Every week I hear at least one person saying they don’t know what to do with their Facebook page. Its a common question for most people with a small businesses.  The amount of information available on the internet can be overwhelming for many people trying to do it on their own. Often the Facebook guides and instructions are not appropriate as they come from companies with a corporate focus that have resources and money to put into social media strategies; as well as client databases in the thousands to use to build a large fan-base.

For a small business the simplest way to learn what do to is to simply follow other companies on Facebook that you believe are ‘switched-on’ so as to see what they do. You can often tell companies who are actively using Facebook as they have three basic traits:

1. They have a number of people who ‘like’ them (could be 100 for a professional services company or 1,000s for a retailer).
2. They have content on their Facebook page that is less than a week old.
3. They have interaction on their Facebook page where they are attempting to engage with followers.

As a starting point think of companies that are in a similar situation to you with similar audiences and business objectives. It is important to differentiate between B2C and B2B. Don’t look at a mass retailer like Vodafone or McDonalds if you are selling a manufactured technical product and targeting niche distributors. You might look for direct competitors and find that none of them are doing much on Facebook either. If that is the case think of parallel or complimentary products or services, and then search on Facebook for the market leaders as they may be using Facebook well. If you sell joinery to builders, think of all the other types of companies that work with and supply builders. If you are an accountant working with businesses, check out prominent law firms, business advisors, Government departments and even business brokers to see what they are doing on Facebook.

Unless it is a direct competitor it is easy to click Like on their Facebook page and then keep up with what they are doing. After a few weeks you’ll get an idea of what initiatives and communications they are focusing on. The aim is not to simply copy them as they are likely using trial and error to test ideas, and you will need to focus on your own audiences and objectives.  The aim is to get a feel for what you could be trying and how to do it.  For companies that don't have the time or confidence to manage Facebook marketing effectively we provide a Facebook Marketing Service where we review and provide monthly ideas and initiatives for your Facebook page, but for those who do want to do it themselves there is alot you can observe and learn if you take the time.