This article is third in a four-part series on social media tips for promotional products distributors. Today, we’re tackling Facebook. Want more social media tips and ideas? Check out the Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Promotional Products Businesses here.
Facebook has been around for what feels like forever, and for many, it’s the first social media channel they used. It’s a great tool to connect with friends and family you haven’t seen in a while (or to remind you about upcoming birthdays). But, if you’re not using it for your business, you might be missing out on a great opportunity. Here are a few tips for making the most out of the platform for your promo business.
1. Get friendly
Our social media experts agreed that, owing to its more personal nature, Facebook is a place to connect more as a friend and less as a business. That atmosphere allows you a little more freedom with what you post, so you can create content that’s less limited and more open. For Evan Tarakjian, social media and content creator for Spector & Co., the promotional products supplier based in Montreal, Facebook is a good way to give people a glimpse into your company culture, and it’s among the top three social media platforms he considers the most effective for businesses.
“Creating shareable content that your employees will want to share will open your posts to reach broader networks,” he said. “Employees who are proud of the environment that they work in want to share that, and that creates brand awareness and highlights positive brand recognition. This is a solid strategy to consider for Facebook.”
For Angela Morris, a promotional product sales consultant for Geiger based in Nashville, Tenn., it’s all about getting to know people beyond the facade of their business. “What we do is really not about product at all, it’s about people,” she said. “Facebook is a place of valuable insight into the lives of your customers, colleagues and other relevant business connections. Do not be afraid to connect and engage on deeper levels, not because your client friended you on Facebook, but because you truly care about them and what is happening in their life.”
2. Use groups
For personal use, Facebook groups are awesome when you want to stay on top of events going on around you. As a business tool, they’re equally awesome, serving as a way to communicate easily with groups of people. Dana Zezzo, vice president of marketing and vendor relations for American Solutions for Business, the distributor based in Glenwood, Minn., counts Facebook as the most effective platform, and believes Facebook groups are a big reason for that.
“A private or a closed group is a community within Facebook, and it has all the same functionality of Facebook, including events,” he said. “But it’s the ability to drive your messaging within a set number of people that you designate, instead of just posting out to the general public.”
With a private group, you can easily add vendors or customers from all over the country, says Zezzo, and it makes it much easier to share ideas and connect people within the different groups.
3. Try going live
Zezzo spoke highly of Facebook’s events functionality, but he’s an even bigger fan of Facebook Live, the platform’s built-in live-streaming capability. It’s free, it’s easy to use—just tap the “Live” button at the top of your News Feed—and it’s great for getting additional visibility on the platform. Zezzo called it a “game changer.”
“When you play friendly in Facebook’s world, they make sure you’re seen,” he said. “If you’re approaching it from a selling perspective, like a distributor or salesperson selling out to the world of promotional products or print or whatever, if you learn to use the tools—the little buttons that Facebook is trying to promote, like Facebook Live—Facebook rewards you and really gets you noticed. It’s just like playing friendly in somebody’s sandbox. I think if it’s about views and impressions, I still think that Facebook provides the strongest tool. It’s where the most people are the most often, so it’s really a numbers game.”
Looking for tips on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more? Check out the Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Promotional Products Businesses here!
