My commentary and thoughts on a post by Facebook marketing and advertising expert Jon Loomer about how brands are really missing the real opportunity to connect with their audience on Facebook.
Today is Friday. As part of a new series on Fridays called It’s Friday… Woohoo, I talk about great articles, books, and issues in marketing that make you go ‘woohoo’ on a Friday! Of course this could also be because the weekend is approaching.
New series for alittlebranding called, “It’s Friday…Woohoo!”
I am starting off the series with commentary on a post by Jon Loomer, “The Missed Opportunity: How Brands Are Missing Out on Facebook” . Jon Loomer is a Facebook advertising and marketing expert, coach, and strategist. He is the go-to-guy on Facebook advertising and has published innumerable guides, tutorials, and articles. Jon also speaks at many industry events and conferences.
Many brands (Jon uses the term ‘brands’, but this can apply to many small businesses I know) just don’t realize the full potential in using Facebook.
But maybe it’s not Facebook that’s to blame? Maybe they are looking at Facebook and approaching it the wrong way?
Instead of focusing on Facebook reach, engagement, and sales (these are important), think about how these align with the brand or small business core audience. They should be incorporated into an overall strategy and the big picture.
Jon writes:
“You should be building an audience of people who actually care about you. You should be creating lots and lots of helpful content. You should be investing in your website and driving people there. You should be building that website traffic to help build your Facebook audience which will help drive more traffic and more fans and more sales.”
He details nine steps to do this. Steps one and two are the most important and to me are the foundation of it all:
- Invest in your website.
You own it, it’s paramount that is looks good, feels good, and aligns with your audience and who you are. It must meet your audiences expectations.
- Create lots of helpful content
Be interesting, thoughtful, relevant, and provide the value your target audience is looking for. If you can’t do this, what’s the point?
Facebook is an investment to help companies grow their business. But without a solid foundation and marketing strategy that focuses on AUDIENCE, brands are just like everyone else. Why be like everyone else?
Plan and focus on your audience and your brand first.
If you provide valuable, and helpful content that solves your customers issues and problems, you will succeed in all your marketing, not just Facebook.
Bob Strassel Jr.