Need Inspiration for Your Company Facebook Page? 5 Brilliant Examples!

Are you struggling to grow your Company Facebook page and need some inspiration? Social Media

platforms can seem a maze and very daunting to start off with when you want to market your business on

them. However several companies and brands have been successful and achieved a brilliant ROI

from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest,Google+ and others.

Strategy: You first need to have a Social Media Strategy in place and each business will be different.

From small companies to large brands, each implementing tactics to increase engagement with their

Facebook fans.

Advertising: Many use Facebook advertising including Promoted Posts. Success doesn’t come for

free but neither does it have to cost much, as you can choose your own budget and tactics.

B2C: In most respects B2C companies are going to be more successful on Facebook because of the

very nature of it; over one billion active users are on Facebook regularly so it’s like a pool of

customers waiting for you to dive in.

B2B: For B2B companies they have to work harder to connect with other businesses on Facebook;

however, remember that essentially every business consists of those people in the pool too.

So what do you wish to achieve using your Company Facebook Page?

[Image: independent.co.uk]

Increasing relevant likes – Likes by people that aren’t interested in your brand aren’t relevant so

you need to be attracting people who want to know more about your business. Even better are

people who like what you do and will happily share it with their network too.

Engagement with your potential customers – Getting people commenting on your status updates

will spread your exposure across more newsfeeds plus Facebook will realise people are interested in

your page so you will show up on more timelines. Ensure you respond to keep conversations going

too as these could be your potential customers.

Increase word of mouth – Facebook is a platform where it is simple for your customers and clients

to recommend your business and service. This is a great way to spread good news but be careful that

bad testimonials aren’t shared; however, if they are ensure they are dealt with professionally and

promptly.

Converting likes to business – At the end of the day the final result you wish to achieve is more

people being attracted to your business, purchasing your product and therefore increased turnover.

There is no point in having a Facebook page doing really well but the business floundering.

Here are five brilliant examples of businesses running very successful Company Facebook pages:

# 1. Volvo on Facebook

Since joining Facebook in 2009 Volvo have achieved nearly 600,000 likes.

Obviously they are a big brand name and would have lots of money to invest in Facebook promotion

however they are still a good example of a page working well. They would mainly be a B2C page; however

for fleet cars they could be B2B as well but on a much smaller scale in this respect

They post 1 to 2 daily updates and on some odd days they do nothing.

Their main focus is advertising their cars which kind of speak for themselves, attracting all the Volvo

fans out there to get chatting about them.

They upload a picture and include the URL in the status update, thus providing a picture to draw you

in and then you can click on the link for further information. The other advantage to this is that

Facebook sees it as a picture which they like plus a status update without the preview link – again

something Facebook is liking these days.

The pictures are stunning and of high definition so people will share them. There isn’t much

interaction from Volvo with comments however the fans comment within themselves and there are

lots of shares and likes, thus promoting the page organically. All Volvo have to do is put up new

pictures and away it goes – easy!

# 2. Dell on Facebook

Dell would be B2B and B2C so appealing to all and although they only joined Facebook in June

2012 they have achieved over 5,400,000 likes which I would suggest would have been mostly through

promoted posts and adwords to build so rapidly.

However they do use Social Media very effectively too so would have gained a lot of fans organically. The

more you get the more you’ll attract.

It would appear that Dell also have the right attitude to Social Media as sales aren’t their only reason to

use it. Stephen Felice, then president of Dell’s small and medium business group, spoke at CeBIT in 2010

to encourage small businesses to use social services on the web. He said that sales aren’t the only reason

for their use:

“We don’t just use them for generating sales. Social media gives you information that you can use in real

time, and base decisions on. This is a really powerful tool for SMBs, who don’t have the marketing dollars

for traditional advertising. Social media offers a cheap way to form a really personal relationship with

customers.”

Although they only joined Facebook in 2012 they have a Milestone post for each year back to 1984 when

they were founded showing their progress over the years. This is a great way to highlight that they aren’t

a new company and provides a history you can check back on too.

There are 2 or 3 updates a day and they mostly use pictures and links rather than a preview link alone

which Facebook is preferring and will help appear in more Newsfeeds.

Their photos are all branded so every share is getting their name seen by all.

Their pictures vary and a lot are fun pictures including cute kittens too. They ask questions on

branded pictures to encourage engagement amongst their fans and Dell also have a lot of interaction

themselves in the comments.

As with most B2C companies there are complaints posted on their page and Dell deal with them

promptly and professionally taking the discussion private straight away. This is obviously important

as bad news often spreads faster than good news.

# 3. Electric Ireland on Facebook

Being limited to the Irish online community the B2B and B2C Electric Ireland are doing very well

with their Facebook page achieving nearly 50,000 likes since December 2010.

Like Dell they have Milestone posts going back to when they were founded and track the years back to the

1920’s providing a real history of electric in Ireland.

Electric Ireland don’t post regularly, only once a week or fortnight and sometimes less; however, they

constantly use promoted posts to spread their exposure quickly.

Their updates are mainly pictures or videos with a URL in the update rather than a preview box

although these are also used sometimes.

They run regular competitions on Facebook which attract a lot of attention and are currently sharing

their new TV advert asking us to “Shazam” it. When you do you can automatically enter the

competition via Shazam and win a €5k energy saving makeover for your home. At the time of writing

this it has attracted nearly 7,000 shares, over 12,000 likes and 2,000 comments. Obviously this has

created a lot of exposure for Electric Ireland increasing activity on their page and therefore gaining

more likes too.

Electric Ireland also partner with other brands, including charities, to cross promote competitions on

Facebook which can be a win win for all involved.

# 4. Mari Smith on Facebook

Mari Smith is a Facebook Marketing Consultant so her strategy would be one to follow, especially

as she would be B2B. Joining Facebook in 2008 Mari has gained over 95,000 likes.

Mari normally has one to two updates a day however yesterday (24th April) she ran an experiment of

posting every couple of hours and received some great feedback. From the discussion it seems that more

fans were seeing her posts in their timeline that hadn’t seen them before plus people were mentioning

that the more often they post the better it works for them.

Her updates are mainly long and don’t always include pictures or URL preview boxes however they

always create a discussion point which Mari will interact with. Indeed, sometimes you can see her

replying to every comment posted and normally with a handy nugget of advice. Mari gives the

impression she is always happy to help and answer questions which obviously makes her more

approachable and encourages comments and questions on her page.

Mari shares and links out to great blog posts on Social Media and is then happy to discuss them in the

comments with everyone which creates interesting discussions and obviously is getting seen on

other peoples timelines and extending her network.

The Mari Smith page is all about Social Media and her work and she has built up a great community that

are interested and join in conversations which in turn are great tips too.

# 5. Social Media Examiner on Facebook

Since joining Facebook in 2009 Social Media Examiner have gained nearly 135,000 likes.

Being a B2B company which is an online Social Media magazine they know how to be appealing on

Facebook.

They have 2 to 5 updates most days which are a varied range. They have a lot of funny pictures which

attract a lot of shares and they also use a picture plus a URL rather than a link preview box.

Social Media Examiner ask questions regularly and engage in the comments they receive thus sharing

their expertise and being seen in more timelines. They share other people’s posts although they have

their own daily Social Media post in their online magazine which is obviously very popular. All their

posts in the magazine have a Facebook “like” and “share” button therefore they can rely on their

200,000+ daily subscribers to spread the word for them too.

They hold regular events and these are highlighted on their Events page which create interesting

chats within the people attending. Pictures from these events are also uploaded and get a lot of

shares too.

Conclusion

So having studied these Facebook pages there are a few similarities in their Facebook strategies that

stand out:-

Use the URL in the status update rather than a preview box and where possible use it with a picture

Post photos and pictures regularly and if they can be high definition all the better

Chat and interact with comments

Run regular competitions

Post at least 2 updates a day consistently

Ask questions and join in with the answers sharing tips

Be fun, helpful, professional and engaging

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