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Establish a brand voice.
If you haven’t already done this elsewhere, it’s a great chance to start. Decide your style based on your target customer… would they be most drawn to edgy and sarcastic posts? Comical? Warm-fuzzy language? High-brow vocabulary? No matter which route you take, be consistent. Even if you’re a more formal type of business, try to keep the wording conversational, which will, naturally, be more likely to invite conversation with your followers. Williamsburg Jewelers uses a “lighthearted” tone to its posts, Fagan said. He wants his followers to feel like they’re engaging with someone they know and like. And since he strives to be the opposite of corporate jewelry stores, he aims for a family-like, locally focused vibe across the posts. See the example here, where Fagan posts a photo of his own cat, while also supporting a local nonprofit and a community event. It’s easy to see how his followers feel personally connected to both him and his business.
Avoid cramming your whole logo into your profile image.
It’s usually best to use something simple and visible for your profile image, because it will appear as a tiny thumbnail beside each of your posts. Since your listed name is/should be your business name, there’s no need to have those letters again in miniscule type on the profile image. Instead, use just the graphic element of your logo there. See the effect in this post from York County business Word Roots:
There are exceptions, of course; York County Economic and Tourism Development is able to use its logo because the “York County” words are so large and readable, and the logo itself fits neatly into a circle. The unreadable parts aren’t a concern since they’re in the typed name above each post. Other options are a simple photo of the kind of product you sell (if your logo has no graphic), or of the person who is the face of your brand. For Williamsburg Jewelers, Michael Fagan’s headshot serves as the profile—which aligns with his business’s focus on human interaction and a family feel.
Dedicate time each week to posting and replying.
Making a habit is key. At least one staff member should be set to receive notifications as well, so that questions and comments can get quick replies. If that person travels, have a substitute lined up to run your account. Williamsburg Jewelers invests approximately 15 hours per week to Facebook (three people putting in about 5 hours each). They post 1-3 times per workday. While this can be an eventual goal for your business, aim for three posts per week minimum—which you can write all in one sitting and schedule out. But be ready to post about spontaneous happenings as well!
Always invite new engagers to follow your page.
This is the NUMBER ONE way to build your following. For anyone who engages with your business page for the first time (hits a reaction such as like or love, or writes a comment), Facebook gives you the option to invite them to follow your page. To do this:
- Navigate to your Meta Business Suite page
- Scroll down to the “Grow Your Audience” section
- Beside "Reach out to people who interacted with your content,” click “Send invites”
- Check the box beside each name, under both “Reactions” and “Comments”
Schedule a time once a week to send these invites, and make it a high priority. This ensures your content will be seen by an ever-increasing number of people, which in turn will drive business. See more invitation tips further down in this article under “Run shareable promotions and contests.”
Give some love to other local businesses.
Williamsburg Jewelers makes it a point to promote fellow businesses in upper York County and Williamsburg. Whether it’s an event hosted by one of these companies, including them in a contest prize or simply commenting on what they love about that business, this tactic has spread goodwill and inspired other businesses to do likewise for Williamsburg Jewelers.
Run shareable promotions and contests.
Fagan reported that his very first effort for growing a Facebook following was a simple contest.
“I had JUST opened,” he said, “and I didn’t have much money or merchandise. I picked up some inexpensive sterling silver items (retailed at $30-$50) for a contest prize. As part of the process to apply, they had to like my Facebook page. When the winner came in to claim her prize, I posted a photo and tagged her by name—so her friends saw it, and then they would like that post, and I would hit “invite” by their name. A lot of my success has been years of consistently hitting that invite button.”
As Fagan’s business grew, his prizes became more robust.
“We would involve other local businesses in our contest. They would say, here’s a $50 gift card, just tag us in our social media. Sometimes I had to buy things when businesses would not donate. We started creating gift baskets and boxes of local items. Our Mother’s Day basket contest got over 1 million views… you had to like our page AND share our post to enter the contest. It snowballed.”
There have been some missteps as well:
“For some recent contests, I tried to do a spin on it that did not work well. We ended up with too many rules and too many hoops to jump through. The last failure was when I said, ‘Like our page, invite all your friends to like our page, then take a picture of when you shared it, and then post it in the comments.’ Too many steps. The first time it did OK, and the second time it produced almost 0 results. I just said, ‘We’ll never do that again.’”
Before starting a contest, read up Facebook’s official regulations on promotions and giveaways. Its parent company Meta used to prohibit contests that required users to like, share or invite, but luckily those restrictions have now been removed.
Vary your content
for an interesting mix of posts over the course of a week or month. This will keep your followers engaged with your business and increases the odds they will share a post (giving you a chance to reach new people). An optimal mix of posts for a York County business might include:
- Product features
- Advice/tips
- Stories related to your industry
- Funny memes related to your industry
- Operational updates
- Sales & special offers
- Contests
- Review reposts from Google, Yelp, Angi or within Facebook itself
- Awards
- Holiday acknowledgements: Share your warm wishes on national and religious holidays, but also fun, obscure ones like National Carrot Cake Day (find them all on the nationaldaycalendar.com)
- Media mentions of your business
- Encouraging charity donations/volunteering
- Shout-outs to other businesses
- Events—your own and others you support in the community
- Reminders of your brand value (spotlight an employee who exemplifies your standards, or a service people often forget that you offer… simply pitching your business again to your audience!).
- Asking for people’s opinions: “People love to feel like they’re helping and to have their feeling and opinion known,” said Fagan, adding that these types of posts get the second-highest response rate (contests are the highest).
View the slideshow below displaying examples from Williamsburg Jewelers.
