Retail Visioning by Christine Moynihan

Excerpted from an article by Christine Moynihan, Retail Visioning

first published January 31, 2012

Facebook has 800,000,000 users, an increasingly robust search engine and once you get the lingo down it is one of the easiest forms of social media for small businesses to use.   Bottom line — if you don’t make the effort to get up on the social media playing field you may find yourself out of the game. 

Retailers, restaurateurs and storefront small business owners everywhere know that one of the best kinds of advertising is “positive word of mouth” and Facebook is the new way that good word gets around.  56% of consumers are likely to recommend a business to their friends once they “like” it.   

I hope you have a website up and are seriously thinking about not just having but using a Facebook page for your small business, too.  Check outhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to get started.  Then, consider these Facebook Best Practices as you learn the language and get out on that social media playing field. 

1)      Social plug ins.  Be sure your website has that little Facebook icon to direct customers to your Facebook page and give them the chance to “Like” you right then and there.   You will also want to be sure your Facebook page has a link to your website.  While both are Internet tools, they have different jobs to do!

2)      Post frequently.  If possible every day.  Your community might miss a great message from you if their activity is robust and you do not show up on a news feed!

3)      Engage…don’t sell.  Ask questions.  Start conversations.  Provide links to articles your fans might want to share.  Think about having a deeper relationship with this audience and you will enhance your lists and sell more over time.

4)      Make everyone who visits feel special.   Tease promotions and let everyone who comes to your Facebook page feel like they are VIPs.   Now and then, reward these good friends.

5)      Stay with it!  As tough as it is to add something new to your already full plate, make a commitment to stay with it.  You will be rewarded, too!

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