Facebook had 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012.
526 million daily active users on average in March 2012. During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of the last seven days.
More than 125 billion friend connections on Facebook at the end of March 2012.
On average more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook per day in the three months ended March 31, 2012.
An average of 3.2 billion Likes and Comments generated by Facebook users per day during the first quarter of 2012.
More than 42 million Pages with ten or more Likes at the end of March 2012.
So what is the big hype all about? Well first let’s look at what facebook is not. Facebook is not just a time wasting social network for young people that have nothing better to do. Facebook is very relevant to businesses and marketers have a great opportunity to connect with their customers, build their brand and increase their Online footprint.
Facebook actually started in 2004 as a closed community for college students and has grown exponentially from there. Because facebook is all about connecting people, friends, family and colleagues, it offers businesses the opportunity to create a loyal following, generate leads through sharing, and most importantly get recommendations through friend sharing.
Although the world is up in arms about facebook since General Motors pulled their marketing budget from facebook, Hubspot had some very insightful things to say about this. “What is clear is that we must have data points and ask the right questions — not just have opinions when it comes to determining the value in something like Facebook ad spend. Because the only answer to the question of whether Facebook ads work or not is “it depends.” While this response is typically an advertiser’s way of sidestepping a direct question, I mean it sincerely, and here’s why.
How do I use facebook for my business?
1. Create the perfect Cover photo
Visual is king so create something visual for your cover photo. Have fun with this, the better your profile looks the more likely people are to like your page. The cover dimensions are 851 pixels wide x 315 pixels high.
Check out The Marketing Company page (http://www.facebook.com/TheMarketingC) for examples of ways to create an engaging page. Feel free to also become a fan to get updates about future resources.
2. Engage with your audience
Make sure you post regular updates, people won’t hang around if nothing is happening on your page. Make your content engaging, research suggests that posting stuff that is relevant to your business will generate the most engagement from your audience. This doesn’t always have to be mundane stuff, have some fun and use images to promote your brand, like this image below that we’ve created for a customer.
3. Encourage Sharing with others
Competitions are great ways to get people to share content from your page or your website. It also builds loyalty, people love getting free stuff! You can also create Events to increase your reach.
4. Do your Social Media bookmarks work?
It is incredible how many companies have social media bookmarks on their websites where the links don’t work. This is bad SEO and doesn’t look professional.
5. Create Conversations
You have to show people that there is an actual person behind your company that they can connect with. Give your company some personality, share good content. Make sure you have a blog on your website, this will also help drive traffic back to your website and is fantastic for SEO. You can also create videos about your company to build your brand and increase engagement.
Click on this link for an example of a fun video created to increase audience engagement.
6. Create facebook Applications
Facebook Tab Applications are great tools to further engage people once they are on your page. Create applications like Twitter feeds, competitions, special offers, etc.
7. How to handle negative feedback
Make sure you take care of any negative feedback promptly. Be honest and sincere. Be transparent, if handled correctly this can build loyalty and trust.
8. Reward your fans
Create special offers on your page that people will only have access to once they’ve visited your page. Below is an example of a special offer we’ve created.
Are you’re looking to increase Lead Generation through your Social Media Marketing, or want to start measuring your website’s Social Media footprint? Are you looking to build Brand Awareness, or do you want to Generate Leads and Sales, or both?
If you have any questions around how to achieve your Marketing Goals, Contact us Now for a Free Assessment.
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