Targeting Facebook users offers an opportunity to build brand loyalty while targeting your message in a very effective manner. Facebook Pages are free and offer the best way for your company to establish a presence on Facebook.
The main elements of a Facebook Page are
- Basic information such as location and hours of business, if relevant;
- A mini-feed of activity on the page
- The wall where people can post messages
- A discussion board where you can start and join conversations.
- Notes where you can post additional content to be linked from the Page.
- A list of fans featuring each person’s avatar
- Photos, and you can set controls so only you or you and your company’s fans can upload photos
- Videos, and you can also set controls for who can upload videos
When someone becomes a fan of your Page, a message shows up in their personal news feed so all of their Facebook friends see the action listed in their mini news feeds and have the option of clicking over to your Page to learn more or to become a fan as well.
As the administrator of the page, you have the ability to edit any portion of the page and turn features on and off. You can also assign admin privileges to other Facebook members who are fans of the Page. Administrators can also send a message to all fans which is a handy broadcast feature but one that should not be overused. I’ve personally removed myself as a fan from several company pages because they sent messages to my Facebook inbox too frequently.
Creating a Social Ad on Facebook
Having a Facebook Page should only be one part of an overall social media strategy. Facebook offers a potentially wide audience but you can also target a more niche audience. To drive traffic to your Facebook Page, you can opt to pay for a Facebook social ad. I love this feature because you can really hone in on your target audience. Just click on the “Promote Your Page with an Ad” link and begin narrowing down your search of Facebook members who you would like to see your ad. These ads appear on the home pages and profile pages of each member as they are viewing their Facebook account.
Facebook had fantastic targeting capabilities and offers a tool that will calculate the number of people you will reach based on your campaign criteria. You do have to pay for a Facebook ad but can set a limit on the amount you want to pay — based on clickthrough — and the duration of your ad.
While you can create a Facebook ad to drive traffic to your Facebook Page, you can also have the ad go to any website. Personally, I think that if you are advertising on Facebook to people using Facebook, you should first capture them as fans on your Facebook Page and then drive them over to your website or blog. Having fans on your Facebook Page is a powerful marketing asset.
