The WebPresence™ Marketing team loves to share our passion for social media and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how we use it to make our clients successful every single day. Each week, we will post a blog about what’s going on in the WebPresence office and give you some helpful tips to help grow your business’ online presence.

There is a common misconception among small business owners that due to the specialized and localized nature of their business, they think they won’t benefit from having a business page on Facebook. They look at large corporations like Coke and General Motors who boast hundreds of thousands of Facebook Fans, and chalk up their success on Facebook to being multinational corporations with massive social media and marketing budgets.

While we won’t deny that Coke and GM have an advantage because of these things, it doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who can build an engaged, trusting and loyal community! Which brings us to this week’s Social Media Minute: Why it’s so important for your business to have a Facebook page! Today’s big lesson?

If YOU aren’t engaging with your customers on Facebook, your COMPETITORS are!

The ways that Facebook allows you to connect, engage, and build trusting relationships with current and potential customers are nearly endless. If your business does not have a Facebook page yet, you are missing out on potential connections and money.

And if your competitors are on Facebook, you better believe customers will choose them over you.

The truth is, businesses big and small are quickly coming to a point where they don’t have a choice about whether or not they utilize social media. Instead, the choice is about how well they use it.

Updating and maintaining a company Facebook page can be a daunting task. It’s hard to find the right balance of professional tips, incentives and specials, and personal anecdotes to really connect with customers and encourage active engagement on your page. Posting too frequently, being too “salesy,” and a lack of creative posts will drive your fans away (click here to see more reasons why your ads aren’t working!). But an authentic mix of your business and your background will help to connect you with your customers.

Facebook is not going away anytime soon!

A quarter of a million new people join Facebook every day. Why miss out on an opportunity to put your business in a place where your customers are spending time? Just as bad, why miss out on doing it in a thoughtful and distinctive way that distinguishes you from your competitors?

Yes, there is a LOT to keep track of, manage, research, brainstorm, and think about when it comes to creating and maintaining a presence on Facebook. There is a lot to do on a daily basis if you want to be successful! But you don’t need to be a multinational corporation with a huge budget to do it right…you just need the right team in place, one that understands and can communicate with your customers, one that understands what people like and don’t like on Facebook, one that can manage your page so you can concentrate on your business, and one that can bring you all of these professionals for an affordable price.

Remember, if you ever need help in your ongoing creation or promotion of your company on Facebook so that you can engage with your customers instead of your competition, the social media experts at the Automated Marketing Group are here to help!  We have been very successful in internet marketing for the past 17 years, and we can help you get the targeted social marketing your business needs!

Give us a call at 1-866-520-3030 or use our contact page!

The WebPresence™ Marketing team loves to share our passion for social media and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how we use it to make our clients successful every single day. Each week, we will post a blog about what’s going on in the WebPresence office and give you some helpful tips to help grow your business’ online presence.

The office here at the Automated Marketing Group has been buzzing with excitement for the last week over the newest addition to our family. Peter Shea, our creative assistant, welcomes a beautiful new baby girl named Elsie Lu to his family. Click here to see how cute she is!

Sharing the joy of a new baby on our Facebook pages serves as the perfect example for what we’d like to talk about in this week’s Social Media Minute: why it’s so important for your business to have a Facebook page! Today’s big lesson?

Facebook makes your business human!

When you own a small business, you don’t just work in a store on 123 Anywhere Lane. You work and live in a community where you take care of (and depend upon) your neighbors!

That’s why having a professionally managed Facebook account for your small business is so important. It’s a chance to build a relationship with customers and to become someone they know, like and trust.

Customers don’t want to buy from businesses anymore — they want to go back to buying from people they trust, because as we all know, money is just getting tough out there. When companies use Facebook as just another outlet to sell a product or repeat the company motto, they miss out on the chance to create and strengthen that relationship.

The benefit of Facebook is that it is non-traditional in the sense that it allows a two way conversation between business owner and customer through comments and messages. This offers an open-ended possibility to engage with your customers and let them get to know the people behind your business. In a sense, Facebook is a platform to showcase the most authentic part of your small business — the people behind it.

Facebook is an easy way to provide amazing customer service!

Facebook is an excellent way to gauge, respond to, and utilize customer satisfaction to bolster your small business’ image…as well as to address potential problems in a very personal way. There’s an element of danger here if you’re not committed to monitoring and updating Facebook throughout the day, since a customer complaint can sit on your wall for hours or days like ugly graffiti beamed out to the entire planet if you don’t pay attention. But with that danger comes the ability to address customer complaints directly, and a chance to fix the situation before they spread their displeasure to friends and family.

The keys to successfully using Facebook to improve your image…

At AMG, we make it a priority to get to know our clients personally so that we can be an authentic extension of them on their social media pages. If you choose to do Facebook and other social media on your own, make sure you’re doing all of these and more like we do for our clients…

• Take the time to consider the kind of customer you want (not every customer is a great customer!).
• Consider what they might find valuable, which is probably different than what you find interesting.
• Bring your personal life into the mix, but remember to avoid all controversy! People with different political leanings than you still make wonderful customers, so don’t turn them off with comments about politics, religion, or other touchy subjects.
• Find and read a variety of sources so you can constantly post interesting, entertaining information.
• Tell great stories! Our favorite story of the week comes from a client in Michigan whose customer came in complaining of noise coming from under the hood of their vehicle.  When our client popped the hood, they found a large squirrel nest and a very surprised looking, very alive squirrel.  We had fun posting those pictures as well as tying it back to the preventative maintenance checks that our client provides.
• Provide great resources that actually help your customers.  We love to link to helpful videos, useful blogs, news stories, money-saving articles, and more.

Why is this important?

The kinds of customers who want a relationship with you are the kinds of customers who will help your business survive and grow in this and any economy.  Coupon-chasing customers aren’t loyal.  They always run towards the best coupon, leaving you without a second thought.  But customers who want excellent customer service, who want a relationship, who want to become your fan on Facebook are the kind of customers who are loyal, who refer friends, who come back more often, and who will help ensure your success.  No matter what kind of small business you own, this blog is important in understanding why great customers are the key to surviving and growing!

So go out there and show your customers another side to your business — you and your staff!  And remember: there is a LOT to keep track of, manage, research, brainstorm, and think about.  If you ever need help in your ongoing creating, or promoting of the human side to your company, the social media experts at the Automated Marketing Group are here to help!  We have been very successful in internet marketing for the past 17 years.

Give us a call at 1-866-520-3030!