Focus on Facebook, pt. 4: How to Market Your Page & Business

I’m going to keep today’s post short, since they’ve been so text-heavy lately, but this one’s still important. Now that you know why and how to make a Facebook page for your restaurant, café, etc., you need to know how to market it. If you don’t get likes on your page, your posts, offers, and statuses don’t get out to as many people; as a result, you won’t be increasing your exposure or business in any real way. Here’s two avenues to consider:

You’re almost ready for your own Facebook page!

1. Marketing to Your Current Customers
If more people like your page, more people will see and share your offers and information with other people: their friends, coworkers, etc. So it’s in your best interest to invite your (and your employees) Facebook friends to your page, to advertise the page’s existence to customers in your establishment, and to find other ways to attract people who already love your place. They’ll be the cornerstone of your social media community.

2. Reaching New & Potential Customers
This is the hardest part, at least in my personal experience with running business-related Facebook pages. In terms of free marketing, it really comes down to sharing your posts and information through as many people and places as possible. The more ways there are to reach your pages and posts, the more likely people are to find you. Make sure you “tag” your posts when you write them, to make them easier to find via search engines, and always share business posts through your personal Facebook pages, on Twitter, on Digg.com, Tumblr, Pinterest, and any of the other social media and sharing sites you or your family and friends use. Exposure is everything; especially for free marketing.

If you’re interested in marketing a little harder, you can also buy ad space on Facebook. If you use the site, you’re familiar with the sidebar advertisements that show up for anything and everything. What you might not realize is that these ads are tailored to different demographics based on the information you provide on your Facebook — age, relationship status, location, interests — so that businesses can choose who to target with their ads. For your restaurant, you can target people in your area and narrow it down further however you see fit. There are two types of ad campaigns you can purchase; one that charges you a fixed price per click, or one that charges per 1000 impressions (or how many people have seen the ad). You can set how much to spend over what period of time, among other things. Whatever will work best for your business and goals. For more detail and to purchase an ad campaign on Facebook, check here.

This concludes our series on Facebook pages for your business. If you have any questions comment below or contact us here.