Maximizing Facebook Marketing

by Craig Kessler | Jan 3, 2019 | Facebook Marketing, Local Business Tips

How Local Businesses Can Get the Most Out of Facebook

It has been fun, frustrating, exciting, uncertain. . . and lots of other emotions on seeing the rise and changes to how local businesses can utilize Facebook to successfully market their business. Many businesses may feel that Facebook is trying to push them off of the social media platform by showing less and less of their business page posts to their fan base, while forcing them to purchase ads instead.

So while less than 10% of ones business page fans will ever see your posts (unless you have crazy high engagement then a higher percent will see them), why even bother to do anything with Facebook then? It also takes time to write posts, take photos (possibly edit them), and figure out what to say. Most local business owners don’t have the time and there isn’t money in the coffers to pay someone to do social media management.

Before we just give up, let’s analyze what Facebook is wanting to show people. The goal of showing less business page content, is to show more content from ones personal friends. From the average consumer point of view, that is probably a good thing.

So as a business then, how does one share his/her business through personal posts. . . if only there was a way. . . to give personal recommendations of a business. . . to show others when someone is at ones business. . . are you getting any ideas yet?

When a customer recommends a business it gets shared to that person’s friends. And, when someone checks into a business it gets shared to that person’s friends. Pretty cool, right? But it gets better.

We have some super awesome, high impact ways to using and maximizing these techniques to a local business’s advantage. All without having to pay for Facebook for anything. We really can’t think of many businesses that could not benefit from our super awesome Facebook marketing techniques. Give us a call soon to see what we can do to put the fun and happiness back into the topic of Facebook marketing for ones business. Designs By Kessler will give you lots of complimentary tips for your Facebook business page too.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

Proverbs 27:17

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Dealing With Unofficial Facebook Pages

by Craig Kessler | Dec 7, 2017 | Facebook Marketing, Local Business Tips

My first thought on writing a short article on why to make sure businesses have claimed ALL of their Facebook pages, is that the businesses that have unclaimed Facebook pages are not the ones who will ever see this post to read it. However, if my marketing tactics work out according to plan, they will decide to click on the link to this article which I will send them.

If a Facebook page is verified, it will have a circled check mark.

What Are Unofficial Pages and Why Are They a Problem?

Unofficial Facebook pages, or as I like to call them, unclaimed pages, are created in typically two ways. The first is from Facebook creating what it feels is a page for an actual business. Kind of like how Google makes a listing for businesses they believe are actual businesses. Both companies are trying to help all businesses out by creating a page on their platform in hopes that all businesses will claim them and put more content on them.

The second way that unofficial Facebook pages are created is when a user checks into a business before that user finds the official Facebook page of the business or before one has been created. When this happens, Facebook creates its own unofficial Facebook page for that person to check into. So again, Facebook is really trying to make it easy for users to connect with businesses and for businesses to have a presence for customers.

The problem, though, is when these check-ins, or reviews that are left are not for positive reasons. All businesses owners know that they will not be able to satisfy every customer every time. A few highly motivated customers wishing to make sure the world knows of their bad experience can have a big impact on a business’s reputation. And, in this case, without a business even knowing these unofficial pages exist!

Sure, it seems easy enough to notice that these unofficial pages have not been claimed by a business, for there are no profile or cover photos. The problem is with users being able to suggest edits to the business information and leave unmoderated reviews. Sometimes, employees create pages for a business, which may sound helpful in theory for the non-tech business owner, but it can be a messy situation if that employee becomes a not-so-happy-former-employee.

Oh, this same thing can happen with other websites like Foursquare and Yelp too. So, take a few minutes once a month and do a Google search of ones business name and see what comes up. Don’t be afraid to search a few pages deep too.

Brand Recovery Steps

To see what page or pages are floating around on Facebook, simply do a search in Facebook of ones business name. Try different possible names if one has a business name that is longer but sometimes shortens it.

If one has not claimed the unofficial Facebook page that Facebook has graciously created for ones business, it is super easy enough to claim it. Just click on the “Is This Your Business?” and follow the steps it prompts.

If there is one or more unofficial Facebook page(s) for ones business they can be either removed or merged. Both require the page to first be claimed. Once claimed it can be deleted in the settings section. Merging a page is not a difficult process we can easily assist one with. In a nut shell, the page gets claimed, then combined with a page that is already being used. Likes and check-ins will be merged with the original page too.

For Those Unable to Claim a Facebook Page

For those without access to a page the first option is the report the page to Facebook. Click the three dots below the cover photo and select “Report Page”.

A second option is to fill out a form and contact Facebook directly. They review Intellectual Property claims like trademark and copyright infringements. Here’s the link: www.facebook.com/help/contact/634636770043106.

Handling Negative Reviews

In a perfect world, a business owner could only select the reviews he or she wants to have visible. However, that is not the case. Reviews can either be turned on or off. So, if one has lots of negative reviews, it would be best to just turn them all off. If one has lots of excellent reviews on other directory or review websites, consider posting a link on Facebook to some of those reviews.

A proactive way to counteract negative reviews is to work at getting a lot more positive reviews so ones overall star rating is positive. Math was not my forte in school but the higher number of overall positive ratings will diminish the power of one or a few negative ratings. Also, one is able to respond to negative reviews and should! Many times, a business owner can rectify a negative customer experience and the customer may remove the negative review. However, even if the negative is not removed, a potential customer may be impressed with the actions and resolution the business owner publicly took to correct the situation.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

Proverbs 27:17

Ready to make some magic?

Let's go!