5 tips for ranchers using Facebook
Looking to use Facebook to promote your ranch but not sure how to go about it? Here are five tips for successful social media marketing.
July 6, 2016
If you have ever wondered about online opportunities for marketing your ranch on social media, Facebook presents a huge potential market. Growing immensely in the past decade, the site currently boasts around 1.65 billion monthly users. The great thing about this site is that it can be completely free advertising, but as the site grows, it is becoming harder to stand out. This is where creativity on your part and a set strategy will come into play.
1. Getting started
If you aren’t already on Facebook, visit facebook.com and register for an account, which is completely free. Within minutes you can join and begin participating on this site. Be sure to fill out the information sections, add a photo, and start searching for your friends. From here, you can network with friends and family, sharing updates, photos and interacting with their content.
2. Creating a page for your business
While individuals maintain personal accounts, they can set up Pages for businesses or organizations. As the creator of these pages, you will have administrative rights to update the content and photos. After a Page is created, other users can choose to “like” your page. When someone “likes” a page, the page’s status updates will appear on all follower’s news feeds.
Now that your page is live, it’s time to start creating content that will keep users interacting with your page. To get started, you can invite your personal Facebook friends to like the page by using the options through the Page manager or simply sharing the page to your personal timeline.
READ: Cowboys, cattle & Facebook
3. Content
It is important to update your ranch page just as you would update your personal page. A good start is to use your logo or brand for the profile image, and create an eye-catching cover photo. Facebook can be thought of as a store front, just as your website would be. When people visit your business page, you want to make sure they see a strong presence and get intrigued to “like” and continue seeing your content.
Your photo galleries could feature your recent show champions, best sires or photos from the ranch. It’s also important to share photos of your family or crew working on the ranch, so people begin to feel connected to you. Creating connections with those who follow your content on Facebook will keep them coming back. People want to do business with their friends, so if you’re connecting in a way that’s more than just trying to sell your livestock, you’ll see your Facebook following skyrocket.
4. Strategy
When you begin using Facebook as a marketing tool, you need to have a strategy for posting and types of content you want to publish. With the large amount of users and pages currently on Facebook, it can be hard to stay ahead of the competition. Facebook will know if you’re only using the page for a month out of the year to promote a sale, and may push your content down. You’ll be rewarded for posting regularly and you will also see a better following grow because of it.
Choose two or three days per week to post content to your page. This can be photos of the animals, candids from around the ranch, exciting things that happen, family milestones, or whatever you’re comfortable sharing. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to post content, which is why you have the option to schedule content ahead of time. If you want, you could only go on the page a couple times per month, schedule content out for a few weeks, and not have to remember to keep going back.
5. Interact
It is important to interact with your Facebook fans. If someone comments on your page, or asks a question, make sure you take the time to engage with them. This simple interaction will further help you grow connections with your audience.
Take the time to plan out engaging content that people will want to see. Always remember that you’re representing the ranch and know that people will remember what you post. A ranch Facebook Page is the place where people who can’t be on the ranch go to get to know you. Make sure you are providing them with information that accurately reflects your ranch, family, and business.
Facebook offers a variety of options for both individuals and businesses to get connected – and stay connected to the worldwide community. The immense popularity of this online phenomenon, combined with the fact that it is free, makes it a tool that ranchers should consider using to promote their livestock.
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