23rd
August 2010
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Marketing using social media platforms can be a bit like trying to sell a product in a pub where all of your friends are. If you’re not funny, informative and effective, you’ll not get anywhere and, to add to your problems, you’ve just made yourself look foolish in front of your peer group. It’s a fraught business. Especially when you’re on a budget.
For the small or starter site owner, there are methods by which you can use Facebook to increase your traffic, or at least to consolidate your core group of fans, ensuring that they feel involved with your project and 100% behind what you’re doing.
On a limited or non-existent budget, we need all the tools we can get, and Facebook as well as Twitter can increase traffic if you play things the right way.
Don’t be annoying
As a rule of thumb, you probably don’t set out to be annoying in any aspect of your life, but social media has it’s own complex etiquette that’s still in its infancy, and developing.
When promoting anything you’ve created, make sure you pack your links with entertaining content or informative text or video, and keep an eye on how many times you’re promoting things. The issue with Facebook is that you’re literally surrounded by your friends. You really don’t want to look like you’re pushing your work onto them in a place where they come to relax.
Create a Facebook profile solely for your business
To avoid the problems involved in using your real life persona to push your business, you could always set up a dedicated account to your business. This is a double-edged sword used the wrong way, as your reputation may bite the dust if you can’t find fans, followers or friends to become Facebook buddies with your brand – so do this with caution and be sure you’ll get the right response.
Start a fan page
Less risky, set up a Facebook fan page and, if your web content is constantly updated, set up a feed so that fans of your product will see any developments on their homepage. Even better, they can comment on any new content without having to directly become involved in any comment debate. This suits some personalities, because they feel Facebook is a much less intimidating online environment than a blog or website comments section.
Get a discussion going
People can probably talk in your comments section or forum, but anywhere that you have a community discourse going on is to be encouraged. Remember that if someone has become a fan of what you do on Facebook – they’re probably pretty devoted to what you do. So it’s feasible you could use your Facebook fan page as the place for real geek-out discussion about your service – where your nerd army can talk at length about the finer details of your product in the safe environment of your designated Fan area.
Encourage Facebook feedback
You could quite easily start using the Fan page for a specific purpose. Say you receive a lot of feedback from users or potential new users, and they use a standard email to get in touch. You could do away with the emailing back and forth regime and realistically ask them to become a fan on facebook, where you respond to every query in person. They’ll feel they’re getting direct contact with the site-owner – and you’ll have won a new fan.
Status update your new content
Some of us not only have our news story update on the Fan feed, but also in our own personal profile’s feed. Some people have told me they find this annoying, but the vast majority don’t mind at all. Where most people status update about the sausage they ate for dinner, you’re within your rights to post a link to the latest thing you put on site. Nobody’s getting hurt, and if it gets noticed, all the better.
Have a loose attitude to who’s your ‘friend’
Obviously we don’t mean you should start making friends with reprobates, but it can be wise to be all-inclusive. Cynics may frown on those who get in touch and friend people they haven’t spoken to since the sandpit – but really, there’s no harm in it. A friendly word with an old real world friend will let them know what you’re doing now, and when they see what you’re up to in your feed, they might like it and become a regular on your site.
Consider Facebook exclusives
People, don’t have to follow you on Facebook – remember that it’s purely their choice to do so, and they’ve gone out of their virtual way to allow you some space on their feed. If you have time to offer them some exclusive content that’s Facebook only, then you’ll cement the value you give them and also make your fan area a desirable place to visit. It needn’t be a huge slog – maybe early heads up on podcast clips, extra blog posts or even just links to cool stuff. Small things are massively appreciated.
Think about advertising on Facebook
If you’ve got the budget, Facebook does carry targeted advertising, though there are conflicting reports on just how effective it can be. True, you have a potential captive audience of 500,000,000 users, but you’re also dealing with a very controlling social media site and, as a result, can’t be entirely sure how your ad is being used.
Before you make the jump into paid advertising there, instead of relying on the usual social media tricks, read around on the effectiveness of different kinds of advertising there are. We’ve provided some further reading below, so you can evaluate whether or not it would be worth your while.
Facebook’s advertising area.
Facebook’s secret ratecard
Promote your cause on Facebook
5 ways to make money on Facebook
This post was written by Liam Tucker of the excellent Watch With Mothers. Which is another great way to waste your day. – Want to write for the BaseKit Blog? – Drop us an email.
18th
November 2009
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It’s a historic day at BaseKit HQ as we begin the first phase of our marketing assault. We know that the Internet is a vast space and we cannot reach our potential users through simple word of mouth – electronic or otherwise.
To that end we have launched our first advertising campaign by announcing the death of PSD slicing. Because, well, that’s what BaseKit does – it eliminates the need to slice up Photoshop designs into code. PSD to site without the pesky plaintext middleman. The above advert is running on the very excellent web design and development blog Smashing Magazine – a wonderful hub of potential BaseKitters.
We’re looking forward to seeing Smashing Mag’s readers take on BaseKit – we hope they find it as useful as we think it can be, and fully expect a flood of feedback. (We are in beta – we LIVE on feedback!)
