Creating a Facebook page for your business Part 2 2013

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, TikTok, etc.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

French Cricket wrote:My interest on Facebook is in relationship building, not in selling, and to be perfectly honest I'm turned right off by the posts that appear on my timeline that just seem to be 'selling' something, whether it's accommodation or anything else. I enjoy posts that give me something to think about, show me a beautiful picture, tell me about something that's going on, introduce me to a recipe or some local produce or ... well, you get the idea. All of those things I can respond to, but when someone just says 'hey! Book our house, it's wonderful!', there's no obvious response.
I agree FC. That's why my page won't change - I'll keep doing exactly what I've always done - post photos, share events, post guest comments, give some local info, post links to other websites; anything in fact that may be of interest to my guests, past and future.

Gaining a wider audience to share my "product" with is all I'm looking to do. Unlike you I don't get all the bookings I want and I need to market, so this is one more way of me doing so. Each to their own though; that's what's great about social media, you use it how and when you want to!
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elena
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Post by elena »

Harborfields wrote:
Obviously the ultimate goal is to create bookings, but that cannot be your immediate goal with FB. In fact, direct "sell" posts tend to backfire, turning off your community instead of engaging them. Rather you need to be thinking about building "brand awareness." It is a long-term marketing investment.
I have to say I'm one of the people who tend to switch off if I see too many obviously self promoting posts and as a result I have a very soft approach to Facebook - which probably explains why it's taking us a long time to see any significant results.

We have a small core of guests who regularly like & comment on our posts and we have had a couple of our photo albums shared which was encouraging and it all feels very unrushed & genuine. I have always seen our social media stuff as being a way of keeping Les Crouquets in people's minds & would hate to start bombarding them with the hard sell , maybe then turning them away from what brought them to us in the first place ie: a very personal & uncommercial relaxing place to have a holiday... ( although of course everyone knows we are there to make a living)

I know I need to find that fine line & balance on it ... not easy!

Elena
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la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I don't like the hard sell approach either. I don't do enough on my page, but I'm a believer in quality, not quantity. I get really fed up with some of the pages I like which take up my timeline by informing me every time they have taken a booking.
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

elena wrote: I have always seen our social media stuff as being a way of keeping Les Crouquets in people's minds & would hate to start bombarding them with the hard sell , maybe then turning them away from what brought them to us in the first place ie: a very personal & uncommercial relaxing place to have a holiday... ( although of course everyone knows we are there to make a living)
Absolutely. And if we start doing the FB 'hard sell' then that in itself may start bringing guests who are rather more in the impersonal and commercial bracket, which I suspect you don't want any more than I do!

It's interesting already on this thread how many of us are avowed anti-hard-sell people. If we're representative of the Grand Public then that must mean that those who do it may be shooting themselves in the foot anyway ....
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I'm not into hard sell any more than the next person, but I don't think getting more likes is doing a hard sell in itself is it? I think the ethos behind the FB page HTL is a good one, but appreciate it's not for everyone.

FB has changed dramatically though since its inception. Have you seen how many of the pages are big company pages now, appearing in sponsored or recommended pages? Also ebay - it started off as an auction site for second hand goods, but now sells more brand new items than second hand. As I said at the start of the thread FB constantly evolves, so one can only experiment and see if it works for you.
Pmagowan
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Post by Pmagowan »

I really don't understand Facebook. I have a personal page which I opened about 10 or more years ago but I no longer go on it as it just seemed full of random chain mail and useless tripe that people say and I would rather not hear (grumpy old git mode). I still keep it as it does work to keep a list of friends and family and it will send me an email if people are trying to get in touch. For the business side of things I can't really see what people would want to like you for if all you are doing is advertising to them. I opened one for our property and put a couple of post on but then ignored it as I have more urgent things to attend to (website etc, getting property finished). Perhaps I was just premature. I am doing a blog on my website and perhaps extracts of this and pictures may be of some interest to someone. Or, perhaps a bit of a 'history of art' analysis of some renaissance art and architecture.

I don't really understand how getting a load of random people to like you helps. Is this not like link farming? Perhaps it just potentially increases your audience and some of them might actually 'like' (in the old fashioned sense) your content. I suppose it is the future and I will have to get round to it sooner or later. Don't even talk to me about twitter! (Do) :roll:
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Pmagowan wrote:I don't really understand how getting a load of random people to like you helps. Is this not like link farming? Perhaps it just potentially increases your audience and some of them might actually 'like' (in the old fashioned sense) your content. I suppose it is the future and I will have to get round to it sooner or later. Don't even talk to me about twitter! (Do) :roll:
Potentially increasing your audience is what getting more likes is about for me. Most but not all, of the page owners I have liked, are within commutable distance of my property, so are my target audience. It's a way of reaching them that I may not otherwise reach. I have also liked pages of some of my guests, as there are several that run small businesses and have a presence on facebook. For me it's a definite alternative to listing with the big sites which I haven't and don't want to do. As I may be shooting my foot by not listing, then I need to be active in other areas.

It's not for everyone and I don't think you should bother with a page unless you're reasonably committed to keeping the content current. However, if you have a blog, you can set it up to automatically post on FB, so that's not so much work.
marsh frog
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Post by marsh frog »

Nemo is right.

Our Facebook bookings are creeping up all the time and account for at least as many bookings as HL and the other small sites we advertise with altogether :wink:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/marshviewcottage
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tavi
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Post by tavi »

Am just setting up my FB business page.Can I ask you old-handers something:

What's the etiquette? Is there one?

e.g. there's a guy who shares some fabulous photos he takes in my area....he's not a professional (don't think). Since his photos are there shared with "public" on another local interest page....can I share them on my business FB page? Should I message him to thank him? Should I ask him first? Should I just "like" him first?


Probably the etiquette is more straightforward when it's likes from business to business?


Happy Face BOOKINGS! :D
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Post by Pmagowan »

I'm sure you are right. I will have to get on to the facebook and twitter thing at some point. I want to make sure the website is finished and the house is ready first, then I can get family and friends to 'like it'. After that I will need to see what I am happy with. Do I go for bulk 'like' building or do I go more softly softly, focused 'like' building? Maybe if I can offer some interesting, some funny and some beautiful things for people to look at they will come. Welcome to the world of social media :shock:
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Etiquette in FB is a bit of a minefield, but I think we all must do what we feel comfortable with - there is no real right and wrong.

So building likes; I started with the softly, softly approach but I feel that for my business, I need to increase awareness, hence I am embarking on a slightly more proactive approach.

Regarding sharing photos; if the link to share is there then you can use it, with no real issues. However, if for example it is a professional photographer they may well have watermarked their photos, so the link back to them is clear anyway. I have one regular I use; he thanked me for sharing and I'm therefore more likely to use his photos in the future. He even bought out a calendar that I purchased, that I would not have found other than on FB. I'm also likely to buy more from him in the future so it's a very organic way to build a business, especially for someone like him.

I would start out by liking them, then you have already shown appreciation, especially if it's likely that you will return to their page again. If it's just a one off, then you can share but perhaps place a public comment as well?

There is always the private message facility if that is enabled, although not all pages have it enabled for various reasons. However, I think it's not likely that you need to send a private message for simply sharing stuff. I have sent an odd private message, if I've had a technical issue with a page or perhaps a glaring mistake or broken link that you know they'd want to be made aware of, but not in public.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

TIP FOR POSTING YOUR FB PAGE NAME FROM YOUR PHONE

I have just learnt this.

To tag on a phone or tablet device.

When on a computer go onto your page, click edit page at update info. In the address bar it should then say www.facebook etc and a selection on numbers. The numbers are your page ID.

Type @[PAGEID:PAGE NAME] remembering to enter your page name with any spaces it has.

So it would look like this: @[0000001234:Norfolk Coastal Holidays] and this would simply put Norfolk Coastal Holidays in the text.

Great to use when browsing on your phone and you want to post a comment with a link to your page.
tavi
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Post by tavi »

Thanks Nemo for your answer re etiquette.

I'll be posting my page soon to get a few likes from kind lmh'ers.
DaveN
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Post by DaveN »

Has anyone created a place for their rental, so that guests can 'check in'?
I've seen the steps that you need to follow (burried somewhere in the original thread), but how does a 'place' page differ from a normal one?
Open for business.
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

I think 'place' pages are fairly basic and don't allow any interaction beyond checking in/liking.
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