The majority of businesses on Facebook are experiencing little to no growth on their Facebook page.  The businesses that are growing their Facebook page typically are growing with the wrong people.  According to research conducted by BackAtYou.com (us), approximately 70% of people who Like a Facebook page are the wrong people.  Meaning, 7 out of 10 people who are fans of a Facebook page do not fit the targeted demographics of the business.

It’s no wonder why most Facebook fan pages do not grow and are not successful in engaging their Facebook audience.  They are talking to the wrong people.

We reviewed the Facebook pages of individuals who Liked particular small to medium size businesses and then compared the information to those businesses ideal demographics.  In all, Back At You analyzed approximately 100,000 individual pages, working with approximately 100 businesses to identify their target audience . The results demonstrated the importance of quality over quantity in term of Facebook Likes.

Marketing to someone that is not interested in your company is a waste of time. Find the people that you think fit your demographic, find where they are online and then go after them.  Facebook is not difficult, it just takes time and consistency, and if you focus on getting the right people to your page, your business will be rewarded.

The introduction of Timeline to all business pages is a major change for companies. Most companies have not mastered the previous format, now they are being asked to master a totally new format.

The way you build your audience and engage fans on Facebook is about to change in a big way. In fairness to Facebook, their stated goal is to give businesses more freedom for self-expression on their Page. There are a number of changes involved in Timeline, but here are the top 4 that will impact a business’ page the most:

1. Introduction to a cover photo. The new cover photo is big and measures 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. This is the main photo at the top of the page. Good cover art for your cover photo will be important to capture fan attention;
2. No more default landing pages. As a result, most tabs (apps) you currently have will become outdated (you heard it right, most apps will never be seen). When a user comes to your Facebook page organically they will land on only one page, that is the main page with your cover photo and wall;
3. Private messaging. You will now have the ability to private message your fans. Previously all engagement on your Facebook page was through wall posts and comments. Now, just like friends on your personal page, you can message them privately; and
4. Pin posts. You will be able to “pin” selected wall posts to the top of your Wall. This means that if you have a wall post you want to highlight and keep it at the top of the page, you can now “pin” it so it always appears as the first wall post.

There are a number of other changes, but these are the main changes you need to be aware of. Even with these changes, the key to having a successful Facebook page is to attract the right people to the page and then knowing how to engage them. If you master these, no matter what Facebook throws your way, you will continue to succeed.

Facebook is quite simple.  Work hard to build your audience and then engage them.

Most businesses are not building the right audience and are not engaging them.  Let’s keep it basic and focus on only 2 things small businesses need to focus on when marketing online:

1. Build your Facebook page with relevant and targeted people.  It’s better to have 200 people that fit your targeted demographic than 1,000 people who don’t.  Work hard to get the right people. Your page is not about the number of people, it’s about the quality of people. Quality over quantity.  This is usually the biggest mistake businesses make on Facebook.
2. Once you have the right people, you must engage them.  There is a reason why virtually every major brand promotes their Facebook page and not their web site they have spent millions of dollars building.  The reason, major brands know that engagement is what sells.  People are 50% more likely to buy a product from a brand that they Like on Facebook than one they don’t Like.  Talk to your users, post interesting content and images, and show them you care.  Engagement sells.

It’s easy to say to a business to find the right people and then engage them.  But that’s the key.  Marketing to someone that is not interested in your company is a waste of time.  Find the people that you think fit your demographic, find where they are online and then go after them.

Facebook is not difficult, it just takes time and consistency, and if you focus on these 2 tips, your efforts will be rewarded.

The Real Estate industry is playing catch up when it comes to technology and online marketing. Like most small businesses, Real Estate professionals are focused on marketing methods of the past. These methods are usually highly competitive, expensive and not very effective, especially when compared to when they were first introduced. For example, ads in the local newspaper, at the bus stop or in the grocery cart, these were all very effective when first started. However, like all marketing channels, change is required to maintain an ad’s effectiveness. Unfortunately, these same channels today are exactly the same as they were 30 years ago.

Fast forward to the Internet. Banner ads are the rage of advertising. Real Estate professionals who were the early movers experienced great success with this new way to advertise. As ad networks became smarter with better targeting, banner ads started to replace traditional advertising. Many of the Real Estate professionals who were the early adopters became the industry’s top sellers of property.

Now 15 years or so later, banner ads are being ignored. Consumers have been flooded with ads over the years and have built up immunity. Today, for an ad to be effective, it not only has to have a good call to action and look sleek, but also it takes multiple viewings of an ad before anyone will click. Meaning, you have to spend a lot of money on design and buying ads in bulk. Even then, it’s a tough sell for most.

Today, Social ads are what banner ads were 15 years ago and newspaper ads 30 years ago. Social ads are refreshing, engaging and encourage a call to action by the consumer to engage with your business. According to Wikipedia, Social advertising is the first form of advertising that leverages “offline” dynamics, or social influence. Facebook is a great example of where businesses can leverage a social platform and target people according to their stated interests and actions.

Imagine targeting people to “Like” your Page that are interested in real estate, or are following similar businesses as your own, or have stated they are interested in buying a home or investing in real estate. All of this is possible through Social ads. Facebook is the dominant social network allowing for this rich base of data to be mined through targeted Social ads. Real Estate professionals have a significant opportunity to build a targeted base of customers using Social ads and over time, will likely never need to pay for advertising again.

Research conducted by Ignite Social Media looking at the effectiveness of Social ads vs traditional banner ads was quite conclusive. It demonstrated that social ads attracted 5.7x more visitors than display ads, cost per visitor was less expensive, bounce rates were half and customer conversations occurred 4.0x more. Consumers are becoming more savvy and have a shorter attention span than ever. Thus, engagement becomes important when marketing online.

Researched conducted by Pilot, who surveyed over 200 marketing professionals, asked how satisfied they were with their Social advertising. Only 1% said they were not satisfied. Meaning 99% said they were somewhat to very satisfied. These are professional marketers, so Real Estate agents and other small businesses, take note, Social advertising is going to be the greatest marketing channel to build a pipeline of customers for the long term.

Real Estate agents, like all small businesses, need to approach marketing with a long term focus. The key question one must ask is “how do I build a long term pipeline of leads?” or asked another way “how do I build a business online that I can market to over the long term?”

According to Back At You (us), most Real Estate agents tend to have a short term, transaction oriented focus. This line of thinking encourages banner ads and buying zip codes or emails for marketing. There are many big businesses selling these old products, but they dominate the industry.

We see a shift occurring with the top brokers and agents it works with. These early adopters are re-allocating their budgets and placing up to 50% of their marketing spend into building a long term pipeline of clients through Social advertising. They are beginning to understand why virtually all the Fortune 500 brands market through their Facebook page and not their own websites.

When was the last time you saw a commercial of a large brand where they were promoting their web site and not their Facebook page? Why is that? Mainly because Facebook provides a place for users to better engage with the brand. Engagement means loyalty and loyalty means a likely customer.

According to one Real Estate broker, Ron Marshall, “I know I will be on Facebook in the next year or two, so why wait, if I start building a targeted audience now and ahead of my peers, I may not need to spend money on advertising in the future. The opportunity is too big to ignore and I am really excited about the prospects. Today, I have 500 people who I have targeted to Like my Facebook page, I have half a dozen leads and one confirmed sale assignment.”

The proof is in the pudding.  We love testimonials like the above!!

There is nothing better than a client’s testimonial.  We are proud to share THX’s experience with our loyal following:

Back At You provided THX Ltd, leaders in delivering entertainment experiences as the artist intended, the technology to help power four giveaways that ran December 2011 to mid-January 2012. The promotions increased the THX Facebook fan base by more than a 100 percent.

“Building a meaningful presence on social media outlets, such as Facebook, is important to THX as a way to educate fans and potential followers on what THX provides, as well as excite them about what entertainment trends are imminent,” said Ryan Hennigan, digital marketing manager at THX Ltd. We chose Back At You’s promotion technology to help engage existing fans and grow our base of future customers. It has been a very effective marketing tool and the project support we received went above and beyond our expectations.”

It was great working with THX and helping them build an amazing following in such a short time.

At Back At You we encounter all walks of life when it comes to social media.  Unfortunately the social media industry is full of blowhards and desperate consultants looking to prey on unsophisticated companies. It’s easy to use social media speak to impress a business. But, if you are a business, don’t be fooled by fancy language and empty promises.

Most social media consultants have been consulting for just a few years and pretty much regurgitate what they read on popular technology blogs. They rarely have a unique thought and have never written code or worked with software developers. Understanding code, APIs and the inherent viral loops on social networks are crucial to successful management of social media.  More importantly, if you understand how these all work together, only then can you have a unique and differentiating value-added perspective.

We, along with our partners at Brainy Social Marketing, put together 5 clues that you have hired the wrong social media consultant:

1. Were you asked “What are your goals?” If not, fire them. Your goals are what counts, not the consultants. Once you state your goals then the strategy should be created on how the goals will be achieved.

2. Are you receiving monthly updates that include detailed statistics on the strategy that was crafted for you? If not, fire them. Data is what matters, whether you like numbers or not, data is measurable.

3. What else are they doing besides putting content on your page? Are they actively reaching out to fans and followers (what else besides a wall post or Tweet), is their evidence of increased “engagement,” are they doing any promotions or contest or creating and managing Facebook ads? If not, fire them. To be successful, a social media consultant needs to mix things up to keep the Page fresh and content new. Also, mixing up the tactics is important to see what is working best at that time.

4. Has your consultant been involved in building any technology or software? If not, fire them. Social media is the confluence of technology and marketing, you need to understand both to have a value-added service.

5. Is your consultant taking advantage of the current trends of your industry and business? If not, well, you know what to do. Content is king for your social media efforts. Your business’ best chance to increase the number of customers and their loyalty is stay on top of the latest trends and news so you are seen as a thought leader. Are you proud of the content being posted every day and can you do better?

Odds are you have the wrong person running your social media. If not, congrats you are one of the few. Your social media consultant needs to express a clear vision of how your goals will be achieved. Content is king, mixing up the content is crucial, providing detailed monthly reports on the achievement of those goals is key, understanding how technology plays into marketing in order to create a good bang for the buck scales and you must be proud of your content. If all these are not satisfied, then search for someone new that can make a difference for your business. Social media is too important and can have a huge effect on your business, so do it right and do your homework.

We at Back At You assembled the hundreds of promotions that took place using our social media marketing platform and put together a top 20 list of the most popular items businesses gave away during 2011. The most popular items by far are the good and services of the business offering the sweepstakes. Whether it’s a free dinner, items of clothing, candy bars or energy drinks, products of the business are more affordable to give away, tend to be easier to administer and help build a relevant audience.

Here are the top 20 items given away via a sweepstakes in 2011 that are not directly-related to the product or service of the business conducting the sweepstakes. This is based on over 500 giveaways that business conducted using Back At You’s promotion technology platform.

1.    IPad 2
2.    Kindle Fire
3.    Amazon Gift Card
4.    Starbucks Gift Card
5.    Nintendo 3DS
6.    Samsung Galaxy
7.    Walmart Gift Card
8.    Nook
9.    Motorola Xoom
10.    Playstation 3
11.    Microsoft Xbox
12.    Hotel accommodations
13.    HTC Thunderbolt
14.    Windows phone 7
15.    Vacations/trips (Hawaii most popular)
16.    Motorola Droid Razr
17.    Blue Tooth ear pieces
18.    Apple MacBook
19.    Nintendo Wii
20.    Nest Learning Thermostat

Companies that offer non-directly related products in a sweepstakes tend to have a 75% better response rate than those sweepstakes prizes that are directly related to their business. The reason is simple and fairly obvious, a company’s product or service may not be as appealing to the masses as a gift certificate or Apple product. The challenge for the business is to make a prize that is appealing to a lot of people while also capturing the target audience best for the business. This is where a good social manager is required and where (see blog about tips to successful marketing) businesses ultimately fail in their online sweepstakes. However, a good prize is important for a successful online promotion.

Back At You’s social media marketing platform experienced a 30% increase in participation during this holiday season. Businesses that have run a Facebook marketing promotion after Thanksgiving have experienced a 30% increase in their participation rate compared to a similar promotion before the holidays.

“The holidays are always the best time to start a promotion. People are looking for deals and when their favorite brand on Facebook offers a promotion, the fans are all over it. Also, brands greatly benefit with increased participation because that means more people are spreading their name. In fact, our data shows that for each new participant, on average, an additional 170 people potentially see it via their Facebook newsfeed. This is huge for a brand’s reach and messaging and why businesses use Back At You,” says Michael Glazer, CEO and Founder of Back At You.

As brands continue to build their online presence on Facebook, the ability to create cost-effective promotions that build and engage fans have become much more important. There is no better time to start an online marketing campaigns then during the holidays. If you plan on initiating a last minute marketing promotion, here are some friendly tips:

• Use a Facebook Page as your landing page. Facebook makes building, engaging and managing your fans easy, plus the viral components inherent in Facebook are second to none.
• Make sure you have a good, catchy headline and thumbnail. Your promotion needs a good call to action and needs to sound appealing. Don’t underestimate the one-liner. Also, a good thumbnail image is important as this is what will be posted in the newsfeed. Images get clicked the most.
• Make sure people Like your page first, then enter the promotion. Also, don’t forget that according to Facebook rules, all promotions need to be done in an application, like the one Back At You provides.
• Review analytics and viral components of your promotion. If you are using a quality promotion application, you can view the data of your promotion including its reach, wall posts, participation, demographic info, referral sources and other key data. Don’t be blind to the data, it is the key to constantly improve your promotion.

People are fans of brands on Facebook for mainly two reasons. The first is that they want to be kept up to speed on their favorite products and services. Second, they are looking for deals and promotions on those products or services. If you are a brand, why not give your fans what they are asking for? The holiday season is the most (see blog for better Facebook engagement) effective promotion time all year. If you want to build an online presence, we encourage all brands to take advantage of this time of year.

Ok, so this blog is for the beginner.  This is for the those businesses that do not have a Facebook Page yet. I know, it’s hard to believe, but there are companies without a Facebook Page.  It’s ok, better late to the game than to never jump into it.  For these companies that are first jumping into social media, Welcome!

I put together a video just for you. Helping you walk through creating a Facebook Page and the importance of each step during the creation process. Here is a step by step walk through of creating a Facebook Page.  Enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed this simple video of the Beginners Guide to Setting Up a Facebook Fan Page. I summed up the video with these 7 steps:

1. Create FB Page – go to Facebook.com/Pages, on the upper right of the screen click on Create Page. Go through the steps of adding an image and description;
2. Add your friends. Invite your friends manually by selecting each friend of yours to invite. Also invite people you know from your address book. Whether it’s Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, etc. The goal is to invite as many people as possible to your page to get a following started;
3. Send out a personal thank you message for each new “Like;”
4. Do a Wall Post. Make it catchy and have a cool image associated with it;
5. Continue engaging your audience. Ask them questions, post images and ask for some comments or responses…your job is to create loyalty before you sell them;
6. If you want to get more sophisticated, create a “Like Promotion“. This provides an incentive for a user to like your page and rewards existing users. It allows your page to become viral. For every one participant, it reaches 200 people; and
7. Then take your promotion and post it in local forums.

Now that your Page is all ready to go, you need to get users and then engage them.  Make sure to read this articles to kick-ass in both!

So you want more Facebook engagement?  There are some simple actions you can take to better engage your Fans.  Remember, engagement is the key to ensure your Wall Post are seen by your Fans on Facebook.  If you are not engaging your fans, you are wasting your time.  This is especially true with smaller brands that have fewer than 1,000 Fans.

According to AllFacebook.com Pages with fewer than 1,000 fans had a 11.64 percent decline in likes and comments during the 1 month time period following Facebook’s changes announced at f8.  During this time period, pages at or above 1,000 fan count had at least 1.73 percent of an increase in likes and comments.

The median changes for the brand pages EdgeRank Checker analyzed during this time period were:

• Views of brand pages dropped 22 percent;
• Likes rose by 16 percent; and
• Comments went up 14 percent.

EdgeRank Checker concluded:

Regardless of the impact of the new news feed, having high EdgeRank continues to provide visibility within the news feed. Ultimately, engagement drives EdgeRank, which should cement engagement as a top priority while doing Facebook page marketing.

So, let’s get your Fans better engaged in your brand.  Here are some ideas to get you going:

1. Ask your user questions – get them involved;
2. Use pictures- people love pictures. Pictures can be old and vintage or new stylized;
3. Send out a thank you message – if you have tones of new followers that is tough;
4. Do a weekly or monthly sweepstakes or contest – reward existing customers with the chance to win something and provide an incentive for new people to like your page; and
5. When doing a wall post, make sure you have a catch headline and thumbnail! Walll posts on average get a 6.5% click through, FB ad’s get .05%.

Following this easy tips and doing them on a consistent basis, should easily drive your engagement rate much higher!

Good luck.