5 Facebook tips every small business should know

But with Facebook the place to be for businesses of all sizes, a little marketing know-how can come in handy. I recently spoke to Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media at Constant Contact, about how to make Facebook a practical and measurable small-business marketing platform.

“When we look at what platforms our small business customers are using for social media marketing, 94 percent of them are on Facebook,” Schmulen says. However, “Most small businesses are doing Facebook without knowing why they’re doing it.”

This is the herd mentality at work. It’s pretty easy to create a Facebook page, but convincing visitors to click the like button and engage in conversation requires different skills. Forrester Research estimates fewer than 15 percent of people who click a like button ever visit the page again. Getting repeat traffic is the special sauce of Facebook success.

Here are five tips that Schmulen recommends:

1. Know your goals.

This sounds simple, but it really isn’t. Depending on your business, your goals might range from generating orders and attracting subscribers to building thought leadership. Whatever your goal is, you need an offer to match.