Well, I’m excited to be back with you for another edition of #MondayMorningBrainDisfunction – the blog series from me to you – just one marketer to the next. You might be thinking this is just a creative way to have a big pity party where we can all share in our misery over having to turn our brains back on now that the weekend is over. And you would be right.
However, this blog is meant to offer a little bit more than just a safe place for your dysfunctional brain (and mine). It is actually a solution to the Monday morning syndrome that we all face – it’s a practical way for us all to get focused and get to work each Monday morning by looking at one, simple, but important aspect of a quality marketing campaign. Last week, we talked about 
the simple power of visual marketing and how to put that to work for your business with a few simple steps.
This week, let’s talk Facebook!
Hopefully, you’re already using Facebook for your business. If not, that would obviously be the first step. I won’t go as far as saying that every business has to be on Facebook. Even the experts agree that each company must assess their buyer personas and analyze their prospective audience’s behavior in order to determine which social networks will yield the best results for them specifically. In other words, if your potential customers are not on Facebook, then you are probably wasting your time on that network (there may be other social networks that would align more with your brand or would better capture warm leads for you – if it’s not Facebook, try LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+).
With that being said, there are over 1 billion people worldwide that use Facebook regularly, so there is a pretty good chance that someone you want to reach is online browsing Facebook today, just waiting for you to post something about your products and services that could help meet a need that they have. Take advantage of this opportunity! Get your business set up with a company FB page and get started.
Today’s SIMPLE, but powerful lesson is on how to build a great Facebook post.
1. Gather the Raw Material
The first step is obvious, but let’s face it, not always the simplest. First, you have to have something worth posting. We will talk more about what kinds of things to post in next week’s Monday blog, so stay tuned. For today’s purposes, let’s assume you want to promote one of your own blogs in a Facebook post.
2. Write Engaging Copy
Look, no one wants to see just a plain old link pop up in their newsfeed. Let me clue you into the conversation that will go on inside the mind of your viewer: “What the heck is that? Is it an article? If so, what’s it about? Do I really want to waste my time clicking on this to find out what it is? No.” And then you’re done. Your effort to write that article and go post it on FB is all for naught…just because you didn’t take the time to write a short, keyword-rich bit of content for your post.
3. Include an Image
This is a sure way to grab the attention of casual FB timeline browsers. Think about it. When you are in line at the grocery store, quickly scanning the last 5 hours of newsfeed updates on your iPhone, which are the posts that actually get your attention? The ones with images, of course. After all, didn’t we learn last week that we are visual learners?
4. Encourage Engagement
Actually facilitating meaningful, authentic engagement first requires a friend-building strategy, which will have to be a lesson for another article. But let’s just start where you are for now. Maybe you don’t have a ton of people liking your company page yet. Well, do you have a few team members who might be willing to get the process started by personally liking, commenting or sharing your post? If even 2 or 3 employees start the engagement process, the chances of your post being seen by a wider network (their friends) rises and more authentic engagement will flow out of those efforts. The main goal here is that you never let a good Facebook post sit by itself – all alone – unnoticed. Don’t let that newsfeed pass it by! Keep it in front of the eyes of your potential customers for a longer period of time by building a conversation around it.
