Local Business: 6 Keys for Lead Generation and Community Growth on Facebook

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With Facebook becoming such an integrated and assumed part of daily life for the average person, most businesses recognize the value of using Facebook to increase their business and brand reputation. Retailers and local businesses are no exception.

As the owner of a shop, boutique, or other local business, it is critical that you put the power of Facebook to work for you!  Facebook has every major buyer demographic represented!

Here are 6 Key ways Local Businesses can use Facebook Effectively:

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1. Offer Attraction & Engagement Content on Facebook

You need to connect with your community.  By this we mean the physical community where your store is located and the local radius your business serves!

Offer new and relevant content continuously about not only your store, but about your team, and your local community.  Outlining new products and special offers should be part of your mid-funnel Facebook sales funnel mix but go beyond that to offer help, fun, and engaging content that is purely to connect with your audience.

Did the local high school team just make it to a state championship?  Congratulate them!

Is there a community parade or event coming up?  Help promote it!

Is there a local non-profit you support?  Help get the word out about their work!

It’s NOT all about you.  (That’s tweetable!) An interesting Facebook Page connects with the heartbeat of your patrons.  What interests them?  This is what you can talk about on Facebook.

Here’s an example of an insurance agent that connects with and supports the local high school sports teams.

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This is a perfect way to engage your local community!  It’s not everyday that someone buys insurance, but you can keep your community connected to you by offering value in other areas!

2. Post more. Plan Posts.

Post Fresh Content Daily! You really should post at least 3x a day!  Work ahead 1-3 days by planning and scheduling posts most of the posts.  Then mix into that spontaneous posts each day that are current and relevant.

For the scheduling ahead, you can use tools like Buffer, HootSuite, or Post Planner, or simply use the Facebook scheduling tool on your Page.

Space your Posts out! No one wants to get bombarded by a page with 4 posts in an hour. As well, make sure to post at the best times, meaning the times the majority of your fans are on Facebook.  Facebook gives you this information in your insights.  Go to Insights and then select Posts, and then “When your Fans are Online.”

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Space out your posts at least 45 minutes apart for optimum times when your fans may be on Facebook and be sure to be aware of key times outside of business hours when fans are on Facebook!

3. Identify Your Uniqueness

You need to answer this question: “What makes our business unique?”

Once determined, make sure you use this in your messaging!

This is your voice, or put another way, your “style” of posting!  Tailor your social media posts and updates accordingly. For instance, if your store is known for creativity and fun, then by all means showcase that in your posts like this cafe does with snippets like a “dance video” by employees!

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4. Encourage Facebook Check-Ins

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Make sure on Facebook your store is a “Place” location in the category selections so that visitors can check-in.  This gets seen by their friends!

The “Place” or local business category designation in your Page Admin settings gives you this functionality simply by selecting that category.  Facebook is popular because it shares authentic information from real people. A check-in or a great review by a friend carries credibility and helps a business be seen by friends of those who Check-in.

Here’s the view of what a friend of a person Checking-in see’s on Facebook:

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5. Offer Deals and Contests to Grow your Email List and Create Buzz

Deals and contests can create engagement and attract visitors.  By then converting visitors to email subscribers by offering a discount coupon for joining your email list or hosting a random drawing of a Gift Certificate from those who enter, a store can both help gain short-term attention and interest but also serve longer term marketing goals.

Here’s the model we want you to adopt:

FANS become LEADS that are NURTURED to become CUSTOMERS

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The deal or contest offers quick incentive while the ability to utilize this to capture email addresses means your business can then drip market to these folks over time to build further awareness, interest, and loyalty.

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 6. Be Visual!

Images communicate better and spark greater interaction than text posts. Go visual! It doesn’t have to be a production, use your smart phone and some apps to customize them such as adding text.  See tools for customizing images via computer and also via mobile.

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Local businesses can reach more people by have a strong presence and posting great images of products and photos that tell stories on their Facebook Page.

A photo of your team celebrating, or of a new item in your store is so much more appealing than a long paragraph of text about it!  Here’s an example of a business making the personal connection to the owner’s children.  It makes the business personal and you can see it attracted great engagement!

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So there you have it!  6 keys to success on Facebook for your local business!

Any more ideas to add?

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About Mike Gingerich

Mike Gingerich, President of Digital Hill & TabSite is a business blogger Marketer and Consultant. Part geek, part marketer, part strategist, total fitness and running junkie. Mike is an author and speaker, having presented at Social Media Week Lima, Social Media Camp (Canada) and more. Mike is a marketing, social media, and business startup enthusiast with 10+ years experience building apps, consulting, and training businesses with winning integrated strategies. Mike loves deploying tactics to increase awareness, sales, and maximize ROI in both B2B and B2C markets via digital media.

2 thoughts on “Local Business: 6 Keys for Lead Generation and Community Growth on Facebook

  1. Great list of useful tips for local Facebook pages Mike. Depending on your business you could also give away free reports of tips, tricks and helpful information to gain email addresses for your list.

    I see lots of local pages running competitions in their timelines, but throwing some more visuals in the mix (showing prizes and winners and pushing the comp) would certainly help them get some extra engagement.

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