Your Facebook business page is like your shop front and Yellow Pages ad all in one.
It’s where people get to know you and your business. It’s how they stay in touch. It’s where they can re-order a product or arrange for an event, and it’s where they ask questions, it’s a clubhouse. It’s all that and so much more.
You cannot go without a Facebook business page as a direct seller or party plan consultant.
Seriously, if you don’t have a business page yet – go and make one right now before coming back… I’ll wait here for you.
6 Tips to Boost Your Business Page
1. Post Every Day
Aim to post on your page once a day. Of course, every day is best, but the minimum you want to work with is 5 times a week.
This doesn’t mean you have to remember to post every day – this is where the magic of scheduling comes in! I set time aside at the start of each month to schedule most of my posts for the month. Then, when I get busy, my page will still get updated with quality content.
I use the scheduling function of Facebook itself rather than a 3rd party tool, and I personally schedule 4-5 posts a week. That leaves me some room for spontaneous posts or Lives.
2. Quality Over Quantity
I know I just said it’s important to post often – but it’s even more important to post quality content! Facebook values unique content and will give content that’s not unique (such as company images that every consultant uses) a lower rating. Also, it would be a bit boring….why would your customers follow you on Facebook if you don’t provide them with interesting, unique and quality content?
A great rule of thumb is the 9-1-1 guide. I came across the 9-1-1 code in a book by Karen Clarke – ‘Social Media For Direct Selling Representatives’. This guide says that you post 9 entertaining or informative posts in a posting cycle, 1 promotional post, and 1 personal post.
If you need some ideas on what to post, grab this list of 50 post ideas.
Once you’ve started doing this, you’ll notice what your followers engage with the most, and you can post more of that type of content.
3. Don’t Ignore People
When people reach out to you with a comment or question, reply to them as quickly as you can.
You would never ignore someone face-to-face, so don’t do it on social media. It’s not just unprofessional, Facebook will downgrade your rating if you’re slow to respond! This means that your posts will not feature as high in people’s newsfeeds, and they might forget about you.
If you’re not an avid ‘Facebooker’, set a reminder on your phone or computer to check your page regularly and respond to messages or comments.
4. Maximize Your Reach
You can maximize your reach by understanding how Facebook prioritizes content.
- The top priority is Facebook Live – step out of your comfort zone and start recording Live videos.
- Native videos are uploaded to Facebook, not linked from somewhere else. If you’re not comfortable doing Lives, you can record a video and upload that to your business page.
- Hook your audience – Keep in mind that most people watch videos without sound and decide whether they’ll keep watching in the first 3 seconds, captions will really help!
- Unique tile or image posts get twice as many views as a text-only status updates.
- Page reach – non-unique images and YouTube links are given the lowest priority. If you post too many non-unique images or YouTube links, your page’s overall reach will decline.
5. Competitions
Only Facebook business pages can run competitions. Personal profiles can’t. (Another reason you really want a business page!)
Competitions are a great way to boost engagement on your page, but there are rules. Government rules on competitions apply depending on where you live, and Facebook also has limitations. You can check all the Facebook rules here, but a big one is that you’re not allowed to ask for ‘shares’ or ‘tag your friend’ as part of the entry conditions.
So what can you ask for? Here are a few ideas:
6. Link A VIP Group
If you don’t already have a VIP Group…you’ll want one! First, you have to set up a Facebook group and build it into a customer community. Then, you can entice people to join the group by telling them they’ll be the first to hear about sales and new offers.
Now link this VIP group to your business page using these instructions.
Follow my 6 tips to Facebook success
My business page is the shop front that I use to attract people into my ‘store’ while the group is a community of loyal customers that can lead to new team members, more bookings, and higher sales.
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