After all the Google Plus hoopla (and a few posts of our own), it seemed only right, fair and equal to spend a little time on Facebook. Of course, it helps that we had a specific request for this article. A pro pos to this post, the request came from a Facebook fan – can’t beat that for on topic!
Before getting deep into lead generation facts here, I’d like to mention a fantastic Facebook page to inspire you and show you what’s possible. Facebook isn’t just about posting status updates; you can do that anywhere. In fact, some businesses use FB as their only place of online business.
The business page I’d like to direct your attention to is Livescribe’s. The Livescribe FB page is of particular interest here, because it shows exactly how much can be done in terms of lead generation. Go ahead, click around.
What Livescribe did right on Facebook…
Now, it helps the Livescribe is an interesting product. What could be more interesting than being able to write on a notebook and have it turned into a document? However, they did a lot of things right to turn their FB page into a lead generating machine.
1. Make it interesting.
When you first come to the Livescribe page, you don’t see the Wall. You see, instead, three carefully targeted ads – yet, they don’t exactly look like ads. They look like information sections: perfect for the informavore. What they do is act like a “snack sized” bite of information. As well, each one has a specific call to action, and that CTA tells them what they’re going to do if they click.
2. Pre-qualify leads.
You might expect that clicking on one of these will send you to the website. It doesn’t. Each of the three links take you to another page – still on Facebook – to help you narrow down what you’re looking for. It isn’t until the third click that you’re taken to the site. In this way, the company begins lead pre-qualification; most visitors to the website who click through from Facebook will be truly interested in the product.
3. Give more.
Fanning on Facebook, which basically bookmarks the page for you, gives you access to features not available on the website. For example, Livescribe has a FB support group. As well, you have access to their YouTube channel from within their pages, rather than having to take that extra step. Actively moderated, you have access to a live person, responding to questions and comments.
4. A place to leave feedback.
One of the most positive things about G+ reactions has been the fact that they opened their product up to user feedback. Livescribe also does this, through the FB support forum, allowing individuals to submit ideas based on their experience, needs or wants. Due to the native FB features, other people can add that they’ve thought of it too, indicating one particular feature request is more wanted than another.
What you might be doing wrong on Facebook…
A while back, a blog came out on Outspoken Media entitled The #1 Reason Your Customers Hate You On Facebook. True to the name of the company, the article is straight up, nay, bluntly forward, about what the author considers the #1 reason FB isn’t working. To put it simply, the reason is lack of follow through or, in reality, lack of thought all together.
Facebook is a tool. That’s all it is. What you use that tool for, and how you use it, is what decides whether it’s a successful tool. For example, banging a hammer against something isn’t going to do much beside leave dents – but you put a nail under that hammer, a piece of wood and some plans, you might be in business.
Fixing your Facebook page for lead generation…
Now you’ve seen a company using Facebook like the tool it is, and you’ve read about what might be lacking… get to it!
Just kidding. Don’t hate me.
Here are a few tips (with example links) that can help you improve your fan page:
Make it harder to access – This completely goes against the grain of “ease of use” that we normally say, but stick with me here.
When people first started contacting us to guest blog, we turned them down. Not because they were bad writers, but because it wasn’t a direction we were looking at then. Having been closed off to guest writers for four years, when we opened up the blog to guest posters, we started receiving a lot of requests for guest spots.
The moral here is, when something seems inaccessible, the human condition is to want it more. The Creative Marketing and Acclaim page capitalizes on this concept, by starting with a game. Find the real “like” button to be taken to the official fan page.
Create a welcome page – Most business pages can be accessed at their walls. Quite simply, a wall can be bland, boring.. meh. Having your FB go to a specially created page, however, spices your FB area up. Where do you want them to go? What can they do after they click the Like button?
The Big Click Studios page, for example, does an excellent job of redirecting the user after the “Like”. Most people won’t be visiting your FB page every day. Big Click Studios prepares for that with links to the blog, a hint of what you’ll see by following them on Twitter, and – most importantly – that beautiful “Subscribe to our newsletter” section with a bit of random fact next to it. Finally, the FB page is it’s own shiny example of the quality of service they offer.
Now, you don’t have to have a blatant sales page. You can do something as simple as Brand Sprout’s understated example, as immediate as Big Click’s, or as in your face as Tristan’s. You can even try something like Blue Sky Factory’s example. However, if you have a newsletter or other offers that require an email address, don’t leave this part out!
Offer something extra – Give them a worthwhile reason to become a fan. If you offer special sales, offer a few exclusively to FB fans. Maybe you have videos, pics or demos; you can offer them an early preview. In short, consider what you can give them that they won’t get elsewhere?
Lead them – Finally, don’t leave them dangling at Facebook with nothing to do. Lead them – guide them to do something interesting, whether it’s on FB with an app or on your site with a link. You have to show them some way to get to the buy/signup/conversion, whether it’s a tab, a link, an offer, or a product. – And, that offer has to be enticing enough that they are caught up in the process.
As a perfect example, I was surprised to find myself on Livescribe’s site. If I’d had the time, I’d have browsed it, and maybe bought something. Instead, I bookmarked it for later – a certified FB lead.
Further reading…
I know, you’re thinking that all this might take some serious programming and design skills. However, if you’re really interested in sprucing up your fan page, these links will get you started:
- Facebook Cheat Sheets, Sizes and Dimensions
- 4 Free Facebook Landing Page Creation Tools
- 20 Examples of Great Facebook Pages (HubSpot)
- 25 Brilliant Examples of Facebook Brand Pages (eConsultancy)
Finally, read How Facebook Factors Into Lead Generation. Yes, you have to fill out a nosy “who are you” form to get it, but there’s a lot of good information in this PDF. For example, businesses with over 1,000 FB fans generate 12 times more leads.
Conclusion
Facebook is one of the highest lead generation and revenue generating platforms on the Internet. If you’re using it for business, it only makes sense that you use it right. No matter what you do, or what changes you make, just remember that it’s a tool. And a tool is only as good as the use it’s put to!
11 Responses
I’m really loving the theme/design of your blog.Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any solutions to help fix this problem?
Yes, web browser compatibility can be a tricky issue. The best way to ensure that your blog looks great in all browsers is to make sure your code is compliant with the latest standards. This usually involves using the latest HTML, CSS, and JavaScript version and making sure that your code is clean and valid. Additionally, you can also use a debugging tool to check your code across different browsers to ensure that everything looks and works great. Here’s a great article that gives you some workaround https://www.browserstack.com/guide/common-cross-browser-compatibility-issues Good luck, lmk if you resolve these issues!!
A great way of using Facebook for lead generation involves exactly that: leading your users. Carefully layer the content you put up on your Facebook page. Although we refer to a Facebook account as having one page, in actuality you can create various areas or subpages that visitors can click on.
Hello! I’ve been following your weblog for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Lubbock Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!
Thanks Warner, glad you decided to dive in…the water’s fine. We don’t bite, and we love hearing from our readers. Enjoy your weekend, and stay warm!
Dear Gabriella,
First of all thank you very much for your attention, using our Facebook page as an example!
We were already wondering where all those Americans came from 🙂
Our claim in Marketing and Advertising is about creativity and building concepts, and like you said we always try to think outside the box, ignoring all borders when we’re crafting “gold bars” for our clients.
To give feedback on the discussion above. Like you said our country is small, for a full-service marketing & advertising agency that is settled in just one country and targets only in this country (we do not consider ourselves as an Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, ed. yet 🙂 ). We do have a lot of likers in comparison with other local competitors. Besides that, we’re in Business to Business, which makes our target group smaller.
If we can be in any help, somehow, somewhere (we like to travel), let me know.
Best regards,
Stephan Makatita
Ps. Although we target only in The Netherlands we don’t mind when you Americans can find the right like button as well 🙂 .
Come on… push it…: http://www.facebook.com/official.stephan.m
Ps.2. I am looking for a company like Diesel (or Diesel) that we can help with our creativity. So if somebody can help me out here, you would be an Angel. As a reward I will offer you your own prominent place on our Stephan M – M-ployees Facebook page with the caption Stephan M Angel.
Selling to friends was always easy eh? I guess getting personal and gaining trust is important here.
Umm… I hate to state the obvious but The Creative Marketing and Acclaim page only has 448 likes. So maybe making it confusing isn’t the way to go. Rather, know your audience might be the better strategy for #1. For instance, mine love free printables, so once I offered that as an incentive to “like” my Facebook fan page, my likes increased by 800 a week.
Hello, Laurie – thanks for posting a comment. I shouldn’t ever assume readers understand that knowing your audience is always #1.
For clarity’s sake, as we’ve written before, the ideas we give should always be placed up against your site and marketing needs. For example, we wrote a post based on using the key term “red widgets”. We don’t expect, however, for all our readers to go out and start using “red widgets” as a key term in their social and SEO campaigns.
For this post in particular, they are examples of what can be done. Truth be told, I know nothing about Creative Marketing and Acclaim as a business. I don’t know how they run their campaigns or how much traffic they get from their site. What I do know is they chose a unique way to interact with their Facebook visitors.
With all that said, consider when you’re first starting out. What if you don’t really know who your audience is? What if you’re building your audience, but they happen to be in a completely different niche? For example, you’ve noticed a high interest in your product from a diverse audience – a product that can attract both the end user and the manufacturer. What then, do you completely ignore a potential new audience and market that can very well be lucrative because you don’t want to try to market to them in a different way?
I understand what you’re saying, but remember that things aren’t always in black and white. In terms of Creative Marketing’s low amount of likes, it may not be their FB; it could be their services, website or location (Netherlands).
Finally, what we urge – the underlying message in all of our posts – is to think outside the box. I don’t want to lead by blind faith (i.e. I said it, so it’s so), but by the examples of what is possible: as you’ve done, by offering free printables to encourage “likes”
I’m one of these folks who has been waiting for Facebook to STOP CHANGING THINGS before I invest the time to build a business presence there. But I did look at your Brand Sprout example and was impressed.
Guess I need to give this a bit more thought.
By the way – Welcome back ! As usual – nice well-thought-out and useful post. And I didn’t even need alcohol to make you interesting 🙂
LOL I do try to add fun in our posts…As you can read the message was “I couldn’t resist” Thanks Glenn it feels good to be back. Now off to play with Google+ and see what the fuss is all about!