What the Facebook Announcement Means for Your Small Business
Facebook recently announced that it will be prioritizing posts from friends, families and groups in the news feed – leaving small businesses who have built up a following out in the cold. If you’re struggling to figure out what this Facebook announcement means for your small business, you’re in the right place.
So, how do you continue to leverage your Facebook audience without sacrificing all of the hard work you’ve done to build it up? Here are our suggestions:
1. Create a Closed Group for Customers
As you’ll notice, Facebook is still prioritizing groups. By creating a closed group for your customers, you’re doing two things: building additional value AND getting around Facebookpocolypse.
It’s quite likely your customers face similar issues in their daily life and will appreciate a safe space to discuss them openly. We at Transfer Express have had a closed group for years and it provides great value to our customers (if you’re a customer and haven’t joined, what are you waiting for?)
2. Run a “Check-In” Contest
Engagement will always be King when it comes to social media.
When customers visit your store, have them check in on Facebook and set the post to “public.” What that does is allow anyone to see it (even outside of their friend group). Their immediate friends will see the check in, as well as the friends of someone who engages with the post (such as by liking it).
Let them know they will be entered into a drawing by doing this. As we mentioned on our recent post about increasing word of mouth, make sure it’s something worthwhile.
3. Give a Reward for Reviews
Everyone loves free stuff. It’s just a fact.
Have your customer review you on Facebook and show it to you. Whether the review is good or bad, give them a reward. We’re partial to t-shirts, obviously. The advantage of this is that they are continuing to advertising your business for free when they wear it!
Again, these reviews will help you to continue to show up in your customers’ new feed.
4. Sponsor Important Posts
No one likes it, but even before the announcement, only around 1% of your followers were seeing your updates to begin with. It’s only going to get worse.
But if you’ve built up a good following, it’s worth spending a few dollars to sponsor posts or buy ads when the situation is right.
5. Stop Relying on Social Media
The marketing staff here at Transfer Express has always been of the belief that you need to be on social media and nurture your customer relationships, but it should not be relied on too heavily. The social media platform holds all of the cards and can change the rules at any moment.
The smart move it to build up your email list and stay in touch that way.
Another great option is to start a blog and build up subscribers and readers.
In conclusion, while at first blush, the recent Facebook announcement appears to be bad news for small businesses, the reality is that it presents a number of opportunities to step up your marketing game and drive sales.