Facebook

Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration  (What is social media? - Definition from WhatIs.com 2018).

There are many different types of social media which include social networks, media sharing networks, blogging and discussion forums to name a few.  Facebook was created in 2004 and in April 2018 it was reported that worldwide, there are over 2.13 billion monthly active Facebook users for Q4 2017 (Facebook MAUs) which is a 14 percent increase year over year (The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics – Updated April 2018 2018).

1.40 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily and are considered daily active users (Facebook DAU) for December 2017, which represents a 14 percent increase year over year (The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics – Updated April 2018 2018).  

The statistics cannot be ignored, social media and in particular Facebook has an enormous following and it would be foolish of a business to miss out on utilising Facebook to market their business. The diagram pictured below illustrates the number of user interactions with Facebook that occur per minute.

(A New Look at Facebook Trends - 2018)

81% percent of 18 to 29 year-olds, 78% of  30-49 year-olds and 41% of online users ages 65 and up use Facebook as seen by the graph pictured below (Percentage of U.S. adults who use Facebook as of January 2018 2018). 

(Percentage of U.S. adults who use Facebook as of January 2018 2018)

A Review of Facebook Business Pages of Competitors

Before jumping head first into creating a Facebook business page for Mini Steps, I decided to take a look at the pages that represent my competitors for inspiration.  I viewed a number of different pages and I was able to build my page by using a variety of features.

The images above are of my competitors Facebook business home pages, it can be seen that there are similarities amongst all companies.

• Company logos featured as the business' profile picture
• Large, attractive and appropriate cover photo
• Large, visible call-to-action buttons such as 'shop now' and 'sign up'
• Option for customers to send messages through the large messenger call-to-action button
• Username URL represents the brand and is not too long

I have designed by Mini Steps home page using the positive features described above, my company branding and logo can be clearly visible to the customer, as pictured in the screenshot below.

I took a more detailed look at the setup of each of the business pages, the setup is carried out in the initial stages but it can be edited at any point.  I selected the 'shopping' template when I went though my initial page setup, in time I edited the pages to include alternative tabs.  I removed tabs which I thought would not appeal to my customers, which made my page more streamlined and improved the usability.

About

It is incredibly important to introduce the brand and give the customer a clear impression of the business and it's values.  The about page documents the companies mission, its products, awards, milestones and gives a snippet of the company's story.  Since social media is concerned with networking and developing customer relationships it is important that the page is accessible and engaging. Importantly, contact details are displayed in the about page which also enables companies to link their other social media accounts to its Facebook page. Mothercare has a detailed about us page, as seen below.

(Mothercare UK 2018)

Mini Steps about page includes the following:

• An engaging and personal introduction to the company and its humble beginnings
• Description of the products sold
• Address, telephone number and email address
• Awards won by the company for its products
• Website address
• Instagram URL
• YouTube Channel URL

Shop

A great feature of the Facebook business page is that it has a shop tab which can be integrated to the website shop.  This allows visitors to a Facebook page to visit the shop with the click of a button, allowing easy access to products and encouraging sales from the Facebook audience that the website alone may not be able to target. Product images, descriptions and prices can be displayed, just as they are on the e-commerce website and a link to the checkout completes the sale.  The products images and details can be shared by Facebook users which helps further promote sales by capturing a larger audience.

(Boots Parenting Club 2018)

I installed the Facebook for WooCommerce plugin on my Mini Steps site which allowed me to sync the website shop with the Facebook business page, as seen below.



Photos

The photos tab allows further images that promote the brand, they can be pictures that promote sales or discounts or they can offer close ups and better angled shots of products, an example of which can been seen by Clarks below. Pictures of models wearing the shoes can help an undecided customer choose the right footwear for their requirements.  Concerns about certain design elements to the products may be put to rest with pictures of models wearing the shoes. Stand-alone images of products can make it difficult for customers to visualise their actual appearance when worn, extra photos will help give users a better customer experience.

 (Clarks Kids 2018)

I uploaded a number of short albums which help promote a number of areas of the business.  Extra images of products can be seen and an introduction to a new season's product range.  Coloured blocks were used to promote customer reviews, page shares and likes.  The coloured blocks are fun and resemble a childlike quality which is in keeping with the Mini Steps brand.




Videos

In today's mobile-first world, live video serves as a way to connect directly with the followers you have acquired on your social channels instantly (Know 2018).  One way to broadcast videos is to use Facebook Live, where you can hold real-time conversations with followers which is a very powerful way of marketing the brand and developing customer interaction.  JoJo Maman Bebe use videos for a variety of reasons, seasonal videos are published to wish customers well during Easter and Christmas.  Videos are also used for promotional purposes and they help give viewers ideas for fashion ideas, showcasing the latest trends.

(JoJo Maman Bébé 2018)

I have developed two videos which are accessible on the Mini Steps YouTube channel, I have also uploaded these videos to Facebook.  The YouTube channel can be promoted by the Facebook page and attract new subscribers.  The videos can be shared amongst Facebook users and other linked business pages to widen the customer audience.



Instagram

70.7% of US businesses are using Instagram in 2017 (Instagram Statistics 2017 | Smart Insights 2018).  Instagram is a powerful media sharing network, users subscribe to Instagram to find and share photos, video, live video, and other media online. Instagram can be synced to Facebook and vice versa, this enables posts made on either site to become shared with one another.  Mothercare allows followers to post pictures to their Instagram account (and subsequently their Facebook account) by using the #LittleBirdbyJools, as seen below.

(Mothercare UK 2018)

  I have synced the Mini Steps business Facebook page to the Mini Steps Instagram account in order to capture as broad an audience as possible, this can be seen pictured below.

Insights

Facebook allows holders of a business page to view it's insights, which is a valuable marketing aid. Information such as page views, page likes and video views can be accessed easily by the insights tab.  The information given by the Facebook insights analytics will be valuable when assessing the success of marketing campaigns.  Campaigns can be fine tuned and can target audiences to achieve maximum customer exposure.

REFERENCES

 What is social media? - Definition from WhatIs.com (2018). [Online] Available from: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media [Accessed 8 April 2018].

The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics – Updated April 2018 (2018). [Online] Available from: https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/ [Accessed 8 April 2018].

 A New Look at Facebook Trends - (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.tonyseel.com/a-new-look-at-facebook-trends/ [Accessed 8 April 2018].

https://www.statista.com/statistics/246221/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-facebook-by-age-group/ [Accessed 8 April 2018].

Mothercare UK (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mothercareuk/about/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 8 April 2018].

 Boots Parenting Club (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BootsParentingClub/shop/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 8 April 2018].

Clarks Kids (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ClarksKids/photos/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 8 April 2018].

 JoJo Maman Bébé (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pg/jojomamanbebe/videos/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 8 April 2018]

Know, F. (2018) Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know. [Online] Available from: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7761-facebook-business-guide.html [Accessed 8 April 2018].

 Instagram Statistics 2017 | Smart Insights (2018). [Online] Available from: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/instagram-marketing/instagram-statistics/ [Accessed 8 April 2018].