Five Ineffective Methods to Social Selling on Facebook-by InsideView

[Doha]

Five Ineffective Methods to Social Selling on Facebook-by InsideView

Most B2B companies these days maintain an active presence on Facebook, but not all of us get it right. The marketing opportunities available to us on Facebook continue to evolve, and as marketers, we have to constantly update our Facebook strategy. Take, for example, Facebook's newly-launched Social Graph Search feature, which gives us better targeting capability than ever before, but also requires us to learn a whole feature.

When figuring out a Facebook strategy, don't make the following five mistakes. No matter how Facebook marketing develops in the next few years, these five mishaps will lead your strategy to a dead end.

You run an ad but don?t talk about the promotion on your Facebook page.  Research done by Constant Contact and a research firm called Chadwick Martin Bailey shows that those who ?like? a specific retailer on Facebook are far more likely to buy from that retailer*. Perhaps it?s the exposure in one?s feed that is a constant reminder of the brand that helps. While fans might not purchase in the moment, reminding them of different promotions you have going on ensures that when they are ready to purchase the type of product you sell, they will think of you.

You don?t use a bright and compelling image in your ad.  The ad must catch a person?s eye amid the content sensory overload that is Facebook. Make sure your image stands out and is relevant to what you are selling.

You are linking to the wrong place.  No matter how compelling your ad is, if it leaves the user with too many clicks to get to the point of purchase, it will be useless. Make sure you link as close to the point of transaction as possible, while of course ensuring that the proper information is available about the product in order for the consumer to make an informed decision without clicking away from the page.

You don?t target your ads to the right demographic.  You have to know your audience well; if you don?t target the appropriate demographic, then you are just wasting money. Always be sure to consider targeting fans of businesses like your own. If you are selling home goods, target fans of Martha Stewart and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, for example.

Track and tweak.  You need to follow the results of your campaign regularly, and tweak your settings accordingly. Perhaps you are seeing that you aren?t gaining much traction with the demographic you are pointing to, or to the copy in your ad. Refine them, then. Facebook has a unique tracking capability and allows you to tweak your ads on the fly if for some reason they are not effective. But don?t let an ineffective ad sit out there. It doesn?t do anything for your brand. If you aren?t maintaining a constant awareness of analytics with regard to your campaign, then you need to incorporate this into your social selling tactics immediately.

In short, constant awareness of analytics is critical when selling on Facebook. Knowing the four critical components to every Facebook ad ? the copy, the image, the place to which the ad links, and the people who are seeing the ad ? is the key to success. If you aren?t seeing conversions, tweak and evaluate these four critical components for improved Facebook ad success.