Why Your Facebook Marketing Sucks and How to Fix It

“I’m very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.” — Ron Burgundy

Think about every networking or social event you’ve ever been to and you may remember watching everyone deliberately avoiding the person who’s always trying to sell. Nobody likes to get stuck talking to a blowhard self-promoter. Many, many Facebook pages are the digital equivalent of that braggart. If you’re guilty of this, then it’s time to face the truth. Your Facebook marketing sucks.

Look, I totally get it. It’s really hard to figure out what to post on Facebook, especially when you’re not a marketer by trade. Heck, even some marketers are unsure.

It’s doubly difficult to know what to post when you’re not familiar with the social landscape. The fear of making a wrong move is overwhelming, especially when it could cost you everything.

Given that not a day goes by that I don’t see a Facebook page struggling, I felt like I had to share a simple strategy with you. This strategy will help you fix your Facebook page and redirect your Facebook marketing onto a more favorable course. Better for you and your business. Better for your customers.

So many businesses come to Facebook marketing with the WIIFM attitude. “What’s In It For Me” is where we naturally go when focusing on our marketing messages. But when it’s all about you on Facebook, you look a lot like that blowhard (who isn’t half as funny as Ron Burgundy).

The Problem with WIIFM

When it’s all about you, people don’t pay attention to what you say. Why? Because they’re coming from a WIIFM stance too! Your posts will never get shared or talked about. Your business will be devoured by the noise.

The Fix is…WIIFT

There’s a better way to stand out, get noticed and convert your fans into customers. Make it all about them. When you shift your mindset to WIIFT (“What’s In It For Them”) you’ll see changes start to happen. You’ll attract more users; they’ll find your messages interesting, helpful and maybe even entertaining.

Using the WIIFT mentality in your overall content strategy calls for the creation and publication of information that’s tailor made for your ideal (target) customers. You’ll establish a system of publishing content that attracts people in every stage of the buying process.

When developing a Facebook marketing strategy using WIIFT, you must always identify who your target customers are. Answer the following questions about your ideal customers. Let your answers guide you to create content that’s relevant to them:

• What’s important to them?
• What does a successful purchase look like to them?
• What are their questions and concerns?
• What might be holding them back from buying?
• How do they gather information on the road to purchase?
• How to they come to a decision?

There’s One More Thing

Find ways to empower dreams. In many cases, the purchase of your product is a dream for your customers. When you talk about the features and benefits of your product or service, it’s okay but it’s not the dream.

Sure, benefits improve customers’ lives, but not everyone on Facebook is ready to buy today. Features can be technical and have less impact. How boring would 50 Facebook posts about your products’ benefits be? Some of you already know because you’re doing it right now.

What dreams are your customers trying to fulfill with your product? Empower those dreams with your content.

This Facebook marketing and content strategy process is a creative one. It’s not to be conducted as a afterthought or for someone to be doing in their spare time. It’s marketing using a new medium with an unfamiliar process. If you don’t want to suck, then don’t!