So you’ve decided to take a big step into the world of social media marketing and you’re not sure if it will work for you. Where to spend your advertising money is a big concern among small business owners and those looking to make an online presence. Being someone who has taken this plunge twice as a content provider, and once as a consultant, I’ve experienced the up’s and the down’s and yes, the struggle is real, but with a little advice and a lot of positive thinking, you can make it work for you.
Which social media outlet will pay off is the big money question. The safest bet is Facebook, which allows the novice and expert alike to create an easy to set up page with an already built in way to connect with those who “like” your page to communicate news about your venture. The easiest way to spread the word is thru your friends list. Asking family and friends to “share” your page with their contact list will yield minor spikes in your followers but in order to make major strides you’ll need to promote your page and that’s where it can deplete the most advertising dollars.
Built in to your page is a link to “promote website”, this will lead you to a pop up that will allow you to promote your page based on a select number of demographics including age, gender, location and interests that you want to target. You want to remember to start small. Take some time to decide who your biggest target audience is and target them first. For example, if you’re interested in attracting people to a page promoting your art supply store, you might want to start out selecting an age range for parents who have young children in school in your area. Once you've chosen your audience you will need to decide on a budget to spend daily. The budget option provides you with an estimate amount of “likes” you can expect daily, but be careful, these are only estimates. Biggest thing to remember is that this costs money and what you put into it you need to get out.
You’ve heard the saying, “it's not a sprint it's a marathon” and the same applies to building an audience. As you see your ad dollars paying off you can begin to get creative with your search for new audiences, but they will not all pay off so be patient. It took me 4 months to watch one of our pages eclipse 29,000 likes but another page struggled to get 2,300 in 18 months.
Once the audience has been established, the next crucial step is to keep content posted as often as possible to keep your audience engaged. This can be something as simple as a post promoting a sale that is going on in your store or a post simply asking “Hey gang, what’s your favorite colors to mix to create an exciting new color?” Allowing others to connect and share stories can lead to a loyal following of like-minded people who share common interests, and guess what? Your page was the reason they connected! Never discount the power of social media as a tool to expand your fan base. Loyalty leads many to want to share your posts with others and this is free advertising!
Be the mayor of your little town on Facebook and watch your once small idea turn into a blooming success.
Check out https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads/ to learn more.
