Personalize Your Small Business Facebook Feed

If your business is being promoted through social media, chances are that you already have a Facebook page. However, it isn’t enough just to create an online hub and expect your customers to stay engaged. Even if you have a large base of “friends,” or Facebook followers, your business can get lost between the baby pictures and Farmville notifications.

One strategy to stir up interest in your Facebook posts, and your business, is to focus on pleasing the individual consumer through status updates that speak directly to them.

Just as you use status updates on your own personal Facebook page to share interesting facts and let others know what is on your mind, you should do this with your business’s Facebook page. 

As a small business owner, you’ll be using the status update as a mechanism for networking success. To maximize the efficacy of this technique, it is vital that you make your Facebook feed as personal as possible. You want your status updates to be enjoyable and to make customers glad they have subscribed to it. It takes very little time or effort to do, and by following certain guidelines, a personalized Facebook feed can become a powerful part of your online arsenal:

• Be friendly: Since your clients have “friended” your business, they should be made to feel special and valued, not subjected to endless advertisement. Think of the Facebook status as a way of creating “regulars”: faithful clientele in the Internet Age. Encourage comments by asking for suggestions or offering to answer any questions your customers may have. In a status update, your writing needs to be congenial as well as professional.
• Be a resource: Don’t limit yourself to status updates that are strictly advertising-related. If you are the proprietor of a garden center, link to websites about the best times to plant, or what plants are the most rabbit- and deer-resistant. Then, of course, mention that you stock them. Encourage your customers to come in and ask for advice. By offering interesting information about similar and relevant subjects, you can be motivating and informative. In this way, your feed becomes valuable as an educational hub, which will keep your followers motivated to stay abreast of your updates.
• Be current: What are your clients interested in? Use your Facebook feed as an opportunity to keep them abreast of relevant stories from newspapers and television, and then tie that into your merchandising strategy. For example, if you own a men’s shoe store, tell your followers about the latest style trends from Paris or Milan, and then give examples of your own product that are similar and more affordable. A home contractor might link to that new report on how much people save by replacing old windows with newer, more efficient ones.
• Be memorable: Facebook offers a flood of information, and you want to stand out. Highlight the stories of individual customers and what they have done or achieved using your product or service. Be funny. Make your customers feel as if they are engaged in a conversation with a friend. Include jokes if they are relevant, but remember: Brevity is the soul of wit. When in doubt, short and memorable is always preferable to long and rambling.

With the prudent use of a personalized Facebook feed, it is quite easy to maintain an active presence on the Internet. In doing so, you will attract new clientele and keep already valued customers interested and invested in both your product and in you.