Facebook Pages are increasingly being used by businesses, large and small, to create an additional online presence and engage their customers with their business on creative new levels yielding amazing results.

But why are Facebook Pages so successful? How does it work? Below are 10 reasons why Facebook Pages work so well; 10 advantages you can’t afford to miss out on:

1. Search Engine Optimisation

Facebook Pages have great SEO benefits because they show up very high in search results for your business. This is because Facebook lists Pages on individual users’ public search listings, thus every user who ‘likes’ your Page is instantly adding another link back to your Facebook Page, improving your Page’s search engine ranking dramatically. On top of this a Facebook Page also provides numerous additional links back to various areas of your website, improving the search ranking of your site.

2. Consumer interaction

This is the most exciting prospect of a Facebook Page. Facebook Pages can facilitate all kinds of 2-way communication between you and your market. In the simplest form this can be done by updating the Page’s status to let your customers know about a particular product or service; and then the members of your group can comment on this and so starts a direct conversation with your customers. Likewise, this can be used to update your members about any changes to your business, any promotions or even to facilitate a competition. However there are also far more creative ways of engaging your customers. Facebook Pages allow for customised applications on your Page and these can range from “join our mailing list” data capture boxes (which increases the reach of your email marketing) to special features, games and competitions. Below are a few inspiring examples of how Facebook Pages have been very successfully used to engage a market, the results of which have been staggeringly successful for their business:

-                Game example:

Volvo (in association with Twilight: Eclipse film) created a game on their Facebook Page, where users could try to find their way around Forks, the setting for the Twilight films. They also combined this with a competition; the first few people to navigate their way to a particular house in Forks in the shortest time would win themselves a Volvo. This along with the fun of the game itself for Twilight fans spread the word of their Facebook Page far and wide as users rushed to tell their friends about it, all hoping they might win a Volvo.

-                Application Examples:

Pizza Hut’s Facebook Page has a great deal of mouth-watering information and image content of their pizza’s and other food offerings. They have then capitalized on their Facebook Page by creating an ‘order now’ application, taking immediate advantage of their user’s newly acquired craving for pizza by allowing the user to order their pizza for delivery right there and then on the Facebook site.

Ben and Jerry’s application was seemingly just a fun thing for members of their site; an application that turns the user’s Facebook status upside down. However, this was a rather clever idea of Ben and Jerry’s, as when users’ friends saw their status upside down, a typical comment would have been something like “Wow, that’s cool. How did you do that?” The response of course would send them to Ben and Jerry’s Facebook Page so they could do it for themselves. This of course gained the Facebook Page more and more members.

-                Promotion Examples:

Sprinkles, a bakery in the USA made great use of their Facebook Page by running a simple promotion; the members of their Facebook Page got access to a secret “phrase of the day”. Quite simply the first 50 people to say the phrase of the day in a Sprinkles store won a free cupcake. This greatly increased footfall in their stores, and after those first fifty people, all those who came in having seen the Facebook Page bought a cupcake anyway, despite not having won it for free.

iTunes also ran a very attractive and successful promotion to their market in the US; “get 20 free songs just for ‘liking’ the iTunes Facebook Page”. As you can imagine this was highly successful, and iTunes’ Facebook Page now has over 5 million members.

All of these examples of consumer interaction bring variety to Facebook Pages and as such has the potential to introduce entirely new customers to the brand, as they may be attracted to the page by the competition or application itself; thus discovering your company along the way.

Consumer interaction is extremely beneficial to businesses; it strongly develops the relationship between you and your customers and generates customer loyalty. The more involved a person is with your Facebook Page the more likely they are to talk to their friends about it and spread the word about your company, and considering approximately 70% of Facebook users engage with Facebook page applications and content each month, this is really quite something.

Interactivity possibilities are constantly increasing in amount, variety and use, especially as Facebook mobile brings a whole new dimension to Facebook Pages. For example, the Sprinkles campaign (mentioned above) was even more successful with Facebook mobile, as their Facebook Page members would see the promotion while they were out and about, and so easily diverted their journey/shopping trip/walk home from work to include a de-tour to the Sprinkles store.

3. Creates a Brand community

There’s more than just your communication with consumers, there’s the communication between the members of your Page themselves. A Facebook Page is a great platform for people who like your company to talk to each other about their experiences of your business, and why they like your brand. They may even recommend your products and services to each other. This is a brand community and it can be very beneficial as it facilitates and cultivates enthusiasm for your brand.

In this way brand communities can strengthen members’ identification with your brand, helping to boost brand image as members pass their message on to others.

And the great thing is that because it’s on a Facebook Page it’s easy to track and influence, so it’s really easy to build brand loyalty among your members.

A good example of this is the Red Bull Facebook Page, which has generated a Red Bull ‘sports culture’ within its Page and this is reflected in the behavior of their members and thus they spread the word of Red Bull in a manner that is representative of the brand.

4. Gain product and service feedback

Having such personal communication available through your Facebook Page is undoubtedly going to have numerous benefits, one of which is that you can see directly what your customers are saying about your brand, products and service. This of course can enable you to resolve any customer issues or queries, and gain much more product and service feedback than you might otherwise receive. This kind of information can also prove vital in market research scenarios as communication from or between your Facebook Page members provides you with important consumer insights, which might lead to helping you to improve your product or service offerings.

5. Drive traffic to your website

A Facebook page is a great additional presence for your business online and greatly compliments you existing website. Your Facebook page can essentially be an extension of your website, and serves to drive increased traffic to your site. With numerous links back to your site, your Facebook Page becomes yet another route through which potential customers can find and reach your website.

6. Share with your community

Because Facebook Page members choose to become so, they open up the way for you to keep in constant contact with your market through uploading content whenever you want. This content will then show up on your members’ news feeds, giving them information about your business in a non-intrusive manner. Members might even look forward to new content being added. You can upload news, pictures, videos… virtually any form of content, so the opportunity for creativity to entice your market is ever present. For example, the Australian Working Holiday Facebook Page (below) has uploaded videos advertising various experiences and adventures in Australia.

You may wonder just how much exposure this actually is; well, considering the average Facebook user is signed in for over 6 hours a month, that’s a lot of potential time in direct contact with your market.  This is also measurable and can be seen with Facebook insights, discussed next.

7. Advanced insights into customers

Having a Facebook Page means you have access to key information about your members. These advanced insights include graphs and stats on the type of users on your Page including male/female split, ages, locations, and other demographic data, the number of active users on your Page, details of their activity and interactivity with your content, and more. This information is not only useful for improving the Facebook Page itself but also gives useful insights into your market as a whole. You can also invite your members to vote in a poll of your creation (yet another consumer interaction possibility), generating more useful data about your market.

8. High potential reach

Ever heard of the 6 degrees of separation theory? Well Facebook is where you really see it work. An average Facebook user has 130 friends in their network, and if one of them “likes” your Facebook Page, potentially all of their 130 friends could see on their news feed that they have “liked” you. Which, in turn, might cause them to investigate, and see your Facebook Page for themselves. Perhaps they’ll also “like” your Facebook Page. Now imagine this process several times over. The potential reach of your Facebook Page is huge. There are approximately 27 million active users of Facebook in the UK – that’s approximately 45% of the population. Find out more >>

9. Increase brand awareness & promote your business

A recent study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, found that 60% of Facebook Page members are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a member. And an impressive 51% of Facebook members are more likely to buy the brands who’s Facebook Page they are a member of.

Member recommendation is a powerful ‘word of mouth’ marketing tool, which is typically far more trusted than traditional marketing messages. As mentioned Facebook has a phenomenal potential reach, hence Facebook Pages are a great way of spreading the word to new customers and getting your brand known.

Also quite apart from the huge reach, a Facebook Page can be completely customized and branded, thus it can become almost as powerful a marketing tool as your website itself.

10. It’s free!

The Page itself on Facebook is completely free – so you’re contacting and engaging with your market, and achieving all these benefits completely free.

What Clicky Media can do for you and your Facebook Page:

Here at Clicky Media we offer a complete Facebook Page design and development service, providing you with the ability to build a Facebook Page and fully customize it according to your needs. This not only includes making the Page stand out and represent your brand, but also using the latest technology to develop specific bespoke features and applications to engage your audience, allowing you access to all the benefits of a Facebook Page as mentioned in this article.

At Clicky Media your service is fully account managed at every stage; we take the time to listen so that we come up with the ideal company profile for you on Facebook and sure your campaign goals are reached. Clicky Media is one of the best and most experienced agencies in the industry, and we pride ourselves on creating Facebook Pages that our clients adore. Why not find out what we could do for you? Give us a call, email or request a quote today.

To find out more about our Facebook Page service click here >>

Some Additional Facebook Page Statistics:

• Globally over 20million Facebook users “like” Facebook Pages every day.
• Approximately 1.5million local businesses have benefited from Facebook Pages.
• Social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from 12% to 24% since last year, according to a recent study by the University of Maryland.

For more Facebook statistics click here >>

Sources: Alexa, Chadwick Martin Bailey, Expeditus Media, Facebook Insights, Facebook Statistics, Google Images, Google Public Data, iModerate, Jeff Thomas Cobb, Mashable, Penn-Olson.