[WARRIOR GUIDE] 3 Crucial Steps to Begin "Successful" Facebook Marketing
Hey Everyone,
Every now and then, a newcomer to Online Marketing needs a solid "one-stop" place to start. That can be Article Marketing, Social Media Marketing, among many others. But rarely ever is there a way for a newbie (or even an experienced marketer at times) to step into a new market using a new method or technology, without having to search and rummage through a tonne of free resources scattered all over the web, or pay for a "course" - slight hint of sarcasm there.. only slight
I began my journey many years ago, learnt most things the hard way, had $0.00 when I started out and ran into several scams along the way that depressed me even more.
Looking back at those days, and at where I am today (wherever that may be), I can't help but think how difficult it must be for the aspiring to get into successful marketing today, with all the competition and all the scatter of products and services out there.
Given that the Warrior Forum is probably the one place on the web where everyone from Newbie to Professional stops by for something or the other, I think sharing my experiences and accumulated knowledge here would best serve everyone's interests.
I could have packaged everything I write into an "eBook" like most people, but I prefer to leave everything out in the open so everyone has a chance to learn and think without the burdens of opting in to receive 10 thousand emails a month or paying for something that is otherwise common sense in many ways.
--
This is the first of a series of guides (you can call them tutorials or thought-packs if you wish
) that will take my experiences and whatever I know (to whatever level of expertise I've accumulated over time), and it's on using Facebook Marketing as a means to start out in creating or maintaining an Online Business.
I will attempt to keep these guides coming in as quickly as possible, but make no promises that I will write one for the Warriors here every 24 hours
--
So here we go:
Facebook is just one in a plethora of social networks on the web today. It is however, the most powerful of platforms to create and maintain an effective online business. Whether you're a newbie, or a professional who has yet to get into social network related marketing, it's quite possible that you're approaching social media (especially Facebook) for the first time, which is alright, but if it is the case, then you're missing out on some serious opportunities that Facebook has to offer.
Many people take to Facebook marketing for a number of reasons, and for those who are new to it, these are usually because the person concerned has inherited a failed product, not made any sales using other means (not enough traffic, not enough of an interested base of buyers, etc etc. the list could go on).
The bottom-line being, Facebook presents every marketer, old and new, with a huge opportunity for viral exposure. But being absolutely huge, Facebook comes with its challenges..
Where should you start?
Who on Facebook belongs to your niche (market)?
How do you create or recalibrate your existing product to be successful on Facebook?
Should you even be on Facebook promoting your business? And if so, what exactly do you need to do at first to be successful doing it?
These among possibly hundreds of other questions come to mind, and it's always good to be able to get fast answers to them to help you tap into the massive wealth of opportunities available to marketers on Facebook, and more importantly, to make fast but effective decisions to be able to capitalize on them.
So, if you're starting out, have ideas for a product you want to create for a niche you think needs it, or already have one, then following these 10 steps "before" you even begin marketing the idea or product or yourself, are definitely going to help you make better decisions.
Making good decisions is crucial when you're in the Internet Marketing Industry. There are too many of us everywhere now, and each is trying to outwit the other So if your decisions are solid, or atleast have come about after some thought and intelligent analysis of the available opportunities on Facebook (in this case), then you're going to be off on a great start.
Step 1: Recognition
Recognition is an area most marketers tend to ignore at first. It is extremely important to understand that Facebook's hundreds of millions of users occupy hundreds of thousands of different niche markets, each having a unique set of demands and suppliers (other marketers providing for these demands). Your idea, product or service needs to be recognized by your potential target prospects as something they could definitely do with, that they could use in their daily lives, that they could spend money on and get every bang for their buck.
So a few important questions you need to ask yourself are:
1. What is so cool about your idea, product or service?
2. Why would people need it?
3. Would they use it regularly?
4. Is the utility or value of your product (one you will hopefully create with your idea) at least twice or thrice (if not more) as much as the price of the product? Remember, Facebook is a viral community. The higher the value, and the cheaper the decision, the more viral your campaign could be.
5. What is the most recognizable feature of your idea, product or service? e.g. Do you provide anything that other products don't? Does your product provide everything other products do and more, at say half the price?
Make sure you write everything you think. Take notes, jot things down on post-its, make an excel spreadsheet with date-wise tables of what you were thinking, and what you did about it. This helps you understand your own idea better! Nothing is crystal clear at first! It needs refinement, and constant evolution of decisions before you arrive at "bang! That's it.. that's what I'm going to sell"
Step 2: Mascot Creation
Huh? You think.. Yeah, most people don't regularly come across this one. A mascot, a fictitious character or object you could associate with your idea, product, service or brand, who "is" that very thing that you're trying to sell?
Bet a lot of you didn't think about that one, and if you did, you probably haven't implemented it yet.
Having a mascot is an extremely powerful tool, ESPECIALLY when you're marketing to a social network like Facebook. People love unique and different things. People love to be entertained. Entertaining campaigns generate viral exposure, and viral sales.
Take the CompareTheMarket.com's Meerkat for example.. How cool is that eh? People look forward to the Meerkat more than the company in their advertising just beautiful.. they have managed to create a viral campaign for insurance products using a Meerkat with a Russian accent.. That is called "pure genius".
Think about it. Think about whether your product could do with a mascot, and if so, could you frame your marketing to pitch the mascot forward before your product, so that people are kept interested, so that you can generate some viral interest in your brand, and with the interest comes exposure, and with exposure comes opt-ins and sales. It's a tried and tested formula.
Remember, Facebook is a viral place. One little status update with a captivating title and mascot is enough for hundreds of people to "like" and post around to their friends. It can mean an amazing amount of traffic in absolutely no time, and with traffic comes any hope for success.
Take the "man with the golden voice" video on YouTube for example. How awesomely unexpected were the hits to that video? Over 3 million hits in 2 days or something? For what? A guy who had a cool voice.. and it captivated millions of people in under 24 hours.
That is the power of viral integrity in your campaigns.
Step 3: Goal Creation
Think about what your idea, product or service aims to achieve. Is it something you're going to sell? If so, is your major incentive in creating the idea, just sales? Or could it also be sales and brand recognition? Sales and a great image in the target market? Or just a great image in the target market with no sales - free products?
Take Frank Kern's example. The guy has used "Free" to fuel his incredibly successful image and business. It works.
Give yourself the time and space to think about the specific goals of your idea. Don't step into internet marketing thinking that you're in it to make the big bucks in the short term. If you have that mentality, then the chances of succeeding in the short term (thought not negligible) are fairly slim.
Facebook presents an opportunity to target hundreds of thousands of people in your target market. If you're new to the game, or say just new to your target market on Facebook, it's in your best interests to go the free route first. Work on a compelling idea, work on a cool, funky mascot, work on some cool video clips to generate interest in your idea, product or service, and market it on Facebook. Don't go the "I'm going to make sales" route at first. It's not the best place to start. Use the viral power of Facebook to strengthen your fort as I like to say.
Here's a scenario:
1. You come up with an idea, you invest some time and effort into refining it, researching who, what and where would need the product, and who is currently on Facebook with interests that show that the product would be something they're interested in.
2. So you go ahead and make a few YouTube videos, set up a reasonably cool landing page with a Sign-up Form (I'll talk more about this in other posts here on WF), with your cool mascot's video clearly placed in view for someone to see it immediately when they hit your Facebook Profile or landing page.
3. If you make your product free, that's a lead magnet (people will give you their email address in exchange for it). However, if you pre-sell the "free" product with a cool, funky mascot pitching the "problem" and the "solution" the prospect needs, it instills in the prospect the desire to find out more, because the video has been an enjoyable experience, they've found it's put a smile on their face, or lit a light bulb in their heads, or something along those lines.. The "free" product then becomes secondary.. The prospect wants to opt in because not only are you offering something for free, your mascot's done an awesome job convincing them
And if it's cool, Facebook is the place to put it. A few messages, status updates, and re-updates and re-posts of your cool clip, could get you a tonne of traffic without much work, getting you solid leads, building your email list and securing you the opportunity to market back to these prospects with less work next time.
--
"So what about this "mascot"? How do I create one? I'm no graphic designer.. How on earth do I make a cool clip with an animated mascot..?! This won't work for me.."
..are some questions that just hit you.
It's not hard at all!
Here's a quicky example of how easy it can be:
Take two pieces of paper, draw black and white characters, one facing left and placed on the right-hand side of the image, and another facing right and placed on the left side of the image.
Now put these two images into the background of a new MS Powerpoint Presentation and start creating a "video" of sorts with text inserts as subtitles. Make around 10 slides and when you're recording your video, flip through each slide while you speak the text or elaborate on it.. Use it like a teleprompter, but the video you will end up making will be a LOT more enjoyable than these "white background, text in the middle, pause controls hidden" kind of videos.
--
These 3 steps are only 3 of several tens of steps you need to follow, BUT, they are 3 of THE most crucial to successfully "starting" out in Facebook Marketing. So think about them, introduce objectivity and creativity in your methods and you will undoubtedly see more "response" to your efforts than the used-and-abused methods going around everywhere these days.
I'm a little tired from all the writing at the moment, so I'll stop now, but I will be back to share loads more
Hope you guys enjoy it. More to come!
Cheers,
Ange
Every now and then, a newcomer to Online Marketing needs a solid "one-stop" place to start. That can be Article Marketing, Social Media Marketing, among many others. But rarely ever is there a way for a newbie (or even an experienced marketer at times) to step into a new market using a new method or technology, without having to search and rummage through a tonne of free resources scattered all over the web, or pay for a "course" - slight hint of sarcasm there.. only slight
I began my journey many years ago, learnt most things the hard way, had $0.00 when I started out and ran into several scams along the way that depressed me even more.
Looking back at those days, and at where I am today (wherever that may be), I can't help but think how difficult it must be for the aspiring to get into successful marketing today, with all the competition and all the scatter of products and services out there.
Given that the Warrior Forum is probably the one place on the web where everyone from Newbie to Professional stops by for something or the other, I think sharing my experiences and accumulated knowledge here would best serve everyone's interests.
I could have packaged everything I write into an "eBook" like most people, but I prefer to leave everything out in the open so everyone has a chance to learn and think without the burdens of opting in to receive 10 thousand emails a month or paying for something that is otherwise common sense in many ways.
--
This is the first of a series of guides (you can call them tutorials or thought-packs if you wish
) that will take my experiences and whatever I know (to whatever level of expertise I've accumulated over time), and it's on using Facebook Marketing as a means to start out in creating or maintaining an Online Business.I will attempt to keep these guides coming in as quickly as possible, but make no promises that I will write one for the Warriors here every 24 hours
--
So here we go:
Facebook is just one in a plethora of social networks on the web today. It is however, the most powerful of platforms to create and maintain an effective online business. Whether you're a newbie, or a professional who has yet to get into social network related marketing, it's quite possible that you're approaching social media (especially Facebook) for the first time, which is alright, but if it is the case, then you're missing out on some serious opportunities that Facebook has to offer.
Many people take to Facebook marketing for a number of reasons, and for those who are new to it, these are usually because the person concerned has inherited a failed product, not made any sales using other means (not enough traffic, not enough of an interested base of buyers, etc etc. the list could go on).
The bottom-line being, Facebook presents every marketer, old and new, with a huge opportunity for viral exposure. But being absolutely huge, Facebook comes with its challenges..
Where should you start?
Who on Facebook belongs to your niche (market)?
How do you create or recalibrate your existing product to be successful on Facebook?
Should you even be on Facebook promoting your business? And if so, what exactly do you need to do at first to be successful doing it?
These among possibly hundreds of other questions come to mind, and it's always good to be able to get fast answers to them to help you tap into the massive wealth of opportunities available to marketers on Facebook, and more importantly, to make fast but effective decisions to be able to capitalize on them.
So, if you're starting out, have ideas for a product you want to create for a niche you think needs it, or already have one, then following these 10 steps "before" you even begin marketing the idea or product or yourself, are definitely going to help you make better decisions.
Making good decisions is crucial when you're in the Internet Marketing Industry. There are too many of us everywhere now, and each is trying to outwit the other
So if your decisions are solid, or atleast have come about after some thought and intelligent analysis of the available opportunities on Facebook (in this case), then you're going to be off on a great start.Step 1: Recognition
Recognition is an area most marketers tend to ignore at first. It is extremely important to understand that Facebook's hundreds of millions of users occupy hundreds of thousands of different niche markets, each having a unique set of demands and suppliers (other marketers providing for these demands). Your idea, product or service needs to be recognized by your potential target prospects as something they could definitely do with, that they could use in their daily lives, that they could spend money on and get every bang for their buck.
So a few important questions you need to ask yourself are:
1. What is so cool about your idea, product or service?
2. Why would people need it?
3. Would they use it regularly?
4. Is the utility or value of your product (one you will hopefully create with your idea) at least twice or thrice (if not more) as much as the price of the product? Remember, Facebook is a viral community. The higher the value, and the cheaper the decision, the more viral your campaign could be.
5. What is the most recognizable feature of your idea, product or service? e.g. Do you provide anything that other products don't? Does your product provide everything other products do and more, at say half the price?
Make sure you write everything you think. Take notes, jot things down on post-its, make an excel spreadsheet with date-wise tables of what you were thinking, and what you did about it. This helps you understand your own idea better! Nothing is crystal clear at first! It needs refinement, and constant evolution of decisions before you arrive at "bang! That's it.. that's what I'm going to sell"
Step 2: Mascot Creation
Huh? You think.. Yeah, most people don't regularly come across this one. A mascot, a fictitious character or object you could associate with your idea, product, service or brand, who "is" that very thing that you're trying to sell?
Bet a lot of you didn't think about that one, and if you did, you probably haven't implemented it yet.
Having a mascot is an extremely powerful tool, ESPECIALLY when you're marketing to a social network like Facebook. People love unique and different things. People love to be entertained. Entertaining campaigns generate viral exposure, and viral sales.
Take the CompareTheMarket.com's Meerkat for example.. How cool is that eh? People look forward to the Meerkat more than the company in their advertising
just beautiful.. they have managed to create a viral campaign for insurance products using a Meerkat with a Russian accent.. That is called "pure genius".Think about it. Think about whether your product could do with a mascot, and if so, could you frame your marketing to pitch the mascot forward before your product, so that people are kept interested, so that you can generate some viral interest in your brand, and with the interest comes exposure, and with exposure comes opt-ins and sales. It's a tried and tested formula.
Remember, Facebook is a viral place. One little status update with a captivating title and mascot is enough for hundreds of people to "like" and post around to their friends. It can mean an amazing amount of traffic in absolutely no time, and with traffic comes any hope for success.
Take the "man with the golden voice" video on YouTube for example. How awesomely unexpected were the hits to that video? Over 3 million hits in 2 days or something? For what? A guy who had a cool voice.. and it captivated millions of people in under 24 hours.
That is the power of viral integrity in your campaigns.
Step 3: Goal Creation
Think about what your idea, product or service aims to achieve. Is it something you're going to sell? If so, is your major incentive in creating the idea, just sales? Or could it also be sales and brand recognition? Sales and a great image in the target market? Or just a great image in the target market with no sales - free products?
Take Frank Kern's example. The guy has used "Free" to fuel his incredibly successful image and business. It works.
Give yourself the time and space to think about the specific goals of your idea. Don't step into internet marketing thinking that you're in it to make the big bucks in the short term. If you have that mentality, then the chances of succeeding in the short term (thought not negligible) are fairly slim.
Facebook presents an opportunity to target hundreds of thousands of people in your target market. If you're new to the game, or say just new to your target market on Facebook, it's in your best interests to go the free route first. Work on a compelling idea, work on a cool, funky mascot, work on some cool video clips to generate interest in your idea, product or service, and market it on Facebook. Don't go the "I'm going to make sales" route at first. It's not the best place to start. Use the viral power of Facebook to strengthen your fort as I like to say.
Here's a scenario:
1. You come up with an idea, you invest some time and effort into refining it, researching who, what and where would need the product, and who is currently on Facebook with interests that show that the product would be something they're interested in.
2. So you go ahead and make a few YouTube videos, set up a reasonably cool landing page with a Sign-up Form (I'll talk more about this in other posts here on WF), with your cool mascot's video clearly placed in view for someone to see it immediately when they hit your Facebook Profile or landing page.
3. If you make your product free, that's a lead magnet (people will give you their email address in exchange for it). However, if you pre-sell the "free" product with a cool, funky mascot pitching the "problem" and the "solution" the prospect needs, it instills in the prospect the desire to find out more, because the video has been an enjoyable experience, they've found it's put a smile on their face, or lit a light bulb in their heads, or something along those lines.. The "free" product then becomes secondary.. The prospect wants to opt in because not only are you offering something for free, your mascot's done an awesome job convincing them
And if it's cool, Facebook is the place to put it. A few messages, status updates, and re-updates and re-posts of your cool clip, could get you a tonne of traffic without much work, getting you solid leads, building your email list and securing you the opportunity to market back to these prospects with less work next time.
--
"So what about this "mascot"? How do I create one? I'm no graphic designer.. How on earth do I make a cool clip with an animated mascot..?! This won't work for me.."
..are some questions that just hit you.
It's not hard at all!
Here's a quicky example of how easy it can be:
Take two pieces of paper, draw black and white characters, one facing left and placed on the right-hand side of the image, and another facing right and placed on the left side of the image.
Now put these two images into the background of a new MS Powerpoint Presentation and start creating a "video" of sorts with text inserts as subtitles. Make around 10 slides and when you're recording your video, flip through each slide while you speak the text or elaborate on it.. Use it like a teleprompter, but the video you will end up making will be a LOT more enjoyable than these "white background, text in the middle, pause controls hidden" kind of videos.
--
These 3 steps are only 3 of several tens of steps you need to follow, BUT, they are 3 of THE most crucial to successfully "starting" out in Facebook Marketing. So think about them, introduce objectivity and creativity in your methods and you will undoubtedly see more "response" to your efforts than the used-and-abused methods going around everywhere these days.
I'm a little tired from all the writing at the moment, so I'll stop now, but I will be back to share loads more
Hope you guys enjoy it. More to come!
Cheers,
Ange
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