How to Move Fans to Customers on Facebook

For many small business owners the idea behind Facebook as a marketing toolsimply does not make sense. This social network may be fun for private use, but when it comes to converting the number of fans you have into the amount of dollars in your bank account, the connection may not always be as clear as you would like. While you may be able to see the numbers of interactions and the amount of engagement with your brand, knowing what that engagement means financially is a little bit harder.

But turning fans into customers is something that businesses of all sizes do every day. While the engagement is nice, the real goal is to get people to your website so that you can convert these fans into paying customers. Here are a few ways how your small business can do this effectively and start turning your likes into profit.

Create Shareable Content
The content that you create goes back to your website where your fans can consume and engage with it. By creating content that is shareable, or something of value that people will be excited to share with their network of friends, you encourage your fans to pass on the word about your brand without asking them to sell for you. People want to pass along something that is fun, interesting, or entertaining. Your brand will have far better results if you provide this type of content to your fan base instead of simply asking them to share that they like you. By giving them a reason to pass on links to your website, you encourage more people in their network to visit you outside of Facebook and there is where you have the potential to convert these visitors into paying customers.

Create a Way for Fans to Opt-In to Hear from You
Once you have fans on your website, you want to capture that lead. Through you content that was good enough to share, you have created a place to capture leads. Put a sign up form or hold a contest where you can get your fans to hand over their personal information and actually agree to hear from you outside of Facebook. This can be through an e-mail sign up list, a contest, or a free trial of your product.

If you are still having trouble getting fans to your external site, you also have the option of keeping your sign up form in Facebook. With the number of apps available, small businesses like yours can create a contest or sign up from within Facebook to capture leads directly from your Facebook fan page. This will turn those people who are already engaged with your brand by liking your status updates and photos into leads that can be nurtured away from Facebook too.

Nurture Your Leads
Once you have a way to contact your fans outside of Facebook, use this to your advantage. Nurture your leads to keep them interested and intrigued by what your company has to offer. To do this, you can send interesting content to their inboxes: offer something special for handing over their prized contact information, or reach out to them on a more personal level to ask for the sale or to provide a free trial. Regardless of how you approach your new leads, be sure to take caution in nurturing them too much to the point that you may scare them away.

Turning a fan into a customer takes some work outside of Facebook, but when done right, your small business can grow. Get your fan to your website and connect with them away from Facebook so that you can really sell to them.