Facebook is truly the king of all social media. There are millions of members and millions more signing up each day. So, you, as a merchant, cannot afford to bypass this golden marketing and sales opportunity. Continue to read to find out what you need to do.

Sponsoring a contest can be a fantastic way to get more followers on Facebook. Take advantage of this great idea. Give discounts or prizes to people who share or actively market your page. Always follow through with any contest. If you say you are giving away a prize, make sure you do so.

Increase customer engagement by commenting on the things they post on your Facebook wall. This means checking you wall for questions or comments regularly. Reply back, particularly if it is a complaint or someone who needs service immediately.

Any content published online should be linked to your Facebook page. Link post summaries of blog entries from your site onto Facebook. Your Twitter page and other pages can be linked straight to your Facebook account.

Building a fan base is the first step in marketing through Facebook. Save your major marketing investments for after you have built a base of a few thousand Facebook fans. Once you hit that threshold, you’ll see that your conversion rate heads skyward.

Choose updates carefully. People don’t want to be flooded with sales jargon or spam. Make sure your updates are helpful, educational or entertaining. Try using Facebook Insights to see which updates are more successful than others so you can create similar content for the audience.

Companies that only deal with customers occasionally, such as real estate agents or car dealers, do not need to have a Facebook page. Your customers appear randomly, so there’s no reason for them to follow all your daily posts. Instead, invest your time in creating targeted Facebook ads.

Keep your followers updated regularly on Facebook. This is not to say that you should post multiple times per day, but regular updating is important. Ensure your updates contain excellent information your customers will love.

Allow clients to post comments and thoughts on your page at all times. Sure, you may get some inappropriate content, but if you don’t allow it, your fans will think you don’t care.

Run a contest or competition every now and then with the goal of getting more “likes” on your page. Offer discounts or freebies once you get a sufficient amount of likes. This should get you lots of new subscribers and provides an additional opportunity for your winner to check out your prize.

Get customers to use your Facebook profile to put up reviews. People love to read reviews and often rely on them to make decisions. Potential customers will be more likely to make a purchase if they see the thoughts of satisfied customers on the wall of your Facebook page.

It’s often cheaper for you to hire someone to manage your social media presences than to do it yourself. A successful page requires constant attention, and you may not be in a position to provide it. If you post often, people will see you as more engaging. Although you may have to pay someone to manage your Facebook, it may be worth it in the long run.

Always remember that it’s sometimes impossible to correctly read the intended tone of a post. It is critical that your updates maintain a personal tone that directly engages your audience. Your fans will not appreciate postings that sound as if they were automatically generated by a script.

Facebook marketing is similar to many other methods of marketing in that you should always know who your target audience is. If you want content that doesn’t attract those your products are meant for, you’re not going to be able to raise sales.

See if you can hire outside help if you’re having trouble keeping up with your Facebook page every day. You want your customers to retain a level of excitement about your business so introduce new products and promote your specials. And your fans can even share your posts with their friends.

Add photos to all Facebook updates. Facebook marketing should be used to help your customers relate to you and your product. Use products, your employees, customers or any other appropriate image to get your point across.

Stay in the know when it comes to the new features that Facebook is making available. Your subscribers are probably going to be utilizing the new features when they come out so you have to be sure that you’re using them too. Don’t hesitate testing new features prior to knowing how interested subscribers are going to be.

When you need to be inspired, tap into your Facebook audience. For example, if you feel unsure about a marketing idea you would like to implement, ask your audience how they would feel about it. You’ll get opinions very quickly thanks to the fact many people are on Facebook all day.

Do not think of using Facebook contests for just grabbing more fans, try thinking of them as engaging your current fans. Any new fans acquired from contests may be transient and relatively uninterested. All they want to do is win a prize. Instead, do something with customer loyalty.

Consider search engine optimization if you’re creating a Facebook profile page. Use the keywords you used to optimize traffic to your website, and remember your Facebook page is a great place to include back-links to your website. The powerful keywords may enhance your chances of your Facebook page ranking higher in search results.

Don’t under- or over-post on your page. Posting one or twice a day is fine, but more than that could overwhelm your fans.

As this article stated earlier, Facebook presents an unlimited opportunity for reaching new customers and increasing sales. You should now have information that will help you take your business to the next step. Go ahead and join Facebook today to begin your marketing.