So you've decided you want to start a business on Facebook! Congratulations!
Now what?
Well you need to promote it, sure.
You need to build an audience, absolutely!
You need to make sales, Definitely! that's the whole point, right?
So what is the Facebook Triangle then?
Simply put, it's your three main assets on the platform; Your business page, your group, and you personal profile! And yes, you should be using all three to effectively market your business.
Let's look at each one to see how they work, and how you should work them.
Business Page
So everyone knows by now that the reach on business pages is awful. only 1-3% of people who follow your page will actually see your posts! So why bother?
Well, Facebook pages are discoverable on Google. So if someone is searching for your website, maybe after being recommended by someone, your business page will pop up in the search results. This is super handy if you don't have a website yet!
Pages are free and pretty simple to set up. Just treat them like your shop window. Share your offers, discounts, what's coming up, what you're working on etc. You don't need to post daily. But you should post consistently so that anyone new to your page has always got something recent to see. No one wants to walk past a bakery and see goods that are weeks or even month old!
I like to post almost daily because I network daily, so when people come over to my page, I want them to have something new to see!
Groups
If you page is your shop window, then your group should be what goes on inside the shop. Group reach is around 50-70% which is clearly way higher than page reach! So this is where all the meaningful conversations can happen with your audience. You can really get to know them, find out exactly what they want from you business, and give them a butt load of value!
Your group could be a V.I.P customer group, or a community group, or just a place for your customers and potential customers to hang out and connect! Whatever purpose your group serves, make sure you give plenty of value before you try to sell in there. Groups are about community first. But that community is likely to be more engaged with you, and therefore more likely to buy from you!
If you're not in my Spoonie business Support group yet, feel free to jump in and have a nosey!
Personal Profile
Now this is where a lot of people miss a trick because they don't use their profiles. At all. And while it's actually against Facebook's terms of service to directly sell from your personal profile, you can absolutely talk about your business, and use your profile as a way to drive people to your page & group!
If you're networking your business on Facebook (And if you're not, I highly recommend you start. Today!) then you're likely doing it from your personal profile. If people then want to have a nosey and see what you so, they're going to check out your profile.
Back when I was a face painter, I'd get tagged daily in posts by people looking to book someone for their party or event. And guess what... Nine times out of ten I got tagged. not my page. My profile. And if people then came to my profile and couldn't clearly see that yes, I was in face a face painter, or how to book with me, they'd simply go on to the next person who was tagged and check them out instead.
So I can't recommend highly enough that if you're not already, start using your profile as a way to direct people to your page or group! It's such a valuable asset and so underused by small business owners!
Feel free to check mine out and you'll see what I mean! Just click here.
If this article has helped you and you'd like to dive a little deeper, I'd love to welcome you into the Spoonie Business Support group!
And if you want to jump in the deep end with both feet, you can join the Spoonie Business Success Studio, but you'll need to be in my group or following me on Social media for more details about that! ;)
See you there!
Steph xx
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