How Not to be Boring On Facebook (Your Fans Will Thank You)

On 18 Apr, 2012
By admin

[Editor’s note: Kelly is our new tech guru in the classroom! Kelly has a wealth of valuable info about online marketing and using technology in your direct sales business. We’re excited to share her first post today. If you’ve been looking for ways to spruce up your facebook page, read on!]

You’ve worked hard to get your fans to your business page, are you doing enough to keep them interested in coming back? Can you think of a few facebook fan pages off the top of your head that irritate you with their postings or don’t give you any reason to interact? Don’t be the owner of that page!

Picture this: your fan page is a place that people seek out, they jump in to participate when you ask questions. Your content gets shared and you have new fans ‘liking’ the page daily. Your wall has various requests for party bookings, as well as requests for more information about joining your team, and you notice that your website is getting orders while you sleep!

The only problem is that many small businesses, including direct sellers and party planners, simply do not know what to do to engage their followers.

Here are five ways to NOT be boring on your Facebook fan pages:

1. Enough about you, it has to be about them

Your constant marketing messages (book a party now, buy this amazing product for 25% off, join my award winning team) get old very quickly. On Facebook (and everywhere, really) consumers don’t want to be marketed to, they want to seek out the products and services they want. Hence, the popularity of DVR and satellite radio, we want to CONTROL the marketing messages we receive. Your fan page is no different!

Your page should have a 10 to 1 ratio: ten posts related to the interests of your fans to one post marketing your business.

Yes, I’m serious.

Think outside of the box, what other interests or hobbies do your fans have? Are there seasonal posts that you can share that might interest your market? For example, if your fans are largely women with small children, perhaps you share a post with craft ideas for children under 5 years old or an article on potty training. Yes, this has nothing to do with your business, but that is the point. Make your posts more about them and they will remember you when the time comes that they need/want your product or services.

2. A picture is worth a thousand words

It is also highly engaging to use images with your posts. People see a page of words and they click away…too much reading! Images draw attention, give a clue to what all the words are about, and allow the reader to rest their eyes.

Give them some eye catching images to look at and intrigue them to scroll further down your page. Images can be used along with posts, in your milestones or they can stand all on their own.

3. Ask questions

Questions are a great way to hook your reader. Headlines and intros often use questions for this very reason. The trick is to using questions in social media is asking the right kind of questions. Don’t expect to ask an open ended question and get numerous responses right off the bat. Many direct sellers get very frustrated and discouraged when they ask a question and get crickets in response. Start slow with “like this post if…” posts. For example, “Like this post if you are ready for Spring.” Simple, no? It is not asking for a lot of commitment or even thought from your fans. Next you’ll want to work up to one word response type questions such as, “What is your favorite movie of all time?”

Once you create a culture of participation on your page you can move to more open ended questions. “Where is your favorite vacation destination?” Throw in an occasional question relating to your products or service, “What is your favorite product from the Spring collection? Post it in the comments below.” “If stranded on a desert island, which of our products would you want with you?” Be creative, be fun. Don’t be afraid to be controversial or to use current events in your questions.

Use the ‘questions’ feature to make a poll for your followers, it is another easy way to get engagement as well as MORE exposure since the poll question shows up on the wall and in the news feed of the person answering it.

4. Teach something or provide solutions to common problems

Organization is a great topic and something many people struggle with. Do a search online and find a great blog post, website or fan page that you can “share” content from. The more sharing you do from other fan pages the more exposure you get as well as the good karma of giving credit where credit is due online. Keep in mind that “likes”, “comments”, and “shares” are the social currency of the web, give them freely and feel the reciprocation.

5. Have fun/be funny/be inspiring/be motivating

Most importantly, be YOU! Allow your personality and some of your personal life to shine through. Remember, people need to know, like and trust you before they do business with you!

Happy non-boring posting! Your Facebook fans will thank you by becoming more engaged and involved in your page.

Post your questions in the comments below or share with us the tactics you use to keep your fans coming back for more!

Kelly Paull is the Honey Badger of Niche Marketing at Directly Successful.com She’s a techie geek with 8 years of direct sales experience and a passion for helping women navigate the technology necessary to run a smooth operation.

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