Although Facebook is commonly used for B2C marketing, it is not typically associated with B2B marketing. However, it must be considered that, according to Facebook, “Over one billion people like and comment an average of 3.2 billion times every day.” There are plenty of people that can be found on Facebook that either own a business or have an influence over what products or services the business they work for buys. The target audience for B2B might be smaller than that for B2C, but with the right tactics and investing the right amount of time building a presence of Facebook – with it enormous popularity, ability to share information and advertisement targeting tools – is likely to prove beneficial when marketing your business.
Building a Fan Page
So, first things first: you need to create a fan Page. Your Page is the place to showcase your business, share interesting content and interact with your customers. It’s quick and free to set up a Page, which can be customised to match your branding. It’s also important to place links to your business website on your fan Page. See How to Build Your First Facebook Page for Your Business
Generating Likes
Next you need to start generating ‘likes’. One way of doing this is to use fan-gating, where your visitors must like your page before they can view its content. Likes are important because once someone has liked your page they become subscribed to the content that you post and it will appear on their news feed. Once someone has liked your page you can then ask them to recommend you to others. You should also invite people you know to like your page. One particularly helpful feature is the ability to ‘Invite Email Contacts’, which allows you to upload your business email list and send a message asking people to like your Page. Don’t forget to promote your Facebook Page on all your marketing material, in your shop and on your website.
One of the best ways to get more likes it to be likeable, and that is where the content that you post comes into play. In B2B marketing people want to purchase a product or a service that is good value for money and high in quality, from a company that is open, honest, ethical, values their customers and will continue to offer support. By the content that you post you can use Facebook to show current and potential customers that your company has those qualities.
It’s important to know your target audience and share content that they will find useful or interesting. Facebook is a place to have fun, so don’t bombard your fans with a constant sales pitch, or they will soon unlike you. If your content is interesting people will share it, therefore increasing your exposure. It must relate to your service or product but use your imagination to keep it entertaining. Remember, if you are lacking inspiration one day you can also share other peoples videos and photos. You can post updates, photos, videos and questions, but be aware that, according to Facebook, “Photo albums, pictures, and videos get 180%, 120%, and 100% more engagement respectively.” Here are some ideas you can post about:
Offers that you can create using special features on Facebook
- Instructional videos
- Product advice and help
- Industry news
- Educational webinars
- Product and service launches
- Case studies
- Common business problems and solutions
- Employee of the month
- Company achievements
- Community projects
- Behind-the-scenes photos
- Client testimonials
- Events that you can create on Facebook
Page Insights can show you at what time people are most interacting with your content, which allows you to know when the most beneficial time to post content is. Your posts will show up in news feeds and it’s important to time them with when people are checking their Facebook. You can also promote your posts, which will cause them to show in more of your fans news feeds. Facebook is designed to be an interactive tool, which means you should keep your content fresh and post regularly. You should also interact with other users and this brings us to out next point: communication.
Communication?
Facebook allows you to connect and engage with your customers. You should encourage activity by asking questions related to your business or industry. Facebook even has the option to create a unique poll for your fans and you can use it to generate market research. You can encourage comments and you should always respond to anyone that contacts you. Communication is a two-way street so gaining trust and interacting with people is key in building relationships. You can also add a discussion forum to your Page and encourage customers to share their opinions.
Attracting More Fans
You can attract customers by hosting a contest. When you design a contest make sure your app allows you to offer a feature that doubles someones chances of winning if they shares the entry form. When people fill out your entry form you can also ask them a few questions that are related to your company and will help you gain valuable information.
Since Facebook collects a huge amount of information about its users it allows you to target your adverts to those that are likely to use your product or service. Facebook collects more details about its members than any other social network. This allows you to target your marketing efforts at specific businesses. Another option would be to use Facebook Ad Exchange. If someone has been searching on the internet for a product or service related to your company, when they come on to Facebook adverts related to their search will appear, and one of those could be yours.
Useful Applications
There is a huge range of applications that you can now use to improve your Facebook experience and improve customer interaction. Here are a few:
- Get Satisfaction allows customers to ask questions and get support right on your Facebook Page.
- Fab Appaz allows you to offer special deals to your Facebook fans.
- Fan of the Week picks and highlights one of your fans each week.
- Booshaka picks your most active fan.
- Post planner allows you to time when your posts will be made.
- Youtube For Pages allows you to link you Facebook to your YouTube account.
- Live Video allows you to stream live footage to your fan Page.
With the amount of people now on Facebook it’s likely that there are many on there who are connected to other businesses and that will be interested in your products or services. However, if you want to host a fan Page on Facebook you need to be fun and interactive. Facebook is about social interactions and sharing interesting content. As Facebook develops it is likely to only become more beneficial for B2B marketing and you don’t want to miss out on a fantastic and low cost opportunity.