5 Creative Facebook Marketing Tips

Facebook is a great place to get your message out. There are the usual methods of using the site: fan pages, group pages, building your profile, gifting, buying advertising space.

Creativity, however can set you apart. It’s an interactive area, so the more interactive you can be the better. I’ve just come up with a couple of quick suggestions for improving your updates that are free, smart and can set you apart.

1. Give your updates brand personality. Find your brand’s sense of humor. If you’re a high end restaurant, be high-brow and witty. If you have the best dive in town, be low-brow and outrageous. If you’re an accountant, well... self-deprecating humor works too.
2. Get creative with contests. People love to win something or even just feel smart. Give them ways to do that. A travel agent might put up random streets all over the world and ask people to guess what city the picture is from. If you’re a band, people love to play name that tune.
3. Reward people with interesting facts. When I worked on the Orkin Pest Control account, we learned that people were intrigued about learning facts about bugs. I wrote songs with lyrics like “In cracks so thin/ that’s where he’s been/ instead of clothes he wears and exoskeleton / Oh, he’s an ant.” People loved them.
4. Use your fans. People need to express themselves. They may even use their talents to express their feelings for your brand. If a 6 year-old draws a great picture of your logo on his placemat, put it up as if your fan page is his grandmother’s fridge. Get your customers involved and they’ll feel more a part of a community.
5. Integrate, integrate, integrate. Don’t separate Facebook from everything else you do. Match your updates with events at your location. If you put up a funny billboard down the street, take a picture and put it on an update. Always, let your fans know about special deals.

Facebook is a great tool if you use it correctly. If you set yourself up only because “you should” then to open yourself up to disappoint your core customers. But by rewarding them, you strengthen your relationship with them.