Facebook Marketing for Small Business: What You Need to Know

Is your business on Facebook?

Are you wondering how a small business can benefit from Facebook marketing?

To learn about the opportunities for small businesses, I interview Ramon Ray for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Ramon Ray, the author of The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing. He's also the founder of Small Biz Technology and the guy behind a great event called Small Business Summit.

Ramon shares his tips and techniques when it comes to Facebook marketing.

You'll learn how to grow a larger following on Facebook and turn Facebook engagement into sales.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
Listen Now
You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, or Stitcher.

Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Facebook Marketing
The marketing opportunity for small businesses

When it comes to business, although Facebook is a great networking tool, Ramon believes that the most important thing any small business should do is start with a website and focus on email marketing.

Facebook is the biggest social network out there and it's where your prospects, customers, friends and family are. Not only will Facebook help you find specific people, it also allows you to target these people.

Ramon explains how Facebook having access to so much rich information makes it very simple for them to approach you and ask whom you want to advertise to. They are able to narrow it down. With Facebook, you can do this with a good degree of granularity, which works well for many people.

Listen to the show to find out how marketing has changed from 10 years ago and how it's a lot more economical now.

Some ways to grow a larger following for small business owners on Facebook

Ramon lists three things that small businesses should do to grow a larger following on Facebook.

Be consistent with your posting
Be relevant
Be excited about it

Remember people aren't necessarily on Facebook to buy, per se. They're there to have fun.

Many small business owners on Facebook don't realize the interconnectedness among people. You'll hear an example of how interaction can lead to more of your fans being drawn to your Facebook Page.

Ramon believes that there is no other platform that allows you to create deeper engagement than Facebook does. When it comes to advertising a post, there are so many different ways to do it. Small business owners use Facebook as an engagement platform.

Listen to the show to find out how Facebook can help you connect not only to individuals but their networks as well.

How Facebook groups differ from LinkedIn groups

Ramon states that although LinkedIn has some big, powerful groups, he believes the advantage that Facebook has goes back to friends of friends. This is where Facebook might have the edge.

For example, with regards to LinkedIn groups, marketers talk about how to build the group and how you get the LinkedIn alerts. However, when you create a group on Facebook, you can make it private or public.

In Ramon's opinion, what's nice is that overall, you are still operating in the realm of Facebook.

The main differentiator when deciding whether to create a Facebook group or a LinkedIn group is, "What is your audience using?"

When it comes to Facebook groups, you have to keep in mind that some are public and some are private. And Facebook has a very powerful search feature.

Ramon talks about the rules of engagement for Facebook groups when it comes to business owners looking for opportunities.

Don't dive in there and start selling your products.