Wanna actually leverage Facebook for sales, but not sure where to start? 4 easy steps to get there.
Most people who are in a sales capacity of any kind are salivating at the potential of Facebook. The concept of an “audience of audiences”, where people share your message to their friends is tremendous. But too much of the press out there about the power of Facebook doesn’t really help those sales people know what to do to get there.
The industry has gotten sales people excited about visiting the “Great and Powerful Oz”, but no one has bothered to point out the yellow brick road.
Wondering what to do? Confused? Well, I can’t promise that we’ll run across the Lollipop Guild on our way, but I’m happy to help you start down the path.
Step 1: Set Up a Page
You probably already know what a Facebook Page is, but just in case you don’t:
Think of it almost like a little “blog” inside Facebook. You can have your normal Facebook account where you do your personal updates, but you can also have a Page for “Investment opportunities”, “The latest info on fitness products”, or “Electronic camera gadgets you gotta hear about”. These are a lot like your normal Facebook usage: they show things you post there, and allow for comments from others. But they can be more focused to a specific topic that your typical “all about me” Facebook updates.
How do you start a Page?
Log in to Facebook. On the left Nav you’ll see “Pages” and select. Top middle you’ll see a button to “Create a Page”. Now just follow the steps and answer the questions. Shazam!! You now have a Facebook Page. Pretty easy, right?
Step 2: Do something with it!
Okay, so you have a Page now. But why??
Well, it’s more than just so you can hang out with the cool kids, and it’s also not so you can have your own personal little web site. The real power of your Facebook Page is Followers. In short: If you can get people to “like” your Page they have basically opted in to get your future messages. What you post on your Page will be pushed out to the new streams of your followers and subscribers.
One of the easiest ways to convert people who visit your page into Followers is by having a “welcome” tab on your Page for new visitors that asks them to “like” you in order to automatically get more information in the future. The Facebook-lingo for this is a “Default landing tab with fan-gating”. Fan-gating basically means those people who haven’t liked you page yet see it, and other folks see something else.
An easy way to put this in place for your new Page is by installing an app on your Page called “Woobox static Iframe tab”.
When you go to install the Woobox App it was ask you to choose which page you want it on. Just choose the Page you just created. There ya go… it’s installed.
Now let’s make it look cool.
What you’ll need is a picture, with the text “Like this Page to be kept up to date on the latest Mortgage news” or something equally compelling, along with an arrow pointing up. If you need help on how to do this, check out the free online tool Picnic. A great tutorial on doing this type of thing with Picnic can be found at: http://www.sitefundamentals.com/add-text-to-picture/.
Okay, so now back over to Woobox. In the Woobox app for you page, you will want to use this new image as your “Page Source” as well as your “Non-fan Page source.” Now anyone who looks at your welcome tab will be prompted to Like your page, and become your long-term subscriber, bestest buddy, and (hopefully) customer.
But we have one more step, just to make sure they get to see our lovely new tab. Go to your newly created Facebook Page. Click “Edit Page” (up in the top right corner). Along the left side of your screen you’ll click on “Manage permissions”. On this screen you’ll see a drop down for “Default landing tab”. Just select your new “welcome” tab, and save your changes.
There you go. now anyone who goes to your Page will see the Welcome screen by default. Once they like your Page they won’t be pushed to that tab in the future, they will just go to your wall updates.
Give yourself a pat on the back. Well done.
Step 3: Get People to visit your Page
It doesn’t really matter if you have a Page on Facebook if no one knows you do. So, let people know it’s there. A few of the easiest and best ways to do this are:
- Add it to you email signature
- Add it to your business cards
- Add it to your LinkedIn profile
Spread the word. Anywhere you have your contact info should also contain your Facebook Page info. On your web site. On printed materials your distributed. Commercials, ads, tattooed on your kids. Be creative.
4- Figure out what to say
Okay, so now you have a Page, people know about it, and hopefully some of them are interested in what you have to say. So, what to say?
The first step to answering this question is to understand and interesting dichotomy of Social messaging in general: On the one hand, everyone strives for that coveted effect of going “viral”; to be the message that everyone wants to share with everyone. On the other hand, efforts need to drive results. Simply getting your content in front of the whole world doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make any sales. Having a million people learn that your cat is cute as the dickens and dances when you turn on music is not going to make it any easier to meet your quota.
But here’s a truth: Actionable content drives results. But coupons, offers, and the like are not shared nearly as much as “cool” little tidbits. A mix of these two elements however, can provide a powerful content stream. If you can provide messaging that will make your audience say, “Wow. I didn’t realize that. That’s pretty interesting,” you will find them likely to share it, and you will see your audience grow. But this has got to be more than just dancing babies. You content needs to be consistent with the topics that your audience is expecting. If you are selling for a health-food chain, then “wow” facts that people don’t tend to realize about food is a great idea. If your pushing your Thai Food restaurant, then amazing factoids about Thailand may well resonate with your target audience. If you provide marketing or communications services or tools you may want to send out a link to… well heck… this article!
Now you have your audience growing. They are interested. They are learning, and sharing. Now is the time to start putting in some of that actionable, sales-driving content that you really were hoping to get in front of them all along. This will drive your sales. This is your pay-off.
