If you want to take full advantage of social media in your business, having a professional Facebook page is crucial. People draw on Facebook for social activities, information on what’s trending and ideas. Facebook provides a low-cost and low-effort way for you to keep in touch with past, current and potential clients.
Now, there are Facebook posts and Facebook posts. If you want your presence to be effective, make sure you think about how you present yourself to the world. While you may enjoy sharing lots of videos of cats or dogs doing entertaining things with your friends, these choices will not win you clients. Instead, create posts thinking of the following factors:
Visual Images: At this point, every professional Facebook post should include a photo or other visual. As a designer, you are in a strongly visual field, and your posts need to reflect your personal aesthetic as well as your style. Images of before-and-after projects, photos of something you recently purchased for a client that has its own style, or a montage of images that set the tone for your post will all work. Make sure you post only photos you have the right to use, and clear any client photo posts with the client first. In this post for Fulton, I used an image from a model in their new Legacy community.
Expert Content: You are presenting yourself as an expert in your field, and your Facebook posts provide a good opportunity to showcase your capabilities. Whether it’s a mention of how to use the new color of the year or a sentence or two on decorating for an upcoming holiday, remember to provide information that will be valuable and add to your credibility.
Check and Re-check Spelling and Grammar: Nothing damages your credibility faster than sloppy English on your posts. Never count on Word’s Spellcheck and Grammar functions to proof your work for you. If you are not comfortable with your own proofing capabilities, then ask a friend or hire a professional to check your posts.
NO Political or Religious Posts: You may have strong opinions on one or both of these issues, but they do not belong on a professional Facebook page and they can definitely cost you clients. Keep the focus of your posts to your business.
Ask questions: People are more likely to comment on a post with a question as part of it. You could use something as simple as asking which lighting fixture they prefer of two photos, or how they plan to bring in the New Year. Questions invite responses. But be sure to ask questions that are easy to answer. Notice that in the post above the plane art helps encourage people to choose air.
Like and Reply to Every Post: People like to have their remarks on Facebook noticed. By liking and replying, you show that you are paying attention. One important trick: use their full name when replying, so that your reply comes up in their timeline. This enables you to get in front of many of their friends, increasing your post’s reach. Here are the comments and my responses to this recent Fulton Home post. I like to use a fun, friendly tone for these, since many of our fans are regular commenters.
Experiment: Some posts will work better than others for your audience. It’s up to you to determine which posts have the best response. Over time, you will discover those that are less successful so that you can make adjustments as needed.
Stay Current: You may want to feature seasonal or trending topics on your posts. This works well because people are already focused on those topics. For example, you might want to showcase Superbowl appetizer ideas in mid-January.
Connect your Posts to your Other Social Media Efforts: Use your Facebook posts to showcase your blogs or Pinterest boards. Tweet your posts. Your goal is to have your fans involved with every aspect of your social media efforts. You can see that I used this question as an excuse to link this post to a blog I wrote on the same topic.
Check Out Other People’s Posts: Some people are really good at Facebook. You can learn a lot by investigating other Facebook users in your industry.
Facebook provides a terrific way to increase interest in your business and, in the long run, generate more customers. Follow these suggestions and Facebook can be well worth the effort.
Maria Muto-Porter is a freelance writer and blogger. Her career began in broadcasting as a reporter and producer where she covered local news and features in Toledo, Ohio. Muto-Porter served as editor for two publications including a national design magazine. She has also written and edited books, magazine articles and other business materials. You can contact Maria at
mutoporter@gmail.com
