Still using your Facebook page to push product to your followers? People aren’t going to “like” you on Facebook if that’s all you do in social networking, says BeauTiesLtd.com web manager Justin Perdue.
What’s more, aligning your Twitter feed to show up on your Facebook page is not going to get people to click the like button for you, either. You need to be conversational, and get in touch with your own community of followers.
Speaking Wednesday at the Internet Retailer Web Design and Usability Conference, Perdue talked about some of the content initiatives the apparel and accessories merchant took to become more Facebook-friendly.
One way BeauTiesLtd.com engages its fans is importing selected customer reviews.
The company noticed customers that read a customer review on its site are 800% more likely to make a purchase than customers coming in via Facebook, Perdue said. Importing select comments as status updates doesn’t equal sales conversion, but it opens the door to comments about the customer review on the Facebook page.
Subscribing to Google Alerts also helps. As a small merchant, Perdue said Beau Ties can’t afford a celebrity spokesperson. But when the company gets an alert that indicates a celebrity was seen wearing its product, Perdue can post that link to the Facebook page.
Another thing Beau Ties does is fishes for compliments on Facebook. Perdue uses social search sites such as 48ers.com and Social Mention to find out what people are saying about the brand in cyberspace.
If it’s something worth writing about, Beau Ties will join that conversation, and even ask permission to post the comment in its catalog. And more often than not, Perdue said the commenter agrees.
You can also use your Facebook page to poll your fans. If you ask open-ended questions, and your followers are willing to answer truthfully, then you’ve not only created a conversation, Perdue says you’ve created a focus group of your best followers.