By Erika Icon

YNOT EUROPE – These days, it’s difficult to imagine that any company could complete its marketing portfolio without a Facebook account. If your company doesn’t have a Facebook page, you need to rethink your marketing strategy.

A Facebook page should be an integral part of any online business — and most offline businesses. Recent statistics indicate 96 percent of small businesses have a company page on the social-networking giant, and 71 percent of the fastest growing companies on Inc. magazine’s 500 list have one.

But it’s not enough to simply erect a Facebook billboard. To get the most out of your presence on the network, keep three things in mind: customer service, content and connections.

Customer Service
Owning a Facebook page where customers can post reviews, comments and complaints is essential. You need to connect with your customers to earn brand loyalty and respect. If your customers tell their friends to “like” your page, you could find a whole new audience ready to try your product or service.

Make sure to respond to all comments, good and bad, within 24 hours, and personalize the customer experience. Set your account to deliver an email message every time someone posts to your page so you don’t miss anyone. Thank your fans for their kind words or deal with customer complaints head-on to let people know your company cares.

Try interacting on Facebook for five or 10 minutes a day and see what a difference it makes. By making your Facebook presence a priority, you’ll make your customers or fans feel important and valued. Also, make sure you receive email alerts when someone posts to your page—this will help you stay on top of things.

Content
Content is what lures viewers — current and potential customers — to Facebook pages and keeps them there. Content also serves as a face for your company. How do you want people to see you?

Make sure to keep your content fresh. Spend five minutes a day, every day, freshening up your page. Offer promotions that are available only to followers of your page, and track how well your page is doing. Use your page to disseminate company news and information. Add photo galleries of your products, and post outside links. You can even allow your customers to post their photos of your product or service. You want people to come back again and again. So engage, engage, engage.

Give your customers the ability to shop from your company page. Add a “buy now” button that will take buyers to your website. Have a contest that encourages new users to “like” your page. Develop an app. Apps make it easy to update and post every day.

Connections
Company pages can be a public relations machine that helps build connections. Send a message to your fans about special events online and in the real world. Be aware, though: People don’t like to see marketing messages constantly. Create surveys for new products in order to win instant feedback. Connect with your audience to keep and grow your customer base.

Although it may seem like a popularity contest, Facebook isn’t and shouldn’t be used as one. It’s to attract new customers, retain old ones and, of course, make sales. Slow and steady wins the race, so go for the long-term goal of building brand loyalty one person at a time instead of embarking on a hostile takeover.

In real life and the cyber world, business is all about building connections. Once you get the connections, make sure to nurture them. Remember the first “C”: customer service.

It’s easy to take advantage of the 3 Cs. Spend time developing your company’s Facebook presence, and you may be surprised by the rewards you reap.