avoid you being flagged as a spammer. Facebook loves TEXT! The Facebook algorithm rewards and punishes speed. While it loves people reacting in quick succession to your posts, if you go too fast, multiple times with certain behaviours such as ‘friend requesting’ and sending messages you may be blocked.

It is also important NOT to post or send unsolicited links to people including ‘friends’ or otherwise. Facebook generally doesn’t like links unless you are paying for the privilege of a sponsored ad or boosted post. If you’re insistent on sharing a link, post it in a comments thread and draw peoples attention to it, rather than including it in a post.

Avoid turning other peoples comments thread into your own advertising space or using it to pitch people. YOU WILL GET CAUGHT!

Remember you will not know if somebody blocks you for being annoying or unethical. Facebook will hide your posts if you get blocked or reported too many times. It may even close your account!

15. What Facebook Loves!

Facebook loves the word ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ you may have noticed your screen explode when you type it! It also loves ‘big event’ words including ‘best wishes’ & ‘you got this!’ It will optimise and promote posts of this nature.

Facebook gave us ‘emojis’ for a reason. It likes them and so do your audience. Use them to help tell your stories.

Encourage your audience to join in on the comments thread e.g. “Can we all wish or can we all congratulate”.

It also loves 'trending topics’! Talk about what is popular but try and keep it positive for your audience.

Facebook also loves a complete profile so make sure all sections that are available to edit are filled in.

16. Facebook Page Vs Facebook Groups

Unless you are intending to use ‘Facebook Sponsored Ads’ or ‘Boosted Posts’ with your pages you can expect a low engagement due to Facebooks Algorithm. If you have a business, then Facebook wants you to pay for exposure. That’s the simple truth.

The best advice is to use a ‘group’ if you want to create a hub for team members and adding new team members for the purpose of sharing information. You have the ability to keep it private. A business or fan page is useful if you have customers you want to keep updated. You can also add new customers you acquire.

Think of your facebook profile as a funnel to drive people to groups and pages that you manage or are apart of. Using ‘live’ video is your best way to create engagement and reach in a Facebook group or page if you want to avoid having to pay for greater exposure.

If you wish to build your brand and your income, use your personal profile. This should be the first port of call for prospects who are more interested in your story than being added to a business page.

Whataspp is the instant messing service owned by Facebook. It is a great way to create broadcast messages to reach all your team and customers. You are NOT punished for sharing links through the Whatsapp messenger service as you can be on Facebook’s platform.

17. High engagement posts you can use.

#1 Whether you like it or not, Facebook loves live video. Facebook is giving all Live videos priority organic reach because it wants to dominate live streaming.

#2 A great way to inspire people and also a great way to encourage and inspire your team is the use of images, funny or inspirational quotes to receive more likes, comments, and click-throughs. Fill in the blanks or speech bubbles are always great for creating interaction.

It is important to have fun and be creative with your posting.

Remember, one occasionally two posts a day. This is adequate but make them count. Keep them far apart so engagement isn't diluted.

Try to post logically, considering what your audience would want to see and at what time. Mix things up.

Repetition on Facebook is not a good thing so we have provided you with a variety of posts designed to engage your audience.

If you have a story or information you want to share, share it but think about its context and the best way to go about it to gain the highest engagement levels.

#3 Be a conversation king or queen. People love to see real life conversations you have had throughout the week. A simple short script between you and somebody else that may be humorous or relatable should gain a greater response.

#4 Pose a question! Questions can create a sales funnel of interest. It also puts thoughts into the minds of your audience.

#5 Wish people a happy birthday. Let’s celebrate! A birth or a wedding. We have already explained that Facebook likes big events.

#6 If you want to get information to people and encourage your audience to find out more about what you have to offer, tease them and ask them if they would like to find out more.

Post 'Learn More' in the comments thread below. This drives behaviour and is far more effective than hoping people will simply respond.

#7 People love cool statistics. You will make 30K decisions today! 97% of the worlds wealth is owned by just 3% of the people.

#8 Team & group pictures can make people feel they are missing out and evoke intrigue!

#9 Love em’ or hate em,’ food posts do get high engagement, particularly if it tells part of a story or if it is humorous.

We eat, therefore we can all relate!

The secret it to keep it relevant to the message and not simply a random picture of food! Show off your creative side.

#10 Ask people to contribute to the thread! Encourage a ‘comment below’ and a ‘share.’

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Creating a basic customer funnel on facebook

A sales funnel is a simple marketing system. It's the "ideal" process you intend your customers to experience as they go from lead to prospect to customer. On Facebook this should be kept very simple by using questions to attract your ideal customer. Only post a funnel once a week. Friday at 7am is a good time.

#1 Begin with a question you would want your prospective customer to answer YES to. Once a week is enough and vary the questions. Use questions that emotionally challenge people.This will raise awareness to your ‘offering’.

#2 Responses are funnelled into your ‘comments thread’ in the form of ‘interest’. At this stage they become a lead. You can now use facebook messenger to private message them. How can I help you?

#3 Once they have responded they become a prospect. You can now arrange a follow up call to discuss options for your service or product and move to close. In messenger you have an option to ‘make a plan’ and set a reminder appointment between you and the prospect.

[example]

“Have you considered switching your utilities or do you feel you are paying too much?” or…….

“Are you paying too much for your broadband or maybe getting poor service?”

Creating a basic customer story

Once you have acquired a new customer you can post a customer story. In addition to the engagement posts we have suggested, this is another way you can attract interest. A customer story is a short post that explains ‘how’ and ‘why’ somebody you know has benefited from the products or services you offer. Stories ‘sell’ and people make decisions based on emotion. This story and emotion should be at the forefront. Stories will become your ‘social currency’ and a funnel for acquiring new prospects.

#1 Begin with how you know somebody, how you met. Background introduction etc.

#2 Explain what you did for them, services or products they took and why they wanted/needed them. Cause and effect is key!

#3 Finish with how the service or product has helped them overcome an obstacle, how it has benefited their family or a larger cause and what this means to them, either practically financially or emotionally.

[example]

“I met Sally and her family recently after she got in touch because she was unhappy with her currently utility supplier mistreating her and being unhelpful. We managed to switch all her utility bills putting money back into her pocket giving her a bigger Christmas spend. Happy Days.”

Once you have acquired a new customer you can also ask your new customer to post a customer testimonial.

A customer testimonial is simply a short customer story, told by the customer! It also creates another customer funnel in the form of referrals, which is a lead sent by a customer they know.

For this to work correctly, give them a template ‘testimonial’ to post. You can provide this to your customer. Ask them to put it into their own language for authenticity and post it in the morning around 7am.

As they have tagged you in the post, you will be notified when anybody from their friends list shows interest.

You can then start a conversation in messenger, turning them into a prospect. Facebook after all is about connecting people.

[example]

“Thank you, David J Ross (tag me here) for sorting out all my bills! FREE LED’s for the whole house, huge discounts on gas and electric, lifetime discounts on super fast Broadband and loads of cash back. All in 15 minutes and no hassle. If you have been thinking about switching over or think you are paying too much... let David sort it for you!”

Creating a customer testimonial

Additional tools and resources

www.mindsetbeforematter.com/get-social/

Live Syndication Boost Engagement Book ‘Get Social Event

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