Facebook is the world’s largest online social network with millions of members including businesses and groups. It has emerged as the biggest global platform that connects people and groups with some common interests and enables them to share news, information, new discoveries or anything that appeals to them. This makes it the ideal tool for social media marketing which businesses can use to leverage their brand and business by simply creating a presence online and using its various features to reach out to a small section of the millions of Facebook members to visit their website with the intention of converting them into customers.
Existing businesses have found Facebook to be a very useful tool to push up sales, and this holds promise for newer, upcoming businesses to join Facebook and use it to increase their own sales and revenue. This can be accomplished in various ways some of which are discussed below:
- Create a visible online presence-People will buy only when they know- By opening a Facebook page, a business can become visible to others and have them share information about your business. For the millions of members, this is the ideal way to spread word.
- Use Facebook to build business contacts- Contacts hold the key to popularity and Facebook helps to build a larger network by gaining access to “friends of friends”. As word spreads, sales will go up when people share news about how happy they have been with your product.
- Make your Facebook page an extension of your blog and website- Blogs are a great platform to share views and perspectives. Since Facebook enhances visibility, similar activities can be added to the business page-this will make more people see and consider the buying option.
- Extend the reach of your brand and marketing initiatives- Facebook pages make a brand conspicuous, and when customer reviews, user ratings are posted, others stop to take notice. Everyone wants to buy products that thousands have liked. Marketing initiatives also extend online to thousands who may otherwise take long to contact.
- Use this low cost tool to share information and content- Information about products, useful and informative content that customers look for, can all be shared through Facebook. This sharing is a two-way relationship with customers voicing their needs and requirements, which when addressed, converts them into loyalists for your brand and products.
- Use links to generate traffic, that can be converted into sales- Links to related products serve a double purpose, since they get a higher search engine ranking and also push traffic since links are the gateway to news, promotions and information.
- Facebook for publicity of new launches and promotions- Nothing appeals to customers more than a free offer, a discount or a free gift, and Facebook is the ideal place to spread word about it. Such offers spread virally as friends “like” to share with their own network. This will see sales shoot up.
Facebook helps to increase sales through personalized interaction between customers and businesses, the latter getting a ‘face’ or image the customers can relate to and learn to trust. The biggest advantage of this social network is that people go by what their friends say when they buy, and this is the platform where views and opinions are shared.
