A Facebook business page can be an integral way to keep in touch with your existing customers—and can help you plug into a massive audience of new prospects. The social media giant had 1.13 billion daily active users as of June 2016.

You may already have a personal Facebook page, but if you haven’t already created a business page, doing so may seem daunting.  The good news is that’s easy to create one. As of 2015, more than 40 million small businesses had active Facebook business pages. There’s a reason that so many small business owners are spending the time and effort on Facebook: it’s free and holds a lot of potential to reach your target audience when executed correctly.

Here’s a crib sheet to get you started quickly:

Nail the basics. Facebook offers an excellent tutorial on how to set up your business page. Once you’ve logged in to your personal account, click the drop arrow in the top right corner and choose “Create Page.”

From there it’s a matter of choosing a business category, such as “local business or place” or “company, organization or institution,” choosing an industry-specific category such as “American restaurant,” or “Antiques and vintage,” and filling out your profile as extensively as possible. It’s important to accurately classify your business so that your company will appear in related searches on Facebook.

Fill out your profile. Facebook allows you to include a lot of information about your business that can pull customers to you, so take the time to fill out your page accurately. Add your page to your favorites on your personal Facebook account, so it will be easy to find on the left sidebar when you log in.

A key part of your business page is adding a company description and a web address (if you have one). Think carefully about your company description so the words you use will pull you into keyword searches on the site for services like your own.

Make it pop. The profile picture on your business page is the first impression for page visitors so make sure it immediately showcases your business. You can use anything from your logo, to a storefront image to a shot of one of your products. Whatever you choose, make sure that it will be easily recognizable by potential customers.

Many companies like to add a cover photo, as well. This is the large photo you see on top of some profile pages. Some businesses upload a photo they already have, while others hire a professional to create a cover image for them that reflects their brand.

Meal delivery company, Blue Apron, does a stellar job of drawing visitors in right off the bat with their enticing cover photo. For more creative examples to inspire you, check out the blog Design School’s post on creative covers. If you need a professional to create the type of Facebook cover you want, you can find one on freelance sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, 99Designs, Freelancer and PeoplePerHour.

Connect. A Facebook business page will only be helpful to you if customers and prospects actually visit it. Many businesses run campaigns to start building up Facebook fans, so they can attract relevant traffic and engagement on their page. Companies can use their page to feature anything from a sale or giveaway to photos of their company culture.

Another option is to send out a link to your Facebook business page to your existing customer base and ask them to “Like” your page in exchange for some sort of incentive, service or sample.

Target your page. The ideal Facebook business page will pull in customers who will want to buy from you. Facebook Audience Insights is a data-capturing tool that will give you valuable information on your visitors’ demographics and engagement levels, so you can tell if your current content is attracting them.

Inspire customers to buy. As you’ve probably discovered in running your business, a call to action can motivate customers to decide to buy. The same is true on Facebook, which offers call to action buttons like “Book Now,” “Shop Now,” “Watch Video” and “Sign Up.”

To boost customer acquisition, try adding one or more of these buttons to the top of your page.  Dollar Shave Club, which sells razor blades, is a good example of company that has used a call-to-action creatively. Its Facebook page has a button that says “Sign Up,” where you can go to the company’s site and sign up for the club.

Adding call to action buttons is important. Ultimately, there’s no better return on the effort you invest in building a robust Facebook business page than the sales you make as a result (and it’s FREE to create).

The other night I went out to dinner (at a restaurant that shall remain nameless) and was totally underwhelmed by my customer experience. Crabby waitress, poor service and the food was, well ….meh. Not to mention the menu had about 8 million options and I had no clear idea of what they were good at or what I should order — analysis paralysis set in.

Chances are I won’t be returning to that restaurant anytime soon. I’m sure you can relate — after all, who hasn’t had a bad customer experience?

Today, a positive or negative customer experience (CX) is the make or break factor for your small business success. Especially in this hyper-connected era of online reviews and automated customer service.

Consumers have access to a plethora of information online and more choices than ever. And they are impatient. They want what they want when they want it. Whether you are working in the B2C or B2B marketing world, your potential customers are busy and have short attention spans (shorter than the attention span of a goldfish, remember?).

The online world can be a distracting, chaotic place. Not only do you have to gain your readers’ and website visitors’ attention, you have to keep it. You have to deepen it. You have to reward it. You have to build momentum that leads visitors to become buyers.

Succeed at delivering a great customer experience, and you will reap the rewards. Fail and your business will suffer. So how do you deliver a great CX?

Write Right

“No one cares about your product except you”
David Meerman Scott – Author, The New Rules of Marketing And PR

Your online visitors aren’t spending time on your site because they care about your awesome products and your wonderful company, per se. They care about their needs and wants. They are on your site because they have a problem they want to solve or a goal that’s important to them, and they are sincerely hoping you can help.

With an understanding of this mindset, focus your content, especially the first impression elements such as headlines and descriptions of your product or company, on what your readers need. Address their problems in empathetic terms and go on to explain how you can help them overcome those problems. Only talk about yourself after you have addressed their objections to “prove” you can backup your claims.

A great example of this is customer service software provider Helpscout. Instead of listing off the features of their product, the content on their homepage is directed at delivering a more humanized experience to their customers to make sure it’s one that they will remember:

By tailoring your online copy to your ideal buyers pain points, you’ll improve the chances that visitors stay on your site and ultimately make it to the customer side of the fence.

Another key to nailing the customer experience is to make content digestible and discoverable on your website. So if you’re creating a blog post, instructional guide or resource, stay away from buzzwords and jargon. Focus on establishing a friendly, conversational tone. Gear your content toward topics that truly resonate with your audience.

Video hosting provider Wistia does an awesome job at this. While their core business is video hosting, they focus on giving their readers valuable content designed to help them make better videos. One of their recent blog posts gives a straightforward, helpful review of the Canon 5D Mark IV video features.

But beyond just a review, their team took the time to put together a friendly, approachable video with their feedback on the new gear. Not only does it help educate their audience but it gives their online visitors a reason to engage with them no matter where they are in the buying process.

Gain Instant Feedback

In order to deliver a remarkable experience to your customers online, you need to put the right tools in place to gain important feedback. Simple tools like surveys and website heat maps such as Crazy Egg can show you the actions your online visitors are taking and what where they are engaging with most.

It allows you to make real-time changes to better align your site, landing pages and content with their needs. By seeing where they are clicking, scrolling, and converting, you can craft an online experience that directly matches their behavior and delivers more of what they’re looking for.

Another great way to create an effective customer experience online is through the use of live chat tools. In fact studies show that customers prefer live chat over other methods of support. Did you know that live chat has the highest satisfaction levels of any customer service channel, with 73%, compared to just 44% for phone? With online chat, your customers and prospects can get their burning questions answered more quickly–reducing the chance they will bounce and helping to move them further down the sales path.

Sell as a Service

Often the first impression that buyers experience of companies online is rooted in their sales experience. Why? Because it’s a foreshadowing of the business’s culture, values and their ability to keep promises after the sale is made.

Don’t believe me?

Just think back to the last time you checked into a hotel. Did a positive or negative experience at the front desk set the tone for your stay? Chances are it did.

So don’t look at selling as a “necessary evil.” Look at it as something you do for your prospects and customers to serve them. Provide them with the information and the online resources they need to make the most informed decision possible.

The truth is sales, done right, is a service. If you have a product that solves a problem your prospect is experiencing, doesn’t it make sense to offer it to him? Of course it does. Don’t be afraid to ask your online visitors to take the next step. Make sure the calls to action on your website, landing pages and in social posts are simple and clear and let them know where you want them to click.

If you are selling your products online, explain what customers will receive with their purchase and how you will support their buying decision. If you are offering a demonstration of your product, be clear about what the next step of the sales process entails.

Above all else: follow up. One of the easiest ways to show future customers the love is to reach out to them in a timely fashion. The speed of your follow-up can mean the difference between a sale or a lead going cold. A speedy response will help you convert more customers and make your customers feel confident about your business’s ability to deliver a great experience.

Be Social

Social is no longer just a channel to market your business and sell your wares. It has become an invaluable platform to engage your customers and deliver a remarkable online experience. Conversations on social media platforms are happening every second of every day and if you aren’t taking advantage of social as a part of your online customer strategy, you’re getting left behind.

There are a few keys to delivering a great CX on social. First, be responsive. The expectation has been set that when someone reaches out you or posts a comment about your business, they want to be acknowledged and heard as quickly as possible. Leaving unanswered posts destroys your brand’s credibility and tells the online community that your customers aren’t important:

Next, be human. If at all possible avoid canned responses. Take the time to address your social followers and fans in a one-to-one fashion. When a customer runs into a snag, don’t hide it, embrace it. Reach out to them and let them know you hear them and are working on a solution.

Finally, listen to what your social audience is saying. Chances are there is connection to what they are talking about and sharing and what is most important to them. Use tools like Buffer and Buzzsumo to stay on top of analytics and trends. With valuable social data about your buyers, you’ll be in better position to shape your products, services and online content for your current and future customers.

Go Offline

Focus on delivering a superb customer experience whether online or offline. Make an effort to do the little things your customers will appreciate (and will remember down the road). Here’s an old school idea: when someone makes a purchase online, send them a handwritten thank you note. This simple gesture will grab their attention, and they will love it!

If you see that a valued customer is celebrating a wedding or an important life event such as having a baby, go out of your way to let them know you care:

Thoughtful offline actions like this, and stellar post-sale service will help you ensure that your customers have a remarkable online experience and build brand loyalty beyond measures.

The importance of a memorable customer experience cannot be reiterated enough. It will be the differentiating factor in a buying decision and the deciding factor in customer lifetime value so be sure to make it worthwhile.

You need leads.

You need a steady stream of prospects who are interested in doing business with you coming through that marketing funnel. Granted, you’d like them to buy your product the second they find you, but even when they’re looking for the type of solution you offer and have the means to pay for it, immediate action is a rarity – especially for B2B businesses.

Lead generation takes a lot of work – whether it’s investing time and resources into a strategy like content marketing, or putting marketing spend towards online advertising.  So it’s a shame to see most of your hard work go to waste when only a few your hard-earned leads buy what you’re selling.

That’s where lead nurturing comes in.  While lead generation is key to driving leads to your digital doorstep, lead nurturing is fundamental if you want to convert a higher percentage of those leads into customers.

Here’s how it works:

Provide Value From Day One.

Building a relationship with prospective buyers from day one until they are ready to pull the trigger is critical to your marketing and sales success. Start the lead nurturing process from the moment your potential customers first become aware of you. Most often, this first interaction will be through your website. You want your site to be your online marketing hub, so you better be sure that it’s optimized effectively.

The longer your visitors stay on your site, and the more often they return, the more likely they are to buy from you. A big reason for this is TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness). When they do make a buying decision, they will think of you first. Victory!

So you want to give them a good reason to spend time on your site and an even better reason to return often. Make your website easy to navigate. Have clean, simple, uncluttered design. Forget about over-rated graphical bells and whistles that would win design awards. Focus on keeping things simple. There’s nothing worse than a site that’s graphically stimulating and functionally illogical.

If they are going to spend time and return to your site often, it will be because they get some kind of value out of their time spent exploring it. So make your value proposition crystal clear. Give them something valuable even if they never buy from you. (Yes. That’s right. EVEN if they never purchase your product.)

An effective way to provide that value is with useful written or video content.

Building a blog with content related to the products you sell will not only help you nurture prospects but will be a beneficial resource for current and future customers.

For example, let’s say you own a business that professionally stages seller’s homes. Wouldn’t people interested in staging their home to sell also likely be interested in articles about choosing a great real estate agent and tips for selling their home? Of course! And if they look at you as a go-to source for great content on that topic, who do you think they will turn to when they are ready to update their listing photos or get their house on the market? You!

So once they’ve discovered your blog or website, how do you get them to come back to your website? Email marketing is a proven tool to help you do this. Using our home staging example, let’s say your ultimate goal is to get them to invest in your full-service staging package. Give them the option to sign up for your email list and make special offers for a two hour consultation or credits towards rental furniture. Lower the barrier to entry to entice your leads to take the next step to buying.

When you have a relevant blog article you think members of your email list will appreciate, send a personalized note and teaser via email. Email marketing should be used as a channel to not only build brand awareness, but also to drive qualified traffic to your website.

Getting and keeping prospects’ attention is a critical part of the lead nurturing process. Granted, some will never buy. But those that do buy often require that you contact them multiple times, not just once or twice. According to Online Marketing Institute, it can take anywhere from 7 to 13+ touches before a prospect is ready to buy. So contact them regularly (and thoughtfully) through email and social media.

Build An Authentic Relationship.

Building trust is another critical part of the lead nurturing process. Even if they are seriously in the market for what you offer, chances are they are suspicious. They may have been burned before. Plus, they understand they will have to part with their hard-earned money. They want to get value out of their investment. They want to do business with a business they trust. So you absolutely must go out of your way to build that trust. How?

People trust givers. Early in the lead nurturing and relationship building process, give to them with no demand in return. We’ve already discussed content marketing and email marketing. Both of these can be used to give, and to build trust.

Harness the power of social proof. Keep in mind that people are more likely to trust you when they are aware that you have a lot of happy, satisfied customers who have already invested in and advocated for your product.

For instance, Buffer uses social proof (5M updates by their users!) to increase trust in their brand. Then they turn the conversation to the user and their activity. Social proof paired with success metrics making it easier for their entry-level users to pull the trigger and upgrade to a better plan.

When you’re trying to build trust and gain a potential customer’s attention, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to brag about yourself and your achievements. Don’t talk about you right off the bat. Talk about them. Harness the power of persuasive, reader-centered copywriting. On your website, in your content pieces and in your emails, focus on the reader, not on you.

Gain and keep their attention and build trust by talking empathetically to them about them, about their problem and how you can help them solve it. Address their goal and how you can help them reach it. Only when you have done this do you want to talk about you, to offer “proof” that you can help them.

Be Patient, Young Grasshopper.

Remember that marketing and lead nurturing success won’t happen overnight. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take work. But it will be worth it. When your potential customers contact you or visit your website for the first time, chances are they won’t buy right away. But if you successfully stay in contact through a variety of media – email, social, etc, — offer value, build trust and stay top of mind, when they are ready to take the plunge, there is a very good chance they will buy from you!

Influencer marketing is all the buzz. As consumers change the way they engage with brands and buy products online, there has been a huge shift as to the importance of influencers and brand advocates. While marketing strategies such as paid advertising can be effective in reaching your audience, there’s no substitute for getting a shout-out from key influencers your customers trust.

In fact recent studies reveal that 92 percent of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands. So whether your goal is to get mentioned in a popular magazine such as Forbes, on the blog or Facebook page of a guru in your industry, or an interview on a hot podcast, similar rules of etiquette apply. Those rules can seem a bit cryptic if you don’t have a background in public relations or media. Here is a quick crash course in the social etiquette for approaching influencers and building brand advocates.

Don’t Waste Their Time

Most influencers protect coveted relationships with their audience and followers. That means if you are going to get them in your corner you need to make it about them, not you. We all love talking about what we do best, but to succeed in winning over influencers and brand advocates, keep your focus on helping them and their fans. Read up on what they are passionate about and think of ways you can make their life easier and further their cause. If you approach them with the idea of being a resource, instead of the idea of selling them on something, it will be easier to develop a working relationship that benefits you both in the future.

So how do you do that? First, don’t just go after influencers with the largest fan base. Smaller, micro influencers  may be a better fit for your niche products and services and give a big boost to your brand. In fact a recent study by Markerly shows that the larger the influencer the lower the engagement rates:

Cater to Their (Content) Needs

If you still want to target larger influencers or media outlets, request the topics they are most interested in and ask for an editorial calendar so you can submit a pitch or a guest post at a time when it will truly help you target an influencer. Looking to reach multiple media influencers? Find out about media stories in progress through tools like Help a Reporter Out, a free service—best known as HARO–that matches reporters with sources. Besides traditional media, some larger blogs use the service, as well.

To avoid being seen as a pest, don’t submit pitches if you don’t fit an influencer’s requirements. For instance, if you’re responding to a HARO pitch asking for ideas for locally-made gifts from South Carolina artisans, don’t submit photos of your products if they are made in Los Angeles. Instead, look for a publication that is hunting for gifts made around the country or a LA publication looking for local gifts.

Make sure your email subject line tells the recipient exactly how the information you are sending will help them. For instance, for the query seeking gifts made in South Carolina, you might write a subject line like: December gift guide submission: Award-winning, South Carolina-made scarves that sell for less than $50.

Go The Extra Mile

Prepare resources ahead of time. Don’t expect an influencer to have the time to create descriptions, content and images about your product or service. Invest in having professional photos and videos created of your business or products, so you have them ready to go if an opportunity for publicity arises. Even if you don’t win media publicity at first, hiring a pro to create your wares is still a good investment. You’ll still be able to use the assets in your marketing campaigns.

A great way to get influencers and brand advocates engaged is by demonstrating how your products or services work and the benefits you deliver for their audience. To show value, get samples or trials of your products in their hands – and don’t forget to show appreciation for their time. Whether you are working with influencers or brand advocates, you need a neat influencer gifting strategy. Sending a gift card to their favorite coffee house or other personal gifts can be a great way to say thanks you for their support and efforts. Either way don’t be stingy with the freebies. If you want an influencer to promote or review your brand, give them the right resources and incentivize them.

Follow Up (But Don’t Be a Pest)

Once you connect with an influencer, follow up gracefully.  What if you send a pitch and get no response? Don’t take it personally. Many influencers get hundreds of pitches a week, and it probably got lost in the shuffle.

It’s fine to re-forward your pitch and say, “Just making sure you saw this.” If you still get crickets, then assume your pitch did not grab the influencer’s attention. Ask an objective colleague to take a look at it to see if your content really solves a problem or challenge for your influencers target audience. If not, make some tweaks and take a new angle-re-submitting your pitch with a fresh perspective.

Following up once or twice by phone is perfectly acceptable as well, but don’t stick a virtual foot in the door. If you get a no, ask if there is some other way you can help the influencer, and then move on gracefully, without arguing. You’ll have plenty more opportunities to grab influencers’ attention if you focus first and foremost on how you can be helpful.

Influencer marketing can play a major part in growing your brand and reaching your target audience. By using these simple etiquette tips to keep your manners in check, you stand a better chance of winning the hearts and minds of important brand ambassadors and influencers alike.