The great thing about Chick-fil-A is that you do know who these people are, but have you considered giving them an extra bit of attention? Maybe you do already. If so, I would love to hear what you’re doing. But if not, let me suggest a couple of things to further engage your Raving Facebook Fans.

First, determine who is the most involved with your Facebook page, or even Facebook fans who are occasionally interacting with your page but are very active in their social circle on Facebook and have a decent number of friends. Make a list of these Raving Fans and then write out general details about each person on your list. Who are they, where do they go to school/church, are they in a band, do they play football? You’ll start to see who you’re really familiar with and who you might need to get to know.

I think this is important because I’m starting to think about the different audiences that make up my Facebook fans and how my posts relate to each group. No doubt you’ll have a diverse group of people who interact with your page, so you’ll want to make sure that your posts appeal to each in the group. I

I’m not saying that every post should appeal to all audiences, but it’s good to make sure if you write one post to the High School Student then your next post should appeal to young parents. You could go as far as to write your posts as if you’re writing directly to the Raving Fan who represents each audience. Addressing posts in this way will really help you to engage with your fans and not just talk at them.

Focus Groups make me cringe, but set up a quarterly meeting with a group of your most involved Facebook/Twitter followers and I think you’ll marketing efforts will improve. Ask your group questions like the following

“I see from Facebook Insights that our most successful posts are Photo albums from events. What are your favorite posts?”

“What would you like more of from us?  Photos, Contest, or Polls?”

“Have you ever shared a post from our restaurant with your friends? Which post and why did you share it?”

“Do you follow other businesses or websites on Facebook that post things you enjoy? Tell me a little about that”

What are some other questions that might be helpful?

Before you take a look at your Insights on Facebook, make sure you know the people behind those statistics. It’s really easy to get caught up in building a fanbase or increasing your interaction stats, but you’ll get the most out of Facebook if you focus on the people behind those profiles. 

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While large numbers of “likes” on your page is important for the reach of your message, it shouldn’t be your main focus. Your main focus should be building a strong community of followers that engage with you on a personal level on your Facebook page and share your content with their friends and family. It’s all about interaction, not numbers!

Having said that, there are many best practices you can use to build your following so that you’re attracting quality “likes” or fans, not just random fans that don’t care about your restaurant or your marketing message.

Always remember the 4 to 1 principle 

It’s as simple as this: For every one marketing message you push out on Facebook, there should be four status updates that are interactive in nature, causing your following to start a conversation with you and engage with you and your restaurant.

Post only interesting content that catches their eye

In a social network of 600 million people and the average Facebooker has over 200 friends, your page updates are getting lost in the cesspool status updates in their news feed. You must post content that’s interesting and catches their eye. Facebook questions, videos, and photos are all great content to get people to care about your Facebook page. Asking a simple question, polling your audience, or creating a “fill in the blank” statement are all great ways to prompt your following to start a conversation with you.

Promote your Facebook page in restaurant

Many business owners overlook the power of promoting their social profiles to the people that are walking in their door every day. Don’t be obnoxious about it, but post your facebook page vanity URL on your receipts, create bag stuffers with the URL on it, and put signage on your front door and counter space. Even consider table tents prompting guests to “like” your page, but don’t just ask for the “like”, tell them why they should follow you on Facebook.

Make your page feel exclusive 

If you choose to run promotions, make it exclusive to to your Facebook following. “Secret Phrases” are always fun and so are “Facebook Fan Only” events that you announce on your page.

Reward your following

You’ll create quite a buzz around your Facebook page if you start recognizing outstanding Facebook fans. This could be the guy that always shows up for your promotions, always comments on your page, or someone who posts their own photos or videos of you them and their family at your restaurant. Make them feel special, and they’ll share your page with others.

No related posts.

Provide a secret phrase, say it’s a thank you for being a Facebook Fan, and let people tell their friends about it if they want.

This both brings people into your restaurant who weren’t planning on visiting and it promotes your Facebook Page. If I find out being a Facebook Fan gets me secret promos to my favorite restaurant you bet I’m going to sign up.

What is the ideal number of updates I can post in a Day/Week/Month?

Non-promotional posts (the 4 in the 4 to 1 principle) aren’t annoying if they’re interesting. If you have a parrot eating waffel fries AND Justin Beiber in your restaurant on the same day, I want to know about both. And I want minute by minute updates on the parrot.

I could care less about the Beibs, though your raving fans are probably the opposite. You can post as many of these as you want.

If you’re posting fan interaction content like fill in the blank or questions then give your fans time to interact and use your posting energy to reply with responses.

If you’re promoting something, only promote one thing per day. The more things you promote at the same time the more confused I get.

How can I monitor who is unliking my Facebook Page?

Facebook Insights give you TONS of information about who is visiting your page. Here is the official guide to using Facebook Insights:

http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Pages_Insights_Guide_Updated.pdf

How do I post to my page from my iPhone?

http://stuffwegoogle.com/post/3549073104/how-to-add-facebook-page-iphone

Should I put a ton of effort into Facebook if it’s going to die like Myspace did 3 years ago?

Yes you should. Facebook is a monster and will be around for a while. Also, your Facebook marketing skills will help you in other areas of web marketing.

How do we create a private Facebook page or Group for our employees? 

Created a get started guide here: http://stuffwegoogle.com/post/3549489001/how-to-create-facebook-group

You have to be friends with a person to add them yourself, but once you add your leadership they can add others if you’re hesitant about being friends with a lot of people.

If we set up a twitter account for our restaurant, what is the recommended user name?

CFA_____  so Chick-fil-A at The La Habra Marketplace is http://twitter.com/cfalahabra

Should I have the statuses posted to Facebook automatically to Twitter and how?

We are not  fans of anything being automatically posted to your Facebook or Twitter page. If you’re not going to be actively posting to your Twitter profile then it’s of no value to your Twitter followers to follow you if they also follow you on Facebook and get the same content.

That said, you can visit http://www.facebook.com/twitter/ and link your Facebook page to your Twitter profile. You’ll hurt my feelings, but I can take it.

Would an individual have more than one twitter account?

You can have a personal twitter that isn’t associate with your restaurant, but I would only have one twitter profile for the restaurant and if you want to identify who is tweeting then just put “-Tara” at the end of the tweet.

Related posts:

1. Why Social Media Marketing Works Best For Small Business
2. What Social Media Marketing Really Is

People Read Facebook Statuses

Most eyeball traffic on Facebook goes to the news feed. If you’re sending updates (not status updates but actual Fan Page Updates) to fans, those updates don’t  show up in the news feed. Running a successful Facebook Page means updating your status frequently solely to show up in your fans’ news feed. So to build a fan base your Facebook Page will need to show up in news feeds of users who aren’t fans.

Your Fans Have Friends

The best way to reach the unreached is to use your current fan base. Each Facebook profile has on average 130 friends. Each fan of your small business Facebook page shows up on 130 news feeds every time they update their status. If you have 20 people tag you in their status you’ve just reached 2600 Facebook profiles.

Fans can also post a link to your page on their profile using the share button at the bottom left of your page. This gets that news feed face time as well, but it isn’t as easy as tagging so fans will be less likely to share your page in this way.

Suggesting a page to Facebook friends doesn’t show up in the news feed. This also helps to build fans, but it’s not as effective as tagging or sharing a page.

How To Tag

Just like in Twitter, when you’re updating your status type “@” to invoke a tag. Then begin typing the name of who you’re tagging and select them from the drop down list.

Your Fans Want To Help

Some fans will help you grow your fans because they love you, but you’ll get the most out of tagging if you use it as part of a promotion. Giveaways that reward status tags can really beef up your results because they have the potential to multiply efforts.

If I see a friend tag a Facebook page and mention that I could win something, I’m going to visit that page. To be able to tag that Facebook Page, I need to become a fan. So I become a fan, tell all my Facebook friends about your business Facebook Page, AND your status updates now show up in my feed. It’s a win-win-win!

Drawbacks

The only problem that I have encountered with tagging is that it’s a new Facebook feature and some fans need to be instructed on how to tag. Once they get it, you can unleash the full potential power of your fan base on those coveted news feeds.

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1. Why Social Media Marketing Works Best For Small Business

So what is it?

It’s a conversation between you and your customers. You’ve always wanted to connect with your customers on a more personal level, but you don’t have the time or resources to greet them personally. When you throw yourself out on in the world of social media, it gives your customers a chance to comment on your new products, tell you how you’re doing, It gives customers the chance to interact with your brand.

Interaction is Key

Ask a question. Start a discussion. Share relevant information with your social media followers. Make it fun with photos and videos. If you have an event or do something in the community, take pictures or video. If you have a new product out, take photos of it. Create a video demonstration of it.

Keep it up-to-date

Your social media marketing strategy will never work if you set it and forget it. I always think of that lame info-mercial about that rotisserie grill with the tag line, “set it and forget it!”. My mother-in-law bought it and said she set it and forgot it, and her house almost went up in flames. You must keep up with social media marketing on a daily basis or it won’t work. You must respond and react to comments in a timely manner and answer questions as quickly as possible.

Insert Shameless Plug: You probably don’t have the time to keep your Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn account, and other social media outlets up-to-date, but Presence Media does have the time. This is one of the main reasons we tell business owners they should outsource their social media marketing campaign, because they often don’t have the time it requires and social media requires a different voice. You must sound fun and hip, because you will initially attract a younger audience.

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1. Why Social Media Marketing Works Best For Small Business

Small business is slowly realizing that having a website isn’t enough anymore. Or if they do have a website, it better not function solely as a business card. Web visitors want to interact with brands. They want to build trust with you before they use your products or services. The best way to do this is by implementing a social media marketing strategy. Social media works with small business, because it is designed to help businesses connect with customers on a local level. In downtown Orlando, many night clubs, bars, and restaurants are finding that connecting with people on Facebook and Twitter is a great way to get the word out about their promotions and discounts. This is happening all over the country, and here’s why it works:

Customers take ownership of certain small businesses

Most people can list off the top of their head their favorite bar, favorite breakfast place, favorite boutique, and favorite pizza place. We naturally like to take ownership of local businesses that we enjoy patronizing. Engaging in social media with your customers helps them solidify this ownership mentality. By starting a Facebook page, you can respond to customer requests, update them on new menu items and concert events. If you are a franchise of a larger brand, you can separate yourself from other franchisees by offering incentives on Facebook and Twitter to encourage repeat business by casual customers.

Gain Customer Trust

Creating a presence on social media sites puts businesses at a certain level of vulnerability. They are now opening up the conversation stream for customers to critique them, praise them, and offer suggestions. What many small businesses fail to realize is that customers appreciate when they see small businesses making an attempt to reach out to their customer base. If you are honest on your social media outlets and you respond to customer inquiries, you’ll gain their trust, and they will choose you over your competition.

Establish a New Voice

Do you want to tap into a younger demographic? Do you find that no one young comes into your store? Then, you need to go to where they are. They are never going to find your website no matter how much search engine optimization you do. Building a Facebook page and sharing it with friends and family will start the snow ball effect of viral word-of-mouth advertising. But, having a Facebook page means nothing. You must fill it with fun, relevant content. The content is your voice. Don’t sound like a business owner. Don’t sound like someone’s parent. Sound like their friend, and they will respond favorably

If you’re a small business with questions about marketing your business on social networking sites, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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