Seven ways to acquire customers via Facebook

by Janna Leyde

Remember when Facebook was only for the in-the-know college kids? That was 2004. Mark Zuckerberg knew what he was doing. Almost a decade later and there are close to 800 million people posting, tagging, liking, sharing, and inviting. Just this past October, Facebook surpassed one trillion likes. Yes, some of those were engagement photos, inspirational quotes, videos of puppies barking, breakups, and babies, but do not underestimate the marketing power of this social networking behemoth, even if the teenage demographic is supposedly fleeing to Tweetier pastures.
Here’s 2Checkout with how to use Facebook to acquire more customers for your e-commerce business.

1. Create the Right Page
Keep work and play separate. Personal pages are for sharing quotes, stumbling toddler videos, vacation memories, and photos with friends. Fan Pages (Facebook Business pages) are structured differently to allow users to run advertising campaigns (Ads Manager) and track user activity (Page Insights).

2. Facebook Advertise
There are currently 23 million small business owners on Facebook. Of those 23 million, only one million are using Facebook to advertise. Facebook advertising is an inexpensive and effective way to reach out to a super-targeted market. Creating an ad is as easy as: one selecting an image; two creating a headline; three writing a few words of copy.

3. Post Photos
Facebook photo posts beat the average post — links or text-only — by a landslide. According to Kissmetrics, photos have 84 percent more click-throughs, 53 percent more likes and 104 percent more comments. Have Instagram? Link the two accounts and posting photos becomes a snap (pun intended).

4. Ask Questions
Questions are a social media call to action. Question posts receive 100 percent morecomments, says Dan Zarella, a viral marketing scientist. Close-ended questions (would, should, which) are more effective than open-ended (why, how) questions. A local record store posts, ‘Here are the top ten 2013 releases that we think sound better on vinyl. Tell us, did you buy any records this year?’ to marginal response; the post would receive more attention from a simple Yes or No question.

5. Offer Coupons
Fan-only coupons create strong incentive to buy — 42 percent of users like a page for the discounts, according to Socially Stacked. Write a short post with an image of the product or service and include a call to action word, like claim, click, use, or grab. Seattle’s Best Coffee offered Last minute grocery shopping is le mis. Grab some coffee to make it better. http://bit.ly/2offcoupon to encourage Thanksgiving shoppers to try out the brand and save $2.

6. Check In
Butcher and the Rye is the new bourbon restaurant in town. A select number of folks know about it one week. The next week people are pouring through the doors. Why? Because “I saw my friend went on Facebook.” The great advantage of check-ins, is that Facebook users who are not fans can still post, tag, and share photos of their experience with their friends. Let customers do the social media marketing. Adding Page Location is all it takes.

7. Schedule Posts
It’s easy to leave Facebook posting until the last minute, or, inversely, to choke one day with too much content; however, the key to an engaging Facebook page is consistent content. Take time each week (or day) to compose a number of posts, schedule auto-posting times with websites like Hootsuite or Buffer, and then sit back. Tip: Go to Page Insights to determine when peak engagement times are and post accordingly.

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