In my prior article in this series, I discussed website On-Page Ranking Factors for small business websites. This article will cover factors that are considered Off-Page Ranking Factors and how they apply to a small business trying to achieve first page rankings for desired keywords.Continue reading
How to set-up a Facebook Deal for your small business.
Facebook Deals
Facebook Deals is something that has been in testing for as far as I know the last few months, and only a few businesses were allowed to post deals via Facebook, until now. I am setting up a Facebook Deal for one of my customers, so thought I would take this opportunity to put together a brief step-by-step on how to create a deal for your Facebook Small Business Page.
First of all, log in to your account and make sure you are logged in as the business. Go to your “wall” and look for the “edit info” button as pictured below.
Once you click that link, the left column of your Facebook page will populate with different options of areas to edit. Go to the last option labeled “Deals” and click.
From there a screen will populate to the right of this link, with a hyperlink that says “Create a Check-In Deal For This Page”, click it. The next screen that populates will notify you that you must switch to using Facebook as yourself, not as the business, click the button that says “Continue as “Your Name””.
Choosing The Type of Deal
There are currently four types of Facebook Deals for you as a business owner to choose from.
-
Individual Deal – Reward individual customers when they check in at your business. Best for simple discounts or gifts with purchase.
-
Friend Deal – Reward groups of customers when they check in together. Help spread the word about your business more rapidly.
-
Loyalty Deal – Reward customers for visiting your business a certain number of times, similar to a traditional punch card.
-
Charity Deal – Pledge to donate to a charity of your choice when customers check in at your business. A win-win for everyone!
Now obviously you will want to pick the type of deal that will engage your customers and Facebook likes. An Auto Repair Shop probobly wouldn’t want to choose the “Loyalty Deal” as most people get their vehicle worked on once or twice per year, so having someone check-in over that long of a span for some type of “Loyalty Deal” might be a stretch, but for a Coffee Stand, Bowling Alley, or Deli, a loyalty deal would be great.
After choosing your offer type, scroll down to define your offer. Clearly think your offer out. This is not a time to think about how much money you can make of a Facebook Deal, remember you will have plenty of opportunity to upsell, and sell over and over again if the people come in. If your offer isn’t good enough, well they just won’t come at all.
As you can see below, one of my clients decided to offer a Full Service Oil Change for $14.95. At that price he looses money in labor and covers his costs in materials…but he’s thinking of the bigger picture.
Decide if you want a “max redemption” and “repeat claims” for the offer, make sure your read Zuck’s Terms, as it is his playground, then hit submit.
Once you submit, you will come to a screen that will let you know that your offer is in review. Typically from my experience, it take approx. two days to receive notification if the offer was accepted.
Promote your Facebook Deal
Remember this is something you want to go viral…the more people that see it, the better the offer, the more people are exposed to your business. When someone checks into your business to redeem this offer, all their friends on Facebook see it, imagine the possibilities. Promote the deal on your website, as your Facebook likes to share it with their friends and family, promote it in your store, anywhere you can. Then sit back, watch your Facebook likes climb and start thinking of how your going to engage your new found followers.