The benefits of using Facebook are highlighted in our latest piece on Getting the most of Social Media. Here is how to get started with your new cyber venture with 5 useful tips.
Facebook is the most popular social media networking site and is continuing to grow in popularity with 37.7 million UK users. It offers many opportunities for business growth and is a valuable tool for promoting your business.
Determine your target audience. Whether it be customers, leading retailers or contacts in your industry.
Then, decide what you want to achieve, examples include:
• Connect with customers
• Local awareness
• Community outreach
• Communicate with industry peers
To create a business page, you will need a Facebook account.
Trust is an important part of any local business. An easy way to build trust on Facebook is with an attractive profile and an honest, friendly tone-of-voice. What’s more, a complete profile also helps to build trust.
Essential information to include:
• Category
• Business Website
• Awards
• Additional social media addresses
• Business information
• Products
Promote your business page to all who enter your store. Display flyers, posters and signs with your Facebook name and how they can find you. Word of mouth is a brilliant way to engage and boost your popularity. You can also enhance your likes list by inviting your personal Facebook friends to like your page.
Once you’ve got followers, engage them with interesting content and competitions. For example, encourage followers to help reach a certain amount of likes on your page. In addition, why not use Facebook to promote in-store competitions, potentially boosting footfall and sales.
Mo Razzaq is one of the UK’s leading convenience retailers, running Premier and Family Shopper stores in Scotland. He is also well known for his social media presence, maintaining active Facebook profiles for his stores. We asked him for some tips on how to find success on Facebook and what works for him.
1. Don’t take yourself too seriously
Don’t just focus on your business, keep your Facebook content topical, funny, light-hearted and unique.
2. Encourage engagement with competitions
An incentive is a great way to get people to like and engage with your content. Prize draw posts on Mos’s profiles can reach 100 likes each.
3. Embrace video
A home movie is a great, quick way to keep your shoppers up to speed on what’s going on. Just get your phone out, start filming and post!
Post daily content, keep up-to-date with news and trends and frequently update your profile and cover photos. This not only keeps your profile fresh and modern, but also provides your followers with frequent, interesting content.
There are several ways to do this:
• Share photos, links, videos
• Comment
• Like
• Create and list events in your local area
• Support charity sponsorships
• Send direct messages
• Add your location to find your business
• Start live videos
• Instant chat
• Maintain customer reviews
• Post rich, high quality content
• Organise prize draws and competitions
A standard Facebook page is free and does everything you might expect from a social networking site and more.
Should you choose to boost your Facebook page to reach a larger audience, why not look into promoting your Facebook page with paid ads to reach a wider section of the public? You can even choose specific demographics such as location, age, gender etc. You need to monitor your expenditure carefully, otherwise you can run up a substantial bill in a short period of time.
July 26th 2021 | Retail Insights | Retail News | Retailers React!
Our survey amongst the Independent convenience store community across the UK last week has shown that they are being seriously impacted by the so-called “pingdemic.”
Read More
July 19th 2021 | Retail Insights
The excitement of the Euros has dissipated for football fans but at the end of the day, it’s all about the results… till results! Did UK convenience stores stick it in the netted shopping bag?
Read More
May 27th 2021 | Retail Insights
The Summer months are cautiously approaching -whilst Summer 2020 was spent at home, 2021 feels like it might be spent outside – this time with friends and family.
Read More