Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/41812
audience. The goal is to reach the right people. These people live in your area, buy your products, and spread the word. What to do: • Promote your Facebook page where it makes sense. Put a link on your company website or a sign next to the cash register. What about including the address or men- tion of it on invoices, mailings, etc.? Use offline media to drive online. • Tell your walk-in customers about your page by working it into the conversation. • "Like" other pages on Facebook that do business with you. Interact on those pages or mention them in your posts. 3) It takes more time than you thought. The issue: After you implement a strategy and your fan base begins to grow, you need to invest time. Social media is, well, social. If you don't interact, your fans will stop paying attention. What to do: • Set aside time.Take 10-15 minutes at several checkpoints throughout the day. Check first thing in the morning, do a mid-day check, and an end-of-day check. You don't want a question sitting all night. • Recruit others. It's a safe bet that other folks in your organization have experience with Facebook. Maybe they can check the page when you're not. • Be careful who gets access. It's a good idea to recruit others, but only give key managers access to respond and comment. 4) Negative comments will happen. The issue: By starting a page, you're allowing others to give their feedback, and they won't always be kind. Just simply deleting negative comments is not the an- swer. Monitor your page, and be an active part of it. Remember, flipping an upset consumer to a fan in the social media world is a very powerful endorsement of your business. What to do: • Establish guidelines for the audience. It's OK to let them voice their opinions as long as they're not obscene. Publish guide- lines in the "Info" section or where it's easy to find. • Establish guidelines for your business. How will you and your social media repre- sentatives respond to negative feedback? OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT SEPTEMBER 2011 37 Under what circumstances will you take comments down? Establish this BEFORE the situation occurs. 5) You're going to have to analyze. The issue: It's hard to tell what's work- ing. To get the most out of your efforts, measure data to understand who your au- dience is and what they respond to. What to do: • Facebook Insights. Once your page gets 30 "likes," you're provided with User In- sights and Interaction Insights, a data tool that allows you to understand and analyze trends. • Understand and use Insights. Insights offer a lot of information. Focus on what means the most to your strategy. • What to measure: 1. Post Views tell you the number of times fans and non-fans view a particular piece of content you post. 2. Post Feedback lets you know how many times your post was interacted with (Likes and Comments). 3. Like Sources shows you a breakdown of the number of likes from places where people can like your page from. 4. Demographics tell you who your audi- ence is and what they look like. 5. External Referrers are the top external domains referring traffic to your page. • "Likes" are a vanity metric because it feels good to have a lot of fans. You'll be tempted to overemphasize the importance of how many fans you have. While it is important that people "like" your page, it may not be the most important metric when you're getting started. Overall, creating a Facebook page for your business is worth the time it takes to run it. Educate yourself, take small steps, anticipate situations based on what others have learned, and document what you learn along the way. Facebook pages can help you develop relationships with exist- ing customers and potential ones in a new way. And that's reason enough! Les Robinson, a five-year veteran with social media, is the social media specialist for Stihl Inc. OPE