Making a Facebook Page: No Money Marketing

Social media isn’t scary — Facebook is a great way to create a community around your restaurant or business.

If you’ve been reading my posts recently, you’ve probably noticed that, no matter the topic, they all tend to end on a similar note: marketing. You have to market your restaurant, whether you’re advertising your establishment in general, a new item, a limited time offer, whatever. A problem for many small business, restaurant or otherwise, is that marketing can be expensive. It can also be difficult to judge the worth of individual advertisements or parts of a marketing campaign – which add is bringing in all this new business? Which add is costing you hundreds a month but not bringing in new customers? No matter how you cut it, advertising can be expensive and intimidating, which is one reason a lot of businesses skimp on the marketing and rely on whatever they offer — in your case, tasty food — to sustain their business. Unfortunately, good service and great food can only go so far. You have to get people in the door before you can hook them with those elements of your restaurant.

So, you might ask, is there any way I can market my business inexpensively? Or even for free? 

The answer is Facebook! No matter your feelings on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media behemoth, it’s true that nearly everyone’s on it these days. Young people have it up on their computer all day long, older people are getting more involved as they realize the benefit of keeping in touch with family, friends, and coworkers. And because Facebook’s audience is an engaged but relatively passive one that encompasses pretty much every demographic, it’s the perfect place to start a grassroots, inexpensive marketing campaign. I’ve made Facebook pages for both my college literary magazine, trying to pull in more readers and writers, as well as my dad’s small business, hoping to connect to a community of like minded people, some of whom already shopped with him, others who had not but were the perfect fit. It’s easy, fast, and can be free — making a page costs nothing — or as cheap or as expensive as your budget allows, should you wish to purchase adds.

Over the course of my next few posts here, I’m going to take you through the process: why it’ll help your business, how to set up a page, and how to reach out to more and more people who you can connect with on a personal level and get into your establishment. If your a business owner or manager and your company doesn’t have a Facebook page, it’s time to get with it; it’s one of the only “free” ways to market globally. There’s truly no reason not to get on Facebook, and the good news is that it’s the easiest social media to get the hang of and will provide, I think, the most bang for your buck.

Come back Friday to learn more about the benefits of having your very own Facebook page. Until then, contact us here.