subject: Free Marketing Techniques For Facebook Advertising [print this page] Facebook has taken pole position on the web and with it has came a new range of tools and techniques for marketing your business. The majority of them are free.
Most of the following tools are free (with the exception of facebook ads but they are still very cheap!) The applications mentioned are just examples of what is out ther and there may be many more available that can do the same job.
Add the Twitter application to your fanpage. This means your tweets will become your status updates (you can also do this in reverse)
Why should someone become a "Fan" of your Facebook business page? If you offer your prospective fans something of value they're much more likely to become a fan. Through numerous Facebook apps you can give away coupons, ebooks, etc...anything downloadable.
Facebook allows users to import thousands of email addresses to encourage their network growth if they haven't already joined. Do this with your mailing list for instant friends/fans!
Organizations can engage with their fans or prospective fans through virtual gifts, games, quizzes, contests, and much more. Engagement can be done by utilizing hundreds of free Facebook applications or through custom development Try searching for Wildfire for some great applications.
You can add FBML tabs to your pagefan page which will allow your page to be customized with your choice of images and allsorts of other material. Although this customization will require programming knowelege, which you will have to source and finance, it is worth it in terms of how many people can potentially view your brand presented as you wish
Use Facebooks search facility and community pages/groups to find people in your niche and invite them to become your friend. Once they are a friend you can suggest your page to them
If you havent registered your facebook page or set up your page you should think hard about what name to change. Perhaps some keywords would be useful to use here? For example if your business is based only in Belfast then it might be worthwhile using this in your page title or name. If you are a model agency then you should ask yourself if it is important to use it in your title or name along with your trading name. This will allow you to not only be optimized on Facebook for who you are/what you do, but easier found on search engines as well. How will people find you on facebook? Will they search for your business name or your general service? Take time to think, do not narrow yourself down too much : your name and page title cannot be changed.
Once your Facebook Business page has 25 fans you can create your unique Facebook URL (eg. facebook.com/Yourname). This will allow you to market your facebook page offline much more easily. Using a name that is keyword heavy is worth considering too eg using industry, product, service or location in the name.
Connect your blog to your Facebook Business Page using an application like NetworkedBlogs. This will provide a constant stream of content and help save time.
Wall news feeds are the first thing your fans see when they log into facebook. If you compel them into "Liking" or participating in your posts, all of their friends will be see it on their walls and may follow suite having a viral effect. Compelling content will require some extra effort when thinking about your update.
Facebook allows you to advertise your page, group or event. You can PPC (pay per click) or the Pay Per View. Facebook ads also allow you to market to a very specific demographic, geography, sex, keywords, education, agegroup, and much more. Compared to Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising is much more targeted.
Facebook is constantly growing, changing and developing. Take just 10 minutes every day and you could put many of the above ideas into practice and increase your facebook fan numbers massively within a few days.
