Courtesy of springintosales.com

The New Facebook Rules

There has been a lot of confusion since the new rules came out regarding text, promos and direct sales on your Facebook cover page. For the most part, brands have ignored the update – and have stuck with their old ‘image-only’ cover. You are losing out on a very high percentage of potential sales.

The new rules are as follows:

• You may use 20% text or less in your cover.
• This text can be price or purchasing info, contact info or calls to action.

Tip! If you don’t know what 20% text on a cover page looks like, you can always test yours using this neat tool courtesy of Mari Smith.

Otherwise you can use the 5 column grid trick. Divide your cover page into five columns. Only one of the columns can be filled with text!

Courtesy of suvonni.com

Here’s what you can place in that 20% space:

• Coupons, QR codes, discounts – 50% discount on all items!
• Calls to action – Download, share, like, click and buy!
• Your website address, your email address, your sales page URL, your Amazon URL, or general information about your business.
• Any references to Facebook actions or features. Yes! You can now tell your customers to like your page, from your cover image.

Why You Should Change Your Image

These new changes to your Facebook cover page mean that your image should be more in line with direct sales, or with your marketing goal. If your goal is to get more fans – your cover image should be focused on that. If you’re going to use it as a way to share coupon codes or discounts, then your image should support these actions.

This makes creating a Facebook cover page far more difficult – and far more effective. As a business owner you’ll have to beware of the ‘spam trap’ that your cover presents. Don’t try and squeeze entire paragraphs onto your cover image – that won’t work.

• Short, punchy sales text
• Easy-to-read at a glance
• Beneficial to the customer directly
• Make it easy to follow the call to action!

Think of your Facebook cover page as prime advertising space. It can do a lot for your business, including the conversions that you get from your Facebook ad campaigns. Plus it will ensure that all traffic driven to your page is converted properly, and that you don’t lose any leads. If you haven’t changed your image yet, do it now!

It’s difficult enough getting interactions from your fan base, but when you only have a few hundred fans, you can use the extra help. Use all functions at your disposal!

Any questions on the new Facebook cover photo rules? Leave them here.

Courtesy of myphonedaily.com

Goodbye Single Newsfeed Options

The Facebook changes that will affect you and your business the most, are the ones happening to your newsfeed. There are new ways to filter your newsfeed that include viewing streams according to certain categories like music or photos. Instead of having to scroll down a million times only to run out of new content – Facebook proposes this.

Each newsfeed steam will be just as long, only you’ll be able to see and engage with more content – much more content. This will inevitably improve the time people spend on Facebook, and on finding content from YOUR business. It’s a win-win for Facebook and Facebook users alike.

The Information Junkies We Are All Becoming

Personally, I think this improvement by Facebook is the best thing they could have done right now. Facebook changes like this improve the user experience, instead of making it less tolerable, like all of their recent advertising changes. I bet a smart executive said – ‘but how can we keep people using Facebook for longer?’ That was the million dollar question.

The answer was also simple – these new Facebook changes. Increasing the amount of clean friend-based information that a single Facebook user can consume quickly, is key to maintaining their current business model. And with the ad increases this doesn’t come soon enough. If there are going to be more ads, there must be more content.

We are all becoming information junkies, and there is an increasing need for sites like Facebook to make more information available to us. The only problem is – we want it to be simple, super-fast and convenient. That’s no simple task. In order for the Facebook changes to meet this need, they also need to make the navigation of Facebook a little more complex.

Courtesy of techcrunch.com

The New Facebook Look

Along with the massive newsfeed changes, you can also expect updates to the photos and ad systems. Photos on Facebook will appear larger –which is great for marketers, and actually marks the beginning of a more friendly way to market to your customers. Text is great, but let’s be honest – images and moving images are becoming more important online.

Since Pinterest and Twitter Vine, the internet and your potential customers only seem interested in sharing the best images and Vines – text is left alone. But even as these numbers climb, more Facebook changes are on the way. There are rumors that a radical mobile redesign is on the cards for Facebook as well.

The mobile feed makes advertising look really bad, because it’s so noticeable and unwelcome. I wonder how they’ll improve this! Also on the way is a camera app, or some kind of app that will compete with Twitter Vine. At least that’s the news on the wire right now. With all of these additions and changes, Facebook as we know it will be gone.

The Changing Faces of Facebook

There is a desperate need for Facebook to improve their cluttered appearance. Experts like Techcrunch suggest that they will achieve this by giving things like ‘newsfeeds’ and ‘tickers’ the ability to be hidden. This would definitely leave room for the larger images and whatever new apps they want to promote. Facebook changes like these are needed.

• The newsfeed is getting an overhaul – you can switch between different content feeds
• Facebook is punting Instagram by dedicating an entire newsfeed to photos
• Facebook may introduce an independent music feed to make Facebook users engage more often with Spotify and the music shared on the site
• Facebook changes could include a new ‘news’ section dedicated to business page updates and general news
• Link and image posts will be much larger to get more responses from people. This is great for advertisers who can expect better click through rates
• Luxury brands will be attracted to the larger ad formats, and Facebook will get the extra investment it’s been looking for all this time

These Facebook changes tell me a few things. First of all, Facebook is STILL a people-centered platform, they want you to be happy. By keeping you happy, they can make money for their advertisers and business page owners. This is also good news for small businesses that want better returns from their Facebook ad investments.

All in all, the site isn’t just getting swamped by adverts – it’s also getting overhauled for the users that want more, and want it from Facebook. It seems that Facebook as a company is moving in the right direction. I had my doubts at first, but they are making every effort to balance out the business side, with the user side.

Courtesy of digitaltrends.com

The Facelift and The Pace of Change

This new Facebook facelift will no doubt have the internet divided again, as some people love the new feeds, and others hate them. People don’t like change, but it’s so crucial for a giant like Facebook to continue to change to stay relevant.

Just when they bought an image sharing app for a billion bucks, Twitter goes and buys Vine – which becomes the hot new thing.

These Facebook changes will continue because all of the social sites are in competition. A moment spent on Twitter is one not spent on Facebook. I would safely assume that more innovations – especially app-wise – will come from Facebook in the coming year.

You’ll notice that the Facebook trailblazers are being mimicked by just about every other social platform out there. They need to change constantly to stay in front! Hopefully this update will reduce clutter and increase time spent on Facebook, as the developers intend. If it doesn’t, Facebook will be left with a flawed design and a lot of ads bothering their users.

Join our Facebook page here, and stay updated on the latest Facebook changes!

Have you seen the new Facebook changes? What do you think of them – better or worse?

Courtesy of venturebeat.com

Ads Here, Ads There, Ads Everywhere

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Facebook advertising has rapidly increased. My private newsfeed now consists of strange promoted upcoming events, ‘most shared’ posts from the businesses I do follow, and endless business page suggestions from companies I’ve never even heard of – something has happened, and people are noticing.

These days when a friend likes a business, it shows up as a full on post ‘Jane Doe likes Business Page x’ sprawled across your page. These adverts are getting to people, there are too many of them. Yet businesses love the new Facebook advertising options, don’t they? Otherwise why would Facebook be doing all of these intrusive changes?

The Truth About Facebook Advertising Campaigns

In his latest post on Facebook advertising, Jason Falls takes a look at how useful the current Facebook ad campaigns really are to small business owners. For a $5000.00 investment, the return was 1.5 million impressions and 40,000 claims. That means 40K people clicked on the offer that was shown. That’s a lot of people taking interest in adverts.

Are businesses making money? Well, if that small business invested $5000.00, giving away a redeemable coupon, then according to the numbers – a heck of a lot of money was made from that ad campaign. This may be different from gathering likes and using sponsored stories to gain fans – but the proof is there – it works.

Courtesy of pagetrafficbuzz.com

It’s clear then that BECAUSE these Facebook advertising options are working, Facebook wants to make more of them. They want a diverse range of ads to suit all people, all budgets, across the world. That’s how they will increase their revenue. As ads become more social, they are also becoming more interactive and engaging.

Fans WANT the offers from their favorite businesses that are giving away coupons and free stuff, because it adds value to being their fan. As for the other ads – the cold ‘suggested business’ ads, these may work intermittently, but they are more of an irritation than anything else. It’s Facebook’s attempt at building stronger business pages. Why?

The more fans a business page has, the more Facebook advertising power is has. You can only show ads to your fans and their friends – right? Those are the rules. So Facebook has gone on a twisted ‘like ALL of these businesses’ rampage, suggesting 5-10 businesses to you per day if you’re unlucky. It’s devalued the experience for me a little.

Courtesy of thehighlow.com

Speaking About Advertising, What’s Facebook Up To?

There is a very clear increase in the frequency of Facebook advertising, offers and sponsored stories. Facebook, as Jason Falls so eloquently writes, must become a revenue engine. I fear however that this new model may lead to a breakdown in trust between user and platform. No-one likes useless adverts. They like repeated spammy adverts even less.

All you can do as a Facebook user or Facebook advertising user is to use their ‘spam’ options. If you see a spammy ad, report it as spam, hide posts you don’t like – give Facebook the knowledge it needs to keep your page free of irritations. Remember Facebook or any social media site, is not a passive service. It takes user and owner input to grow!

How do you feel about the increase in Facebook adverts?

Courtesy of jsainteractive.com

How To Facebook Market Like a Millionaire

A smart marketer on Facebook that is not out to quickly and easily make money using basic Facebook marketing strategies, is able to focus on long term techniques instead.

These long term techniques on how to Facebook market pay off, and result in higher earnings directly off the platform. I’ve worked with many wealthy customers – and they do things a little differently. You could learn a thing or two here!

The secret is to manage your strategies in 10 day cycles. It works a little like this:

Step 1: Focus on a marketing strategy
Step 2: Test the marketing strategy on Facebook
Step 3: Give it 10 days to have an impact
Step 4: Collect and analyse data
Step 5: Make improvements and start at step 1 again!

Courtesy of kidnapcustomers.com

The Facebook market is ever-changing, and while this formula may seem basic it has a lot of working parts to it. For example, if your main goal is to increase the sale of an item from your product website, the strategy will work like this.

Step 1: How can you Facebook market this product to gain more traffic?
Step 2: If you decide on video advertising, set schedules and create content
Step 3: Publish to Facebook every day, multiple times in different ways
Step 4: Measure the analytics data and record results
Step 5: Redo your video campaign using the improved results…

…if video X received more fan likes for example, create more videos like it. These cycles are simple to use but devastatingly difficult to maintain for the average business person. This is especially true if you need results now – because money is a concern.

But millionaires should NEVER worry about money. They focus on the processes that result in excellent returns. That’s why they don’t skip steps, make mistakes and end up making more long term money in the Facebook market than other people.

Courtesy of socialmedianews.biz

Some Marketing Tips For Facebook

• Wealthy Facebook marketers only promote their absolute best content, that has already received lots of comments, likes and shares. It has a higher impact on people – especially on Facebook mobile – because it is already popular. The more likes you have, the more you’ll get.

• The Facebook market can return a lot of negative results. Facebook marketers know that promotion to fans is good – but not promoting to friends of fans is important too. It excludes negative feedback from your page.

• Only ever ask people to perform one SIMPLE action. More than one call to action makes the task hard, and people will not do it. Add in one solid call to action that is so simple, quick and easy – people can make it happen in 1 or 2 seconds.

• Upload your email or subscriber lists to Facebook if you’re using Facebook advertising. You can target existing buyers by taking advantage of the custom audience function in the ad backend.

The Facebook market will always be a tough one for independent business owners, looking to make their fortune on the platform. But if you stick to single strategies, tested properly in these 10 day cycles, you’ll find that your marketing techniques boom, along with your sales!

Join our Facebook page here!

Do you think there is value in using Facebook analytics to improve your marketing techniques?

Courtesy of socialtaps.com

Facebook Mobile Marketing: Practical Tips

1. Encourage fans to share what they have just bought from your online store on Facebook. This often increases sales virality and improves sales.

2. Use QR codes to give your online buyers free coupons on Facebook. The Facebook market loves to get once-off, unique discounts for being a fan of yours.

3. Link your Facebook account to your Pinterest account and dedicate a board to your new product. Create special images and share them on Facebook.

4. Publish a very interesting or inspiring image along with a brand message that is highly viral. Then turn this Facebook marketing message into a promoted post.

5. Mobile advertising has improved on Facebook, and you can now get ads and pages recommended to fans and their networks with a small investment.

Courtesy of nanigans.com

6. Create product videos and upload them to Youtube. Then share them on Facebook, to take advantage of Facebook mobile. Aim for that viral effect.

7. Join the throng of people using VINE to create 6 second looping adverts or features for their upcoming products. This is excellent for Facebook mobile users.

8. Announce discounts for all Facebook fans if they click on the tracked link that you will publish to your Facebook page. It’s 15% off for fans!

9. Product sales are about virality, so launch a competition. Facebook mobile competitions work best if entering is about sharing and that’s ALL.

10. Give 5 products to Facebook fans for free in return for a brief review, a photo and an endorsement. Social proof on Facebook is very effective, it will magically boost sales.

11. Turn your fans into advocates for your brand. Facebook mobile is very ‘sharing-friendly’ so encourage fans to share their experiences with your product.

12. Get your Facebook fans to sign up to your blog mailing list, so that they can become repeat customers later on.

13. Create a hashtag for your product and use it on Facebook mobile. People do this all the time to reflect how they feel. Buying a mixer? #Itsmixingtime

14. Get a mobile app created that ‘sells’ your brand without sales pitches. Pillsbury for example might have a ‘make your own muffin’ app (which increases muffin sales indirectly).

15. Create Facebook mobile ads that don’t look like ads. Grab people’s attention and create hooks that are different and intriguing.

16. Mobile marketing is all about media images. Get some pro photos taken of your product in action and share them far and wide on Facebook.

Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

17. Create an app game for your brand that uses touch-screen controls. Make it available for free, and flood people with brand messages in a game format.

18. Selling products on Facebook mobile is easy when you install an e-commerce app on your page. Sell them directly from your business profile.

19. Be creative! Do something outrageous that will get media attention and fame for your new product. Then publish updates on Facebook mobile.

20. Use sponsored Facebook mobile ads to get more likes on your page. Fans will be able to see who of their friends has liked your product.

Use these top 20 mobile strategies to get those products flying out of your online store. Don’t forget to measure your results so that you can improve your next product launch!

Join us on Facebook here for more mobile marketing tips!

Do you have a Facebook marketing tip that will help sell loads of products?

Courtesy of jobsnhire.com

The Facebook Marketing Fail That is Turning Heads

Facebook has always had privacy problems, since the very first moment it went live. You’ll often see fake spam from your friends every now and then, warning you that Facebook has once again changed its privacy functions, and now the world can see you drunk at that party – if you don’t rush to change the settings.

But what has really happened to this giant social network, since it went public last year? The Facebook marketing team is clearly taking a lot of strain from large investors, as advertising and testing of ad processes has shot up since that time.

Right now, all it takes for a small number of test users on Facebook to inbox you, is a measly buck. They don’t have to be your friend, or know you at all. Facebook real estate is plummeting, and everyone is starting to notice.

The Facebook marketing team needs to be careful how many spaces they fill with ads. Email was one of those hallow areas that were spam free. Facebook first released new policy guidelines that made it impossible for you to block messages from people you aren’t friends with. Now they’re testing this MASSIVE Facebook marketing fail.

Courtesy of empowernetwork.com

Here’s why I don’t think people are going to love this idea, and why businesses won’t benefit from it at all.

• People are unnaturally paranoid about stranger interaction on Facebook – they hate it. Hence the many Facebook marketing spam and privacy problem warnings that go viral.
• People don’t like companies’ cold emailing their daily email addresses, why would Facebook make it so that people can do this to their social networking accounts?
• Small businesses won’t be able to afford too many emails anyway, so there is no value here for them. The Facebook marketing team is targeting big spenders that spam A LOT.
• It’s another ‘bad’ solution to a non-existent problem like the $7 it costs to send status updates directly to the top of friends feeds.
• It comes in the wake of Facebook’s recent privacy policy reform that caused negative backlash, not to mention their privacy issues on Instagram.

It seems to me like this is a ploy by The Facebook marketing team to open yet another revenue stream, even though experts say it won’t earn them a lot of money. While the intended uses for this ‘innovation’ may be to allow a stranger to inbox you, because they met you at a conference or something relevant, it’s a hollow reason.

Courtesy of lifehacker.com

The Real Reason Facebook Allows $1 Emails

The real reason that The Facebook marketing team is testing this $1 email system is of course – money. Investors are nipping at the heels of the marketing team to earn more money, to find new paths that can be money spinners to boost their share value.

If a large corporation wants to directly reach 100,000 people with an advert, they could choose to do it on Facebook as part of their own Facebook marketing campaign. It would only cost them $100,000, and its extra functionality for the business. Everyone wins – oh, except the user.

If this moves past the testing phase, expect to see a whole lot more rubbish in your inbox. More proof that Facebook is going the same way as the old Myspace. Soon there won’t be any place for friend interaction, because of all the ad space!

How do you feel about getting ads direct to your Facebook inbox from strangers?

Courtesy of blog.socialmaximizer.com

What’s Happening With Facebook Newsfeed?

Since the company went public, it’s been experimenting with new and exciting ways to make more money for its many stock holders. We predicted this may happen some months before the public sale of Facebook shares, and here it is.

Marketers are getting a little bit frustrated over the recent changes to the Facebook newsfeed, which has essentially made showing your posts to your fans very difficult without advertising. You may have noticed your own ‘x people saw this post’ stats on the decline.

It all began with the Facebook newsfeed fake fan account purge that happened a few months ago. Legitimate businesses that paid marketing companies for Facebook fans (which we don’t endorse, but it is a marketing tactic) suddenly lost all of their fans, after Facebook deleted thousands of fake accounts.

1. Losing a large amount of fans is never a good thing, and to people that don’t understand why – it could trigger a mass unliking of real people.

2. Businesses that pay for Facebook management were outraged. How could their pages drop from 26,000 fans to 3,400 fans in 1 day?

Marketers began to lose money because buying fans was no longer a reliable option. This made a lot of business and marketers angry.

Courtesy of techcrunch.com

More Facebook Newsfeed Issues

I can’t confirm if this is true or not – but I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from people saying that they have been noticing a LOT more business page posts in their feed than usual. Sometimes it’s quite disproportionate – like 10 posts in a row from 1 page.

Perhaps Facebook is trying to correct the rumors going around that they have made it impossible to get exposure on your Facebook newsfeed or pages now, without significant financial investment. That means advertising!

Have you noticed those ‘recommended pages’ that keep popping up in your newsfeed? Suddenly there will be a big post, sprawled out in front of you from a page you have never even seen before. I don’t know about you but I haven’t liked any yet. It feels like a violation! Until now, advertising was neatly confined to the edges of your screen.

Now it’s slap bang in your Facebook newsfeed. I’m loathe to say this but it FEELS like Facebook is going the same way as the old Myspace. Overindulgence in advertising, marketers upset, people complaining, a large and ridiculous selection of ad options…all sounds too familiar. Be careful Facebook, be careful.

Courtesy of jonloomer.com

The Facebook Newsfeed Response

In an attempt to squash the negative sentiment floating around Twitter and in social media forums and marketing blogs, Facebook has rolled out ‘pages only’ which allows a user to switch the newsfeed to only see the business pages you’ve liked. It’s a nice touch, but I’m not sure that people will use it that often.

Techcrunch reported that the entire debacle accusing Facebook of forcing people to buy ads to get more exposure is false. While this may be true, there’s no doubt that Facebook is removing spam pages, while spamming its users with recommended Facebook newsfeed posts. I’m just not sure this whole thing will work in Facebook’s favor. Stay tuned.

Did you like todays post on the Facebook newsfeed issues? Then please share it!

Otherwise – have you noticed anything hinky going on with your newsfeed? Does there seem to be more advertising than usual?

Courtesy of monoamarketing.com

What Are Facebook Promoted Posts?

A promoted post is quite simply a regular post that you’ve made on your timeline page, that now includes an additional advertising feature, courtesy of Facebook.

If you look at the bottom of your post, you’ll see a little button that says ‘promote.’ Click this button, and you’ll have
instant access to a paid promotional advertising window – where you can ‘promote’ your post to more fans, so that they can interact more with your post.

There will be two options – where you can select your intended audience, and set your scalable budget. It’s like a really efficient prepaid advertising system that is targeted to specific posts that have already proved to be popular among your fans.

Tip! Promote your post early, or you won’t be able to promote it at all – old posts can’t be promoted. There is a 3 day time limit on your ‘tests!’

3 Useful Things To Know About Using Promoted Posts

• Set a budget and let your promoted post get more exposure. When you feel it’s reached enough people, you can reduce the budget, or cancel the promotion at the click of a button. It’s all very convenient.

• I use promoted posts to increase the overall engagement on a post. This is especially useful for download posts, free giveaways that drive traffic, competitions, sign up prompts or other important posts that rely on exposure and engagement.

• Promoted posts are tracked by Facebook, so you can check out the stats when you’re done. This is great for gathering data on your next promo campaign! There will also be extra data in the usual analytics spaces.

The main thing you need to know about promoted posts is that they are strictly for finding more views, and getting more responses. I wouldn’t waste time using them for the average post. Instead stick to ‘action-orientated’ posts. Every post should be part of a test. Test it on your audience for 3 days, then if it works – promote it.

But try using two similar posts and promoting them – for an even greater split test diagnostic. These can let you into all kinds of valuable fan engagement secrets in your niche. For example, posts with the word ‘get’ in them convert 16% more than posts with other language. It’s all down to split testing!

Start with a small budget and play around, so that you can get the hang of promoted posts. Small businesses can extend their reach by breaking their campaigns into $20.00 promos for example. Do the tests, then invest in a post that you KNOW will convert.

Do you think promoted posts are a great new Facebook feature, or just another way for the now public ‘Facebook’ to earn more ad dollars? We want to know your opinion!

Courtesy of army.mil

#1: Facebook Accounts For 1 of Every 5 Page Views Online

Imagine how powerful and addictive Facebook must be to attract 1 out of 5 page views on the internet – in the world! People are literally checking Facebook several times a day.

#2: Facebook Users Like 2.7 BILLION Things Per Day

There’s a whole lot of liking going on in the world – with people clicking ‘like’ billions of times each day. For such a neutral button, the world sure gets behind the endorsement concept. ‘Like’ is also one of the most important ways for a business to get a decent Edgerank score.

#3: 57% of All Facebook Users are Female

Facebook is a female dominated online community, with women not only making up a larger demographic than men, but using the platform more often as well. Must be the social sensitivity in women!

#4: Everyone in The World Spends an Average of 20 Minutes on Facebook

Open your homepage, check out the latest updates, scroll down – add in some comments, upload an image, reply to your messages, ‘like’ a few things…that’s about 20 minutes alright. The funny thing is, people are doing this once every couple of hours, it’s not just once a day anymore.

#5: EA Games Muscled in on Zynga’s Gaming Monopoly With The Sims Social

EA Games currently has the #2 most popular Facebook game in the world, thanks to an adaptation of their already hugely popular ‘The Sims’ game. Whereas Zynga games used to dominate the landscape with favorites like Cityville and Farmville – new players like EA have found their way into this new market, with little to no struggle.

#6: Facebook Earned 1 Billion Dollars in 2011

In 2011, thanks to Facebook’s new ad platforms, their old friend Zynga, and massive amounts of online traffic coming their way,
they managed to earn a cool $1 billion – that’s no small amount of income.

#7: Mark Zuckerberg Will Earn $1 Per Month From Jan 2013

Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest men, pledged to earn only $1 dollar per month as a salary, while working at Facebook. Makes sense – he was worth a neat 17.5 billion before Facebook’s recent IPO – now he’s worth about $24 billion. You can’t spend that amount of money in one lifetime!

It’s clear that Facebook is evolving. It’s becoming more of an aggressive money-maker – something we’ll see more of now that it’s a public company. But this hasn’t deterred people from using Facebook now more than ever. Usage, users and traffic is up, up, up! The reign of this social favorite is not going to end any time soon.

Have you come across any new and interesting stats about Facebook lately? Why not share them here with your SMM community? Share away!

Courtesy of sayingitsocial.com

What is Facebook Offers?

Businesses and brands can post offers on their Facebook pages, which their fans can then redeem in person, as a discount or coupon. To claim a coupon, a fan just needs to click on it – then an email is sent with the details that the fan can print out, and use. This Facebook service is free to use, and you can create as many discounts as you like.

A New Dimension To Facebook Advertising

Brands are always looking for ways to increase exposure, because finding business can be tough. With this new dimension to Facebook advertising, businesses no longer have to mess around with print coupons, newspaper placements, or untrustworthy sites like Groupon. Instead, they can harness the power of their fan base and source direct sales from them.

Posting an Offer

Posting an offer on Facebook couldn’t be easier. For restaurants, gyms, salons and other ‘walk-in’ businesses, offers will become a primary means of advertising. Simply create an offer, fill in the fields and publish to your Facebook page. Facebook will show your offer to a number of people on the platform, though not everyone.

Fans will be able to see a brief pitch – ‘Exclusive to Facebook: Buy one bagel, get a coffee for free!’ – and a ‘Get offer’ button below it. They’ll also be able to see the number of people that have already claimed your deal, which only prompts more people to do the same. These offers have an expiry date, so you can set them for short periods, to rapidly increase business.

Business Promotions With Offers

Getting the word out about your business is essential if you’re going to turn a profit. Just remember that running an offer on its own won’t make you much money. Train yourself to see offers as a free advertising tool. You must prepare other ‘upsells’ in your shop to make the most of the additional foot traffic you’ll get from the deal.

So, for example, you’ll give away free coffee – but your real goal is to sell your deluxe bagels and panini sandwiches. When your customers are in your shop, hand them another coupon, for another incentive that will bring them back. Juggle your upsells, but try to retain the foot traffic that you get in, each time you launch an offer on Facebook.

Facebook offers can be a major blessing for your company, if you learn to use them correctly. Coupons will get you the customers you need, but you need to make sure they return again and again, with your savvy marketing tactics.

Try Facebook offers for yourself, and tell me how it went! I’d love to hear from the SMM community about your experiences with this new ad tool!