Facebook, being the top social network of our times is at the same time a promotional channel for businesses that no one should neglect as it allows for a tremendous reach of an audience. However, marketing strategies you use outside the Facebook may not be applied in social media marketing, as the rules are quite different due to social component that is involved within network’s space. Here we will concentrate on the rules of promotional techniques for your business’s Facebook page.

Rule 1: Do not concentrate on sales
If you envision your FB page as a place for making sales, you risk breaking the fundamental rule of social media marketing. Instead of selling, it’s all about engaging your visitor, establishing a contact that may lead him to become your customer in future. Here’s an example for you – official page of Adidas on Facebook contains not only the info on their products, but also valuable info on healthy lifestyle, sport events etc. On the screenshot below there’s a great example of how a brand may communicate with the target audience: they simply offer people to share their training formula with the others.

Consequently, interested visitors, who are searching for valuable content, will be coming back to the page to get some more, while brand awareness and visitors’ trust will grow simultaneously. Later on, when the visitor will be thinking of buying a product, there’s a higher chance that he’ll purchase from you as he is used to “communicate” with your brand. All in all – be proactive and communicate with your prospective customers.

Rule 2.  Your website is not a final destination for the customer
Consider using the widgets at your website that let visitors know about your Facebook page.  For instance, McDONALD`S confidently offers site visitors to check out their official page on FB:

Modern widgets not only serve the purpose of informing the visitors, but also possess other valuable supplementary features, for example – Sharexy widget.

Some marketers who are new to the industry may think that such rule will lead their customers to abandoning the website for another webpage. The truth is that things are completely different if you take a deeper look. Why? Remember: your website is an area, where visitors or potential customers are expecting some “pressure” – they know you’d be trying to persuade them to purchase a product, or somehow convince them.  At the same time your brand’s page on social network is a place where a lot of people may speak out and share their experiences, a place for an open discussion. It turns out that a visitor/customer that arrives at your page on social network is not someone you’ve lost, instead, you are likely to earn loyalty bonus if you keep your page updated and communicate with the audience.

Rule 3.  Use Facebook to the fullest
A visitor must have an alternative source for information about your brand or products, aside from your website. However, we do not recommend hurrying when building up your social network community if your website is still under construction – you risk losing a part of your audience.  Having finished your website’s construction proceed to making the most out of your Facebook page:

• Make your content worthy (share news, helpful insights, etc.);
• Consider launching an ad campaign
• Cooperate with others in the niche (exchange likes, share info,  advertise);
• Try advertising on the other web resources and social networks that are popular among your target audience to expand your reach.

Most popular brand page on Facebook is Coca-Cola. Great example of how the content works: motivating slogan + relevant image (notice the unobtrusive mentioning of the brand)

These are 3 basic rules you should keep in mind when thinking of strategy for effective marketing on Facebook. In further articles we will research basic guidelines for running brand pages and building their structure.

Andrei Titovets

Entrepreneur, internet-marketing specialist. Founder Sharexy.com – powerful social sharing and website monetization tool and Yepty.com – PPC Advertising Network with contextual ads, clickable Ad formats and pretty cats.