7 advice on using Facebook for startups
After several months dedicated to the creation of the product, you’ve decided to launch it on the market. Still, the product itself is not sufficient for people to hear about it. It is necessary to spend some time promoting it.
This blog proceeds to bring 7 advice on how to promote startup/product via Facebook. Advice is drawn out of our personal experience. We believe that it will help you, especially if you bootstrap and you don’t have sufficient budgets for Facebook and Google ads.
This advice is stemming from practice, so don’t be like Stu and listen to a couple of them.
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#1 Create your Facebook profile and cover photo. The first impression is the key
Before you start promoting your products via Facebook page, it is important to create a profile and cover photo with pertaining information. In our case, with FenixApps, we’ve noticed that the possibility of making somebody a fan of your page is higher if that person gets all the information he needs at the moment of visiting your page. In the beginning, on FenixApps Facebook page, we’ve had a somewhat abstract cover photo. After we’ve created a new and even clearer cover, the number of fans started to rise significantly. The first impression is crucial. The visitors on your Facebook page have to be attracted, the same way they do on your website.
#2 Invest in Facebook ads, your product won’t promote itself
It is a common known fact that organic reach fell well under 5%. Investing some of your budgets into Facebook ads would be a smart move if the number of your fans isn’t growing organically. Nevertheless, the number of your fans isn’t so important because a 100 of true users is often worth more than a 1000 uninterested ones. Set real goals because the prices of Facebook ads vary by countries, so it would be a good idea to strategically set yourself on just one market (country) if you aren’t in the disposition of a greater budget, otherwise, your ads could achieve an insignificant effect because your budget could scatter on more countries without any achieved results.
#3 Invite your fans to create the product with you
Use your Facebook page to inform your users about the news you are preparing on regular basis, ask them what do they think about some new feature or new product. As said before, the number of your fans isn’t important, what is important is the quality of your Facebook community which can be an ideal platform for testing MVP (minimum viable product). Invite them to help you with choosing the name, logo or the concept – give your fans the opportunity to participate in the making of new products (Crowdsourcing).
Invite your fans to help you make your product even better
#4 Use your Facebook page as a central place for sharing information
Share interesting news with the fans that have a touch-point with your product. On our Facebook page, we are informing the users about the social network news on a regular basis. From Facebook ads, all kinds of studies to interesting info-graphics. Turn your Facebook page into a central page of informing for a certain area. One of the basic lessons for managing a Facebook page is: build a community, offer content and the conversions will follow.
#5 Increase your blog visits with the help of Facebook
Are you writing a blog? Facebook page is the ideal spot for sharing it with your fans. According to Google Analytics, Facebook is a leading generator for visits on our blog among social networks.
With its re-design, Facebook achieved that the content shared by its users comes to the front. Choose a good image before sharing your post on Facebook. You can change it directly through a selection from the post itself or upload a new one.
#6 Enable your users the support through your Facebook page
Our Facebook page is a place where we communicate with our users almost every day. We are trying as hard as possible to answer to all of the questions we receive on our Facebook wall and in the inbox. If you are present on the world market, time-zones can create a bit of a problem. Especially when the number of inquiries is growing. One thing that we’d surely like to stress out is: be honest with your users, don’t tell lies and if you have screwed up, confess it and try to solve the matter as soon as possible.
Provide support for your customers on Facebook
In order for you to be available online at all times, use Pages Manager app, because it’s important to react to inquiries of your users in real time.
Have pages manager installed on your smartphone
#7 Don’t talk only about yourself, offer some unbound content
With this, we aren’t trying to imply to using content such as photos of cats and dogs, but we recommend sharing some interesting quotes or content from time to time so you would connect with your fans on an additional level. Show your human side!
Show your human side and talk about something else, besides your business
Should startups be present on Facebook?
If your goal is the world’s market, and we agree on the fact that Facebook is by far the biggest social network, then you have to be present there! It’s not so important if your startup (product) is based on B2B or B2C model, the people using your products are present on Facebook, as well as decision makers. Finally, business is agreed on with people, not with companies!
Are you using Facebook marketing for your startup? What are your impressions?
