How to Find Your Customers on Facebook

By April 2015, Facebook flaunted 1.44 billion monthly active users and 936 million daily active users. According to ComScore, the social network’s community mainly comprises of 24-34 year olds (22%) followed by 35-44 year olds (21%) and 45-54 year olds (18%). While these numbers show that Facebook has started maturing, the Social Media Examiner points out that B2C businesses are more likely to use Facebook groups and profiles than B2B ones.

Further confirming this is Social Bakers’ 2012 ‘Top 10 Facebook Industries by Engagement Rate’, which lists sport, retail, automobile, alcohol, airlines, services, telecom, fashion, news/media, and finance as the main industries benefiting from this social network. If you’re marketing a business that belongs in one of these industries, here are some valuable tips to find customers via Facebook and retain them.

How to Find Your Customers on Facebook

If you’re not sure of how to reach to your prospects, here are some tips to start you off.

• Use Facebook Ads’ Targeting for Your Advantage – Facebook Ads allows you to reach the people you want to reach by targeting their interests, location or demographics. In addition to setting your business apart from the competition, this strategy will reel in near shoppers as they’re still considering their options and would like to stumble upon a company that provides them with what they need. Similarly, you can attract in-market buyers with the same as they’re searching for a new product and are ready to choose a business that caters their needs. So use this feature to target new fans and potential leads.
• Focus on Cultivating Customer Loyalty – While focusing on increasing your list of potential buyers, you may end up neglecting the people who have put your name on the map already. The best way to prevent that is by creating messages tailored for them, offering them exclusive sales or quicker access to new services or events. You can also match your data with Facebook to discover prospects who can become repeated clients. As a result, you’ll gain more loyal followers and generate revenue in the future.
• Connect with Influencers Your Customers Follow – Aside from your business, your clients will seek other industry leaders for information as well as inspiration. You should connect with these influencers in order to connect with your clients. To find them, look for hashtags and Facebook pages related to your niche. Consider searching Twitter lists and communities as well to gather names before taking the next step on Facebook.
• Offer Giveaways and Discounts on a Regular Basis – Everyone loves free stuff, especially if you’re offering something that can complement their purchase. For instance, Lexus San Diego dealership offered a discount for current car owners. From a $500 budget, the dealership was able to reach out to 500,000 potential clients and generate 670 offer claims as well as new page fans and customers. This technique can double as an effective engagement strategy for the future.

How to Nurture and Engage Customers on Facebook

To engage your clients and ensure their loyalty, consider embracing the following practices.

• Generate the Content Your Fans Want to See – Keep your social pages active via multiple posts throughout the week. While you should know when to post on different social networks, your focus should be the quality of the content. That way, you can increase engagement. To further make your posts a success, include photos. Photo content ensures engagement 87% more often than posts with only text.
• Focus on Building Your Brand Before Sales – You first need to build your brand and establishing its awareness. Doing so will assure you of a strong customer base, to which you can sell your goods later on. So interact with your clients, know about them, listen to their opinions and complaints before responding politely and effectively, and then post promotions according to their interests.
• Have Surveys to Give Your Fans a Voice – Let your fans grow engaged with your brand. You can ask anything from which color they’ll want your next car to be in to who they think will win the game that day. This information will help you with your research and allow you to create better targeted updates.
• Crowdsource for Answers – Encourage your community members to interact with one another to engage them further. For instance, share a fan’s question on your page and have others provide answers. If you’re worried that this may affect your status as an authority, don’t. You can provide your own answers in the thread of comments, but encourage others to offer their own experiences and opinions.