Here are some tips from Stanna Johnson who works at Qwaya.  Completely outside my areas of experience.  Enjoy…..and thanks Stanna!

Facebook Marketing for Startup Brands 

With over a billion people on Facebook, it’s the most vibrant social media site in the history of the Internet. Naturally, thousands of new startup brands are pouring onto the site every week, all in hopes of creating a huge following and boosting their businesses.

If you’re one of the new start-up brands out there looking to carve out your slice of the pie, the first step you need to take is to learn about market via some practical, user-friendly tips.

Tips for the New Facebook Marketer

1: Proper Page Creation

What is your goal on Facebook? Creating a brand and developing an audience is something anyone can do on a social level if they’re playing to the crowd. You’re looking to go well beyond that; you’re looking to attract those most likely to become repeat customers and long-term fans of your page. Think about this while creating your page. A professional brand that plans to cater directly to your market’s needs is what’s more likely to help you with long-term goals rather than a short-term, flash-in-the-pan pandering page. Keep it streamlined and customized, not MySpace-esque.

2: Emphasizing Quality, Frequents Posts

Two mistakes startup marketers make: Either not enough posts or flooding the page with irrelevant posts. You should work on a schedule and release high-quality material. Now, this doesn’t mean the schedule is set in stone, but if you’re updating twice a week, try to keep it coming twice a week. And always work to add something of value in a post. People need a reason to continuously return to your page, not to even mention that they need a good reason to show up in the first place. You have a target market, so give it what it wants via frequent high-quality material.

3: Enticing Sign-ups

Getting people to sign up with something on your site, like a contest or for a free gift, will give you vital information to use to lure more people into your conversion funnel. Sign-ups also make people a part of your personal network, so you can advertise to them more effectively by doing less, i.e. having your posts show up in some of your audience’s news feeds. So think about different ways by which you can influence people to take the action of signing up with an element of your brand.

4: Encouraging Interaction

What’s the number-one way to transform an average fan into a legitimate customer? Engagement. Material that’s engaging also helps you to attract more fans, and it creates a beautiful cycle that will benefit your business in numerous ways. So think about material that evokes a positive reaction from your audience. Think about material that a fan would like to share with their friends. You should encourage engagement and interaction via your brand.

5: Listening to Your Audience

You’re going to receive some negative feedback while advertising on Facebook. There’s no way to avoid it. So one of the best tips you can use is to actually listen to the feedback, unless it’s just vulgar and pointless, and work to correct your approach. You’re targeting a market here. If that market is upset or wants a change, listen to it, hear it, and quickly act.

6: Learning From Your Experience

This is a tip not emphasized nearly enough. The only way to grow as a brand is to grow into the market. You’re most likely not going to have the power to dictate terms to a market, and thus you must adapt to exist within it. By studying the competition, focusing on Facebook ad analytics and touching up campaigns, dealing with different opt-in-inducing features, creating dialogue and interacting, and taking advice, you will begin to learn what it takes to achieve in this type of marketing. The goal, of course, is to realize that you’re never bigger than the market. Learn from it and grow with it.

Becoming a successful brand is never as simple as following some practical tips. However, implementing solid strategic steps does put you in a much better position to achieve success. Everyone has to start from some point, and your willingness to use some sensible tips may just make the process less difficult.

Post written by Stanna Johnson from Qwaya. Stan is an online writer and a social media enthusiast who loves to write about the latest social media trends. Feel free to leave your questions and comments below and she’ll surely answer it.