Love it or loathe it, Facebook is an important tool when it comes to marketing your small business and in most cases, you can access tools, data, and connect easily with your target audience for free. We all know the best way to promote ourselves on social media is consistency and whilst this isn’t always easy, especially when you are a one-man band, running a business (maybe even making the products) which is why a content plan is really important.

Look at using the 4-1-1 formula;
4 posts providing support and advice
1 product/direct link post
1 human contact-based post
Split your content 20% sales / 80% other stuff

I think I’m pretty good at this plus I’ve noticed if I use a photo of my girls to highlight my status or even direct people to my website I get far more interaction than using business styled images. For example, I posted a link to a blog I’d written on filing your Tax Return with an image of Megan pulling a face (see below) and this had much better interaction than the time I posted it with a tax return form image.

Advice, Triggers, Emotions, and Practical Value: 

Ideally, you should post 4 updates providing advice and support as this helps build trust. You are able to show your expertise and position yourself as a thought leader in your genre.  I also believe that providing content that helps others means followers are more likely to engage with you as they respond either to say thanks for the tips, ask a further question, or pass the knowledge via tagging to a friend.

Think about your language, using simple words and non-industry wording will make it much easier for your followers to engage and make real conversations with you.  You also avoid sounding like a pompous arse and become far more relatable.  Use content people recognise and ultimately make people smile.

Emotions can play a vital role in how people respond, and use imagery and content that evokes emotional responses. Storytelling can be a great tool for producing emotional responses and engaging with your customers.  Providing practical tips to help your potential customers is an important factor in developing relationships. Think outside the box

Now we have a basic idea of the mechanics of developing a content schedule for Facebook based upon the 4-1-1 rule let’s go through some Facebook business page tips and tricks and start a content marketing plan.

20 Facebook Business Page Tips to Increase Your Following : 

1. Like Your Facebook Business Page?: Sounds a bit narcissistic but seriously you should like your page and also like your content as this helps with your reach. (I don’t do it straight away maybe a few hours later once people have interacted so you don’t look too crazy!)
2. Invite Your Friends: Be savvy though, you don’t want to upset your chums, nor do you want people to like it who won’t interact or gain value from you.
3. Actually Posting Something!: This may sound like one of the most basic Facebook business page tips ever, but you can’t expect people to interact with you if you aren’t posting.
   Take a look at your insights and see what time of the day you get the most interaction.
   Click on the reach section, this will change the order from chronological (date) to highest reach. From this, you can see your top posts.
   What are they?
   Status updates?
   Images?
   Video?
   Replicate the content your users enjoy.
4. Check Your Interactions: Go through your last few posts to ensure everyone who has interacted likes the page. Wondering how to do this? Simply, click on the likes/reactions for the post and a list of people who interacted will pop up. The list will have either INVITE or LIKE next to the name. If it says INVITE then do it! This person has already shown an interest in the business grab them! Or use your insights to find the top interacted posts (click on see more as the default only shows 5 posts, then click on engagement to put the highest engaged on top. Click on post reactions which will open up a new window from there follow the same instructions to invite)
5. Schedule Your Social Media: Scheduling your social media a month in advance;
   Frees up headspace

   Frees up time

   Keeps your content consistent

   Work smarter – not harder
6. Connect Your Personal Profile: On your personal profile, you have the ability in the work section to link to your Facebook Business Page. This then forms part of your public information providing people with a way in which to contact/engage with you.  Girl Knows Tech has a further 4 more ways to promote/link your business/blog to your personal Facebook page How to promote your blog on your Facebook profile
7. Be Your Business: This is much easier to do now with Business Experiences. I started by following all the pages and groups I regularly interact with as my business profile (and then deleted them from my personal making a distinct definition between working and playing on Facebook) having this business content feed makes it easier to interact as your business and engage with the content you like, enjoy but also can add value too. It’s a great way to encourage readers to click on your profile image and check your business out.
8. Join In With #: There are quite a few on Facebook that can make up most of your weekly content plan. #ThrowbackThursday why not post a photo of your first product? First office? Anything from years ago, behind the scenes, work really well as people like to see how your business has changed and grown. Other tags include #FollowFriday shout-outs to pages you like. #WednesdayWisdom shares a tip/advice around your genre.
9. Share Someone Else’s Content: Value-added content, make sure the content is relevant, and it doesn’t hurt if it is already popular. If the content has lots of comments and likes you basically know it will do well on your page.  Sharing content is a great way to connect with others in a similar industry to you and provide advice and support from another point of view.   Sharing using the URL not the share button though as this has a higher reach.
10. Housekeeping: Check the about us section. Have you filled in all the boxes? Are you using keywords in the description? Do you have an email and website address listed (you’d be surprised how many don’t)? Have you chosen an option for your Facebook button? You can have to contact us, sign up, shop now ….
11. Facebook Live: Facebook Live is the #1 tool for engagement on Facebook and 100 million hours are watched every day! That fact is crazy! Plan what you want to say in bullet points aim for 3 tips/points to get your message across, but don’t script as people like the rawness of being live. Facebook lives increase your trust factor with your audience. You also have the added bonus of being able to promote live beforehand and add descriptions, titles, and thumbnails after plus you are able to download the video for use elsewhere or share the original. There are numerous options to keep your audience engaged long after you have finished talking.
12. Tweet About It: If you are using Twitter take a screenshot of your Facebook page and tweet your Facebook URL. This way your direct an already engaged audience over to another.  Schedule this tweet once a week.
    

    Over on #Facebook this week I’ve been talking about #hacking #bujo and #networking. Pop over and say hi 👍👍 https://t.co/lc1cOq1stq pic.twitter.com/RvUFU8oqQN

    — Joanne Dewberry (@CharlieMoos) April 27, 2017

13. Have You Listed Any Milestones?: Personally, I wouldn’t use ones like reached 1000 likes! Try making them more compelling and use them to build your brand and story. “Taught my first silversmith course” or “Spoke at Lemur LinkUp Networking Group” “Took my 1000^th customers photos”.
14. Meta Suite Insights and Tips:
    Use Meta Suite to see your popular content, times of day, target audience and organic reach.
    Set organic reach goals on Meta Suite for the next 28 days.
    Looked at how you can increase your organic reach.
15. Facebook Widget: Why not add a Facebook widget to your website? Website visitors can see your last few Facebook posts and like your business page without even leaving your website.
16. Set up Facebook Authorship on WordPress : Great if someone shares your post on their page directly from your website as a linked name is attached to any shares of that content on Facebook. This in turn allows viewers to see the author and potentially follow them. It’s also handy when you write for other WordPress sites for example shares on my Britmums Mums in Business Round-up are linked to my Facebook Business page as I’m the author.
17. Tag People/Businesses in Images: Not random people that’s just weird, but anyone relevant to the photo, hey I tag myself in all of mine! Don’t forget to use the locations too all this helps with visibility.
18. Reviews/Ratings Tab: Email ALL your previous customers today and ask them to please leave you a review. Reviews really help strengthen your brand, provide social proof which acknowledges what you have been saying in your branding and help to increase your visibility in Facebook searches.
19. Events or Venue Check-In: If you have this option open then check-in to say where you are at work today. Encourage anyone else with you to check-in too.
20. Utilising Offline Events: Develop a way to get potential customers to like your page, check in with you, or leave a review. This could be anything from a poster at your place of work or make it part of your sales pitch. “For news updates like me on Facebook”. Grab the customer’s data ie. email address in the form of signing up for my newsletter or entering a prize draw that way you can send out a follow on Facebook. (Just Facebook though try not to overwhelm potential customers with too many options or information.)

Let me know how you get on with trying out any of these Facebook Business Page tips to help you turbocharge your following.

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