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Getting the Best out of Facebook Part II: Engage Your Audience with Content

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There is so much you can get from a business page that your personal page does not provide, including the ability to check page insights so you can determine who you are talking to, where they are coming from, as well as what content is attracting attention and the time of day your page has the most activity.  Why miss out on the opportunity to do this for free? 

Yes, a website does provide potential customers with the same information but forces customers to search the internet to seek out information about your business or service. While websites are essential and offer you an online hub, it is best if this information is also provided on the platforms your customers are already on. Reach them right where they are. 

Once the page is set up and branded to match your companies look and feel, use these tips to take full advantage of what the platform has to offer by gaining the attention of the people you want purchasing/supporting your product or services.

1. Be Engaging

  • When customers contact you, use Messenger, a separate application built into the page to reach out directly. Acknowledge customers who leave comments in a timely matter. Reply as soon as you can. If a message is left in the Messenger after hours or you know you will not be available, use the away message function. Connecting with your followers will help build longer, stronger relationships. According to Facebook Representatives, one in three Instagram stories gets a direct message. People are watching. Respond, and you may have a new business lead! 
  • Use events and groups to share. Share events by giving them their own little space on your page. This will allow people to share your activities and note if they plan on going,  enticing others to consider attending the activity as well. Facebook Groups will allow your online community to come together to freely share thoughts, questions, ideas, and interact through discussions. Setting up a group can help you establish the culture of your brand with customers. It will also give you a space to see what is on customers minds.

2. Go Live!

Facebook provides you the opportunity to communicate with your followers right from your desktop in real time with Facebook Live. Once people join, watch the comments come in and respond to questions on the spot. A small number placed at the top of the feed will allow you to see just how many people may be watching. To get the most out of Facebook live, be sure to:

  • Announce when you plan to go-live in advance. 
  • Give just a few minutes for people to join right after you have gone live. This can be done with light conversation in the beginning or by taking the time to acknowledge people as they enter.  
  • Be sure to answer comments and questions that are coming in while you are live or acknowledge people who have joined you in the middle of your session. 
  • Remember to mention what the discussion is about during your session. Not everyone will be joining at the same time. Some may participate in the middle or even towards the end. By reiterating your name and how they can get more information, you ensure as many people as possible are getting the information you are trying to deliver. 

3. Create Content

  • During the Boost Conference, owners of local businesses discussed critical items that helped them succeed. Items included being consistent and taking the time to plan out your content. Set time aside to thoughtfully create your post and use applications like Hootsuite to schedule them. If you are not interested in using an outside platform, draft and schedule posts using the “Publishing Tools” feature embedded into the administrative portion of your page. Review and schedule posts to come out so your posts will come out automatically.
  • Have a good mix. Don’t just use the platform to sell, sell, sell. Engage followers with educational content that makes them want to come back and learn more.   
  • Once posts have been released,  be sure to check in on them. Analytics are provided for you to determine what topics are getting the best traction.  Reviewing these data points will allow you to make changes that will continue to increase engagement. 

4. Get a BOOST for your business through advertising

Just like anything, before you start spending money on boosting a post or setting up an ad, you need to understand what you are doing and establish a plan. So here is a quick synopsis. You can boost a post when the content has already been provided on the page. When you “boost a post,” you are paying to expose content that has already been created – increasing the number of people who see that particular post. You can specify your demographic, boost duration, and budget. Click the boost button in the bottom right-hand corner of the post. An ad, on the other hand, is created from scratch, adding text, visuals, and call to action buttons that will grab attention enticing people to buy, shop now, etc. In either case, consider what the ad objectives and your end goals are. Is it to:

  • Create Ad Awareness
  • Push Traffic to a page by promoting your service/product
  • Create lead generation that will help gather information on your users, which will convert them into customers, increasing conversion levels. 

Your goals may also affect how the ad will be displayed. Consider these format choices:

  • Slideshow in photo and video formats
  • Carousel with up to 10 photos
  • Video
  • Or if on Instagram – Instagram stories

4 Ways Brand Ambassadors Can Enhance Your Event

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Imagine this…..

It is time for the event you have been working on for months, and your team is already stretched thin; the person designated for registration duty is also doubling as the room organizer and has to help setup. To make matters worse, you just got wind that members of the mayor’s office may make a guest appearance for the welcome and opening plenary (after calling their office for weeks). You’re wondering if you have enough staff to greet the guests, push traffic to the sessions AND, don’t forget your onsite promotions.

What can you do? You can’t be everywhere…insert…your designated Brand Ambassador team! Knowledgeable minds, an extra set of eyes and hands to ensure your event concerns and guests are taken care of.

Recruiting and training the best brand ambassador team is key to a successful event. We’ve traveled around the US to assist with various events, supporting our clients, and ultimately gathering the brightest and best within the local conference areas to support an organization’s conference committees goals. We’ve seen first hand how brand ambassadors can provide an additional level of interaction, and engagement that wasn’t present before or may have been missed otherwise. There are many ways your organization can benefit from including a brand ambassador team in your event plans; here are our top 4:

 

  1. Onsite Brand Champions:

Want people to be fully aware of what your brand stands for before they leave? Who better than a team of individuals who take pride in representing your organization? Brand Ambassadors provide just that. You shouldn’t assume that everyone attending your event may know about the full capabilities of your organization or maybe those who have been around for some time aren’t fully aware of the latest and greatest achievements within the organization. Let’s face it; we live in a society of information overload. So many times people just take in what they need, not necessarily everything you would like them to know. Properly trained Brand Ambassadors can help drive specific points and messages.

 

  1. Create an interactive and memorable experience:

You know how you feel when you walk into a store, need help and there is no one around to assist you. Now add several hundred people in a place you may be unfamiliar with. One of the worst things event guests experience is having trouble finding people to assist them in their time of need. Nothing is more memorable or comforting than having an extra hand guide you when you are already frustrated by the hustle and bustle of getting to sessions or finding where you need to go. Ambassadors can provide information when needed, answer questions, escort the lost, help in serious situations or merely take pictures for guests; in turn, helping spread knowledge of the event in a social media-driven society.

 

  1. Filling seats:

Need to impress a major sponsor, board member, or CEO that just decided they wanted to sit in? What do you do when you look around, and the room is empty? Run around and get everyone to file into the room. Only if you had the opportunity to get in some exercise and physically reach every person.

Internal communication mechanisms with your Brand Ambassador team can quickly get the word out to those who are strategically placed in heavy traffic areas. With one quick message, your team can begin to encourage people to move in the direction of the session. Let’s be honest, with so much going on, sometimes informational sessions slip through the cracks. It could be timing, the end of the day, or when many decide to take a late lunch break. In any case, empty seats in front of top personnel is a bad look. Use a team of Ambassadors to guide the event’s foot traffic. When the seats start to fill up, you won’t have to hide your face any longer.

 

  1. Post-event endorsement

Now you can rest, it’s finally over, and you survived! But, wait…Now what? Who better to guide conversations regarding your event than those who were trained to know all about it. Whether online or off, word of mouth is still a heavy hitter in the world of marketing. Equip your Brand Ambassadors with proper messages, resources and assets to share information about your organizations after your event.

 

  1. **BONUS TIP:

You can take your Ambassador Program a step further beyond in-person events! Heather Mansfield, Founder of Nonprofit Tech for Good, suggests creating a #GivingTuesday Ambassador program via social media…GENIUS!

Heather provides a few easy steps to get ambassadors on board for your organizations Giving Tuesday efforts.

  • Create an ambassador sign-up on your website, connect via email and provide your promo content, social graphics, etc. for your Giving Tuesday Campaign.
  • Leading up to Giving Tuesday, connect with your ambassadors and ask them to update their social profiles with the assets you provided.
  • If they can and are willing, ask your ambassadors to create a fundraising page for your Giving Tuesday campaign.
  • Activate your ambassadors on Giving Tuesday!
  • After Giving Tuesday, follow up with a “Thank You” and save the date for next year.

Reference: https://www.donorperfect.com/pdf/givingtuesday_2018.pdf

 

Could you benefit from having a team of Brand Ambassadors for your next event? Or maybe you’re not sure if you need them and would like to discuss the option?

Connect with our team; we’ll share with you a few case studies when Brand Ambassadors saved the day and then help you figure out the best solution for your organization!