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Promotional Tools on Facebook and Twitter

Growing your business productively means understanding all of the tools available to you. Just as smartphones and tablet PCs have redefined productivity on the go, social media has redefined how people communicate and, more specifically, how consumers want to communicate with businesses.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the three major social media platforms. I’ve already talked in depth about LinkedIn, but it’s worth taking some time to look at how Facebook and Twitter can help promote your company while boosting your productivity.

Facebook Basics for Business

As of the writing of this book, Facebook was approaching one billion users. While Facebook was originally designed as a recreational site to connect with friends, businesses were quick to see the potential. In fact, businesses have embraced Facebook faster than the Facebook architecture has adapted, leaving Facebook often scrambling to catch up to how its subscribers want to use the site.

Being present on social media for a company today is much like being present on the Web: you are judged negatively if you’re not there. Just as many consumers would not consider a company to be a “real” business without a Website, so many purchasers look for a Facebook presence to see if you are “real.” What matters is that consumers have decided that they want to have a two-way conversation with the companies they patronize, and firms that abstain from being part of the dialog do so at their peril.

At the very least, you need to have a Facebook Business Page. As Facebook has adapted to the needs of business users, these Business Pages have become easier to create and use. Facebook wants businesses to promote from a Business Page and not from a personal profile. Ignoring this rule can get your page deleted from Facebook.

A Business Page works a little differently from a personal profile page in that a Business Page can’t “friend” individual users. Instead, users are invited to “like” the page and thereby opt-in to receive automatic updates whenever the page adds new information.

Today’s consumers value a connection through Facebook because they want to be able to express their opinions, ask questions, and feel as though they are being heard. They want to do business with people, not faceless corporations. Companies that learn to listen can reap valuable benefits, from uncovering (and being able to fix) customer service issues, to discovering competitive advantages when a rival firm has dropped the ball, to new product ideas gleaned from the suggestions of loyal purchasers.

When you create your Business Page, make sure both your logo and your photo are prominently displayed. People need to find you as a business, but they want to connect with you as the person behind the business. Fill in the Information section, making sure your content is all about the benefit you provide to your customers and what you do for them (not just a laundry list of products and services). Include your other Websites, links to blogs and podcasts, and business contact information, so your Facebook fans can find you on the Internet.

If you already have a profile page, Facebook wants you to use it primarily for personal/recreational content. However, it’s okay to talk about business some of the time, just as you would in real life. Also, with a profile you can invite people to “like” your Business Page, and suggest that your “friends” also visit your Business Page. Just keep your profile mostly personal, to remain compliant with Facebook’s Terms of Service.

Content is essential for attracting and keeping readers. Ask questions that are business related, provide tips, and post links to interesting and helpful videos, articles, and blogs, even to content that you didn’t create but that your audience would appreciate. Repurpose articles and answers into Frequently Asked Questions and use other information you’ve written into short, helpful, one-paragraph snippets of content.

Try to keep a conversational tone. Don’t use a hard sell, and don’t constantly promote. Instead, draw your readers in with open-ended questions and try to get them into a dialogue. Facebook users want to connect with the person behind the business, so keep the conversation “business casual,” as you would at a networking luncheon. That means that it’s okay to talk a little bit about superficial personal subjects, such as your pets, vacation highlights, sports teams, and so on. Always make sure that the information you share shows you in an ethical, trustworthy light. Be human, but also be professional! You can also reward those who “like” your page with occasional special discounts and coupons.

Promote your Facebook Business Page at every opportunity. Put a “badge” (Facebook can generate this for free) showing your Business Page icon on your business Website. Add the address for your Business Page to your business cards, signage, invoices, handouts, and all marketing material (Facebook makes it easy to create a short, readable page address). Where your Website is a one-way conversation (you speaking to your customers), view your Facebook page as the opportunity to learn from having a two-way conversation with your prospects and buyers.

Facebook also offers the ability to place ads that show up on the profiles of other Facebook users who fit the demographic description you provide. You set the budget and the duration for the ads, and a campaign costing just a few hundred dollars can lead to hundreds of thousands of impressions and hundreds of clicks. This is a great way to drive traffic to your Business Page or to your company’s Website.

Facebook has tightened up its rules for allowing contests, but that doesn’t mean that contests are out of reach for small businesses. PinpointSocial.com specializes in template-driven, do-it-yourself Facebook campaigns that comply with Facebook’s rules but are easy and affordable for small businesses to run. Used in conjunction with Facebook ads, this is a great way to increase the “likes” for your page, essentially increasing your Facebook opt-in. Constant Contact has also added a social media tool that creates Facebook landing pages using templates, with the advantage that the tool also integrates with Constant Contact’s impressive e-mail marketing capabilities.

You can also add value to your Facebook Business Page through extra add-on applications within Facebook. For example, one app allows your blog to automatically post to your Facebook page (RSS or Really Simple Syndication), increasing your productivity by getting additional exposure for each blog post. The same is also possible for your Twitter or podcast feed. For companies that sell on eBay, Facebook has an app that interfaces with your eBay site. Apps change frequently, so be sure to look for the ones that would be right for your business.

I’ve already told you about many of the dashboard programs, like HootSuite and SocialOomph, which make it easy for you to schedule content and keep a consistent presence. It’s also worth taking a look at MarketMeSuite, which combines the benefit of a scheduling dashboard with several nice marketing tools.

The Promotional Productivity of Twitter

If you’re a person of few words, you’ll admire the elegance of the idea behind Twitter; each post is just 140 characters. That’s about two sentences to get your idea across. What can you do in two sentences? You’d be surprised.

Twitter is a great place to share links to valuable content (you can shorten them to preserve more of your character limit by using a site like Bitly.com or TinyURL.com): videos, interesting articles on other sites, blog posts, audio, or downloads. Find an article of interest to your audience? Share the link, and then Tweet a few thoughts and ask a question to get a conversation going.

What else can you talk about in 140 characters? Recommend a business book and say how it influenced you. If you were at an event and saw a speaker who talked about something useful for your readers, Tweet about it! You could even include a link to the event Website, speaker’s home page, or to a video or blog post related to the event. Or share a motivational quote, comment on a business-related topic that is in the news, or let readers know if you have an upcoming promotion or special event.

As with Facebook, you can reward the people who follow your page with periodic links to free downloadable material of value to their business, or give them sneak previews of special prices before you post the specials on your Website. People who follow you can ask you questions, either publicly or privately, so you’ll want to monitor these so you can answer promptly. (Several of the dashboards make this easier.)

Twitter is also a great way to give live updates from the business-related events you attend. If you’re at a conference, either as a speaker or an attendee, send periodic Tweets about what you’ve liked, what insights you’ve gained, what well-known experts you’ve heard or met, and other information that gives your followers a you-were-there feeling.

Whenever you use a keyword in your tweets (such as the name of an event, a book, a celebrity/authority, or product), make it searchable by putting a hashtag (#) in front of it. For example, if you are talking about the book Think And Grow Rich, you would Tweet #ThinkAndGrowRich. That way your Tweet will show up if anyone searches on the name of the book. You can also see what topics are popular by searching Twitter’s Trending Topics. Chiming in on a hot topic (if it relates to your business) can draw attention to your Twitter page and help you gain more readers.

Promote your Twitter page in all the same ways I suggested for your Facebook page, and make sure you let people know what’s in it for them to follow you. Tell them what kind of helpful content you post, and if you provide discounts or coupons, let them know. You can also have your Twitter feed automatically update your other online pages, such as your LinkedIn page or Website, by using RSS. LinkedIn has a free RSS application, and your Web designer can add it easily to your home page.

Remember that the biggest key to productivity on social media is keeping your top goal firmly in mind and approaching your online time with an action list. Go onto Facebook or Twitter with one to three tasks that can be accomplished in 10 to 30 minutes, and keep your mind on business while you’re there. By using this “power surge” process, you accomplish more in less time and avoid distractions during working hours.

What can you do in such a short time? You can invite people to become your friend or “like” your page, ask a question or make a comment to someone who is already a friend or who has “liked” your page, post a quote or short tip, or check out what top speakers and experts are posting on their sites. You can post a link to a helpful article or set up a Facebook ad. You’ll be amazed what you can get done in a short period of time when you keep your activity focused on achieving your top goal and reaching your ideal audience.