So you have the PERFECT idea for a new business – it has everything, from the discovery of a currently unexplored niche market, to a long-term strategy that accommodates growth, and yes, world domination. But now, how to TELL people about it…
With the budgetary concerns new businesses deal with, forking out the massive amount of money required for media slots no longer seems like the best option, at least starting out. Now there are plenty of examples of successful Facebook marketing campaigns that asked for an extremely small amount of money and made a huge impact.
Which Marketing Plans Have Used Facebook?
Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign started and sustained a fantastic initiative on Facebook that secured him unheard-of numbers of donations and gave him a much-needed financial edge against Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries and, later, against Senator John McCain. In fact, no one’s entirely sure if he would have won the race without his innovative social media strategy.
It all began when the Obama campaign hired Chris Hughes, Facebook cofounder, to be their senior Internet Marketing Strategist. He remarks: “We tried to open as many direct channels of communication as possible – using e-mail, text messages, online networks – and then equip them with the tools to spread the campaign’s message using networking technology such as MyBarackObama.com and Facebook.”[1] The President’s Faceboook page is currently liked by over 8,500,000 people.
The Benefits of Social Media and How To Reap Them on Facebook
As the Presidential campaign’s, as well as plenty of other examples, have demonstrated, a decent social media marketing campaign will bring in new customers; a fantastic idea, though, can improve your bottom line in a matter of weeks.
With over 500,000,000 users, half of which will login within a day[2], Facebook is already a community large enough for any business to care about, not mentioning the fact that it’s free. In fact, creating a Facebook profile is quickly becoming standard in the new company playbook as a way:
• To gain exposure – Create an online presence by starting a company profile. Just by including the company URL on the info page, you gain a high-profile back link, increasing your home page rank, but try inviting some of your most loyal customers, as well.
• To broadcast company events/ideas/news – Use status updates to publish useful information for your consumer base. So, if you sell baby bibs, then posting interesting facts about baby care or even links to videos of babies doing cute things would attract people to your page (and company).
• To receive direct feedback – It is far better to be able to respond to feedback, both negative and positive, than to be completely unaware of what people are saying behind your back. Successful companies often use their company walls as an online forum, responding to consumer demands, complaints, or praises within hours.
All of these benefits can be purchased, via radiowave, mass mail, etc., but businesses with less cash are instead choosing to invest in the great ideas that will turn social media tools, such as Facebook, into the equivalent of 30 seconds of airtime during the SuperBowl.
As an entrepreneur, all you need to do is make the brand useful/appealing, and your customers will do the rest of the work for you.
[1]Halligan, Brian, et al.
InBound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009. Electronic Resource.
[2]http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
Did you know that 76% of Fans come back every day to Facebook? And that the typical Fan has and average of 310 friends? That is a very powerful bit of information if you are using social media in your small business marketing plan.
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