– RushPRNews: Harness the Benefits and Uses of Facebook for PR Campaigns –

In a short span of time, Facebook has managed to establish itself as one of today’s legitimate tools for public relations, and considering the cost of using Facebook, it is definitely great news, especially for the owners of small businesses. However, just like with the rest of public relations tactics, it is important that you do not immediately start using this particular tool without any strategy in mind, or you will risk losing your money, or worse, losing your good business reputation.

For the past years, a lot of Facebook campaigns have received an explosive response. According to PRDaily.com, one of the campaigns that managed to garner a positive feedback from the consumers and Facebook users alike is the Smiles Orange Juice. This particular brand of orange juice based in Israel has inspired millions of people from different parts of the world to smile as they juice their own oranges. Cadbury also managed to stir a buzz in the online community when it gave people a chance to show their support to the UK team by way of virtual a parade shown on Facebook.

However, not all Facebook campaigns are successful, and there are also some that can be considered as total “fail.” On ThoughtPick.com, for instance, it stated that the Facebook campaign created by WalMart in which it tried using the feature of Facebook pages for marketing itself in an entirely different image has failed miserably. The “practicality” vs. “style” campaign did not do them any good at all, plummeting their campaigns into a deep abyss as soon as they started it.

If you do not want to suffer the same demise as that of the total Facebook fails, there are some things that you have to keep in mind.

First of all, you need to have calls to action, and make sure that they are effective ones as well. Do not assume that people will click your ad even if you did not tell them to. According to studies, most people will likely take action once they see an ad with something as simple as a “Click Here” button.

Secondly, also make sure that you choose the correct type of Facebook advertising in order to guarantee that it will really be effective. At the time of publishing this article, Facebook offers two types of ads, the Premium ads and sponsored stories from Page posts and the Marketplace Ads. 

Premium Ads are favored by many public relations and marketing pundits because users tend to engage more in this kind of ad. With both types of ads, even users not connected to your business will see an ad but in the case of Premiums ads the “sponsored stories expand to show a friend’s profile photo and names of friends connected to your brand alongside your message, all in one.” The Marketplace ads  and sponsored stories from Page posts can appear anywhere on Facebook and are limited to 90 characters.

Thirdly, you should never forget that the modern day users always want and look for more. If you can give them something more than only your services and products, the more reason for them to patronize your brand. Calls to action and the right advertising type will be futile when there is no motivation for them to click your ads. To do this, you can always offer free eBooks, discounts, brochures and others so that more users will click on the ads you have, but what really seems to work is to offer your expertise.

Last but not least, share your knowledge. Offer concrete tips and advice in your field of expertise. Have days for live questions and answers, and use the IM for more private consultations. Have a knowledge corner and take questions. Be generous with your know-how! By taking this approach, you will truly develop brand loyalty. 

PR campaigns using Facebook can be tremendously successful but in order to reach that success, you have to make use of only the best strategies in order for you to fully harness the benefits that it has to offer.

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