I’m Melinda Emerson (AKA “Small Biz Lady”). Each week as @SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with small business experts on my weekly Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. This is excerpted from my #SmallBizChat interview with Paul Mosenson (@NuSparkMktg on Twitter). Paul is the founder of NuSPark Marketing, a team of independent experts from the Philadelphia area. He is a seasoned advertising vet of 25 years, experienced in B2B & consumer marketing; he is also adept at social media training, implementation, and measurement. Visit the website at: http://nusparkmarketing.com/
Smallbizlady: Should every small business have Fan page?
Paul Mosenson: No, not at all. It depends on a number of things; do you target consumers or other businesses? The jury is still out on b2b use although there are isolated cases of results. So assuming the business targets consumers, a couple of factors come to mind: a. Is your potential audience large enough to support the time and effort to maintain the fan page, and b. Do you have compelling, engaging content or offers that you can offer your audience exclusive from your website or other channels. I’m more likely to become a fan if you provide me with something of value, because remember, when I become a fan, my own friends will see that on my updates. In essence, you’re creating an alternative database of potential customers. And don’t forget to become a fan of your own page, so all your friends of your personal page take notice.
Smallbizlady: Something I think a lot of people do not understand: How should you suggest that people like your fan page?
Paul Mosenson: There are a number of methods to generate fans.
a. External marketing- advertising, direct mail, or other means where you can remind audiences to become fans of your page (and receive unique content or offers).
b. Other internet marketing; email newsletters, your website, even other social media channels. Make sure all methods include a link to the page.
c. On premises; promote the page on internal store signage and even direct requests.
d. Facebook itself. When you set up a fan page, you can advertise your page to connections and specific target audiences on Facebook. Promote offers or events
e. Create an engaging page. Take advantage of applications; upload photos and pictures- give people a reason to become a fan. Also create events. Post updates and useful articles on your wall
f. Suggest to Friends. You can suggest to your personal Facebook friends to become fans.
Smallbizlady: It is better to have a Facebook group than a fanpage? Or should you have both? What about new Groups Features?
Paul Mosenson: Typically a fan page is better for businesses. It opens up your targeting to anyone with an interest in your business. Fan pages can use multiple facebook apps. Content updates are shared with fans. And, you can advertise on Facebook to generate fans. Facebook groups are a little different. Figure groups are like clubs- they bring people together with a similar interest. You can only use a few basic applications. A business doesn’t really need a group; but a non-profit could, or a school, or a hobby. However, Facebook just changed how Groups work, so the jury is still out on the new FB Groups.
Smallbizlady: What are some general guidelines for Fan Page design?
Paul Mosenson: Generally speaking, you want to stay focused on the needs of a potential fan; every element should offer value. You want to keep your page clean; too many apps can be a distraction. You want to keep your content fresh. By providing fresh content, your customers return to your page often. A Fan Page should reflect your personality. It’s ok to have fun with it, but be professional at the same time. Of course, give fans an opportunity for feedback-whether it be posts, polls, surveys, or content.
Smallbizlady: How do you do Facebook advertising?
Paul Mosenson: Actually you have two options; pay-per-click OR cost-per-thousand impression pricing (CPM). At the bottom of a Facebook page there’s an advertising option where you click and go to the ad set-up screen. You write a headline, ad copy, and provide an image for what you are advertising. Then include a URL of a landing page you’d like your ad to link to. On a Fan page itself, you’ll also see a section where Facebook asks if you want to promote your page with an ad. So there are two types of ads here. You may promote your Fan Page specifically, or you may link people to your website instead.
Smallbizlady: How do I target who’s going to see my Facebook ads?
Paul Mosenson: Once your ad is done, you select targeting options, from age, gender, and education, to interests (by keyword), relationship status, and geography (usually you can select 10, 25, or 50-mile radius from cities, or choose state targeting. You can also target connections, or friends of connections. Once targeting is ready, you choose your daily budget and either a cost-per-click or CPM model. You can test various ads and targets for optimization. More information on creating and targeting an ad, go to my NuSpark Marketing YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/nusparkmktg.
Smallbizlady: Should you have a weekly or monthly budget for FB advertising? How much budget is reasonable to get results?
Paul Mosenson: Like Google, think about a daily budget. But your actual campaign budget will depend on what you’re promoting. If it’s a specific offer or event, you’ll spend short term. If it’s an ongoing message, you can advertise consistently. Like any advertising campaign, give it time to work- build the reach and frequency. Track trends and make revisions accordingly. I would give 1 month, but you should test various targets and ad creative
Smallbizlady: What are the steps for a successful campaign?
Paul Mosenson: First, define your audience. What are their needs? What kind of content are they looking for? Second, determine your goals and objectives. Is it lead generation, branding, customer service? Also, define who will be the administrator of the page in your organization. Who will be responsible for page updates and responding to customers? Third, Configure your page. Determine your Facebook landing page. It doesn’t have to be the Wall page. It could be another tab, or even a custom tab you create, like a special offer page. Then decide rules for comments and wall writing- will you allow customers to post content? Finally, create a compelling page, with good content, photos, videos, and appropriate apps.
Smallbizlady: What about Facebook Events?
Paul Mosenson: Facebook is a great way to promote any specific events that your business is having, whether it be a sale, open house, or a lecture. By clicking the event tab, it’s easy to set up the details. First, input general info such as name of event, date, time, location, you can even upload photos or videos. Then, there are options to share your event, exporting it to a calendar invite, RSVP options, Event type (open, closed, secret), and any other information. More information on creating an event can be found at my NuSpark Marketing YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/nusparkmktg
Smallbizlady: What are the most important metrics to track?
Paul Mosenson: Well, the first thing is to create a spreadsheet and start tracking your fan growth per day, as well as page views. Page views are a measure of engagement and shows how robust your page is with information. By clicking on the Facebook Insights section on your Wall page, you’ll see a number of variables to measure. Fan growth and page views are the most important as a start. By the way, although I keep using the term “fans”, what I am really measuring is “Likes” as Facebook altered the term a couple of months ago. People still use FANs as a term and so do I. By liking a page, you become a fan of it.
Smallbizlady: What else can you track on Facebook Insights?
Paul Mosenson: You can track two categories: Users and Interactions.Users give you data such as demographics of your fans, gender and age, and the activity of your fans-photo views, audio plays, and video plays. Interactions tells you the number of discussion posts, reviews, wall posts, videos uploaded, and overall trends on likes, comments, and unsubscribes. A healthy fan page has an active number of interactions happening each day. The important thing is to measure trends, and act accordingly whether you need to post new content, or evaluate existing content to make sure its relevant to audiences.
Smallbizlady: There are many Facebook APPs created by third party developers. How do I choose?
Paul Mosenson: Applications are powerful tools for marketers. They are a great way to dress up your Fan Page with some sizzle. Facebook apps for business range from creating simple RSS feeds, linking YouTube videos, to conducting surveys and even promoting contests and sweepstakes to the Networked Blogs app. A favorite app for contests is wildfireapp.com. Wildfire sets up your contest seamlessly, allowing users to upload their own essays, videos, etc for your company to judge and pick a winner. You can also promote coupons and special offers, and then promote those offers with ads. Custom tabs can also be created using FBML, or Facebook Markeup Language. HTML code can also be entered into these custom tabs so that you can display an ad, coupon, or even a webform for a newsletter signup. It’s all about engagement. More information on finding apps can be found at my NuSpark Marketing YouTube page: go to http://www.youtube.com/user/nusparkmktg
Questions that will be in the Q&A blog post, but not in the Twitter interview
Smallbizlady: How do you use privacy settings to separate personal and business contacts?
Paul Mosenson: More intricacy here. First privacy affects friends (of personal pages) and not fans (of fan pages). First, from your friends list, click on friends, and you’ll see a button called Create a List. Call it “business contacts” Then select which friends are business contacts and add them to the new list. Next, go to your privacy settings page and click the blue “customize settings” link. From there you’ll see a number of categories that you can share with various sets of people. To the right of each category click the drop-down menu and choose “customize” again. From there, you can choose the unique list “business contacts” if there are certain Facebook posts and info you wish to hide from business contacts. Again, seeing how to do this is more effective to understand.
Smallbizlady: If you have Google Analytics installed on your website, can Facebook be tracked?
Paul Mosenson: Certainly, any kind of digital marketing needs to be tracked with certain engagement goals, whether it be a purchase, or an action such as a newsletter sign-up or request for quote. These goals can be tracked by setting up goals through your Google Analytics account. Then, for every link you have on your Facebook page or Facebook ad, use a URL shortener like http://bit.ly, and further, you can create a custom tag that can include such variables as campaign name, media type, and offer. Once created, you can analyze your Google Analytics and measure how Facebook users engage in your site compared to other media or social media sources. More information on tracking Facebook ads with custom URL tags can be found at my NuSpark Marketing YouTube page go to http://www.youtube.com/user/nusparkmktg.
Smallbizlady: Any last tips like How do you import your blog into facebook?
Paul Mosenson: It’s a little intricate, but two ways:
When you setup for your fan page, view the tabs at the top of your fan page. Click on the little right-facing arrow and go to the “notes” icon and add the notes tab. Once there, click on “add a new note” But instead of writing a note, you’ll see a section at the bottom left if the screen, saying “edit import settings” and here you can add your blog feed or blog URL. The Notes page will populate your last few blogs until you publish a new one. Other people use an application called NetworkedBlogs, but that’s a third party app. SocialRSS, another popular app, works as well to integrate your blog. When possible, it’s always best to use a tool directly from Facebook. More information on importing a blog my NuSpark Marketing YouTube Channel-http://www.youtube.com/user/nusparkmktg
If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter.
Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as Small Biz Lady (or on Twitter as @SmallBizLady) is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of MFE Consulting LLC, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine recently named her one of the Top 20 women for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com. Melinda is also the author of the national bestseller Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works. (Adams Media 2010)
There’s some great content here about how to leverage FB for your small business. Thanks for sharing! For the readers, do keep in mind that Facebook is just one facet to your online presence. Search Engine Marketing and Local Search is still the key way to get more business, so an online web-presence is more important than ever.
What a fabulous interview Melinda. Such great and useful information on making the most of Facebook. I appreciate all the great info you continue to share for small business owners, entrepreneurs and mompreneurs such as myself.
Glad I found this article on google when I was surfing the web. Good STUFF!
What an instructive and helpful interview, Melinda. Thanks so much. Now I want to take a look at your book!
– Lynette