Why You Need to Build Killer Facebook & LinkedIn Company Pages
These are the number of users on Facebook and LinkedIn that you could be missing out on without a solid company page. Are you truly showcasing your company on social media?
With the meteoric rise of businesses creating pages on social media networks, you don’t want to be left in the dust without a great profile of your own. Here at ImageWorks, we believe in the magic of a strong website, but if your company doesn’t have a Facebook page or LinkedIn group to accompany that website, now is the time to give your digital storefront the "open for business" sign.
Customers expect businesses to have social media pages that are mobile-friendly and easily discoverable on search engines. The ease, access and options made available by these platforms are free to use and have paid advertising options to help you reach your target market. Think about it this way- your competition most likely established their marketing practices on Facebook and LinkedIn eons ago.
For my fellow marketers, your content and strategy needs to be focused on social media networks that will best represent and leverage your business. It can be a tempting or daunting task (depending on if you see the glass half-full or half-empty) to create a business page on every network possible so it’s important to have working knowledge on what will work best for your company. This includes understanding how each platform works, the kind of audiences you can reach, and prioritizing engagement that will lead to new customers and sales.
Still not convinced? We’ve broken down free and paid ways to optimize Facebook and LinkedIn company pages to get you building today:
As the undisputed heavyweight champion of the social media arena, Facebook boasts that more than 50 million businesses have company pages with customers interacting at a rate of 2.5 billion comments per month.
Canvas & Carousel Advertisements
We live in the age of the mobile user, so you want to make sure your company is on board. Canvas has been named "the future of Facebook advertising" and we can see why. It's an innovative feature that moves creativity and user experience forward- it has an average view of time of 31 seconds which could take your business to the next level. Canvas ads focus on mobile appeal, relevance, flexibility, loading speed and engagement. It's available now through Power Editor and the price point? Free.
Also a growing trend with advertisers, Carousel is yet another free advertising tool on Facebook that works when product images flow, tell a story and according to Search Engine Watch,
- Lowers the cost-per-click (CPC)
- Increases the click-through rate (CTR)
- Boosts engagement
- Provides more information about the brand’s products
- Leads traffic to the site
It's also available in Facebook's Power Editor with plans of expansion to the Ads Creator Tool. By the way, Facebook has an entire online center that provides step-by-step advertisement tutorials, success stories and more, tailored specifically for businesses.
Featured Videos & Video Playlists
Sorry YouTube, but Facebook has consumers hooked on to their video features. If you want to bring your company more attention without a huge budget, featured videos can track viewership as a tool for increased ROI. As a matter a fact, you don't have to pay anything for this feature. Video playlists are a free addition that makes it easier for businesses to create collections of evergreen video content. Facebook page owners, get ready to showcase your videos to clients.
Services Listings
Is your Facebook company page ready to launch yet? Show people that you're ready for business by adding your website link, hours and contact information, business description along with your services and products. Remember what we said about having discoverability on search engines? Services listings give you this option, thus empowering your customers to rate your business, write reviews and ask questions...free. of. charge.
Promotional Opportunities
To generate more followers, you can pay as little as $5 a day to run pay-per-click ads on Facebook. Not bad right? Once you have decided to promote your page, website or local business, you can boost your posts to improve click through rates and measure the results of every ad. Learn more about Facebook ad pricing here.
Did you know that 1 out of 3 professionals on the planet have a LinkedIn profile? Designed specifically for the business community, having a LinkedIn business page and group listing is a must.
Showcase Pages
Focused on creating relationships with your audience, this LinkedIn feature is used to spotlight a specific brand or product line. It can only be used once a company page has been created, so you will need to have yours established a-s-a-p. To create an optimal showcase page, it should consist of a page name that targets your SEO keywords, regular company updates of content, and a “hero image”, a large picture that promotes your company brand along with a description and links to your websites. And it’s all free.
Groups
Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful features of LinkedIn. Your business will want to create a group page that connects your specific niche community to ultimately generate leads and drive traffic to your website. This can be done through engaging followers with weekly messages, article links, and discussions. Best of all? You can create your group (or groups) for absolutely free.
SlideShare
Businesses tend to overlook and underutilize SlideShare, but it is a creative way to gain exposure through well-crafted, professional presentations. Visual content? Check. Capacity to share industry information? Check. Optimizable for your target audience? You get where I’m going with this. Not only does SlideShare have less competition compared to other social platforms, your presentations can have immediate viewership and shareability. Need a more in-depth reason use SlideShare for your business on LinkedIn? You can find it here. Oh yeah, SlideShare is free to use.
PPC Sidebar Ads & Sponsored Updates
According to LinkedInPPC.com, LinkedIn is a powerful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) platform because you are able to target your ads specifically to your audience based on the following criteria:
- Job Title
- Job Function
- Industry
- Geography
- Age
- Gender
- Company Name
- Company Size
- LinkedIn Group
Ads include a small image (50×50 pixel image), a headline up to 25 characters, a description of up to 75 characters, a URL, and your name or your company’s name. Although this self-service advertising isn't free, it’s still a great choice for generating brand awareness on LinkedIn.
These stellar features on Facebook and LinkedIn provide businesses with options that won't break the budget. And yes, we emphasize free every chance we get! With killer company social media pages, website content that drives sales, a solid SEO strategy and products that consumers actually want to buy, you will be setting up your business for success.
Have questions on how to get started? Contact us today and we’ll be glad to build up your company’s social media marketing efforts.