Humanizing your business with Facebook

Would you be surprised to learn an average of 1.56 billion people use Facebook every day?

Photo: iStock.com/marchmeena29

Per Facebook Newsroom’s latest statistics, daily users are a small segment of the average 2.38 billion active monthly users of the platform.

Facebook is popular, so it’s important for propane businesses to maintain Facebook pages to connect with industry members, organizations, and current and potential customers.

“Facebook allows for you to personalize and humanize your business,” says Gary Corbett, regional sales representative at Warm Thoughts Communications. “It allows you to be intertwined with the community.”

While sharing price points is important, keep in mind that Facebook is more than a potential selling tool. It’s a platform where you can share employee and business accomplishments, engage with followers, discuss community service efforts and more. Readers are searching for interesting and relevant information, so heavily promoting your services won’t have a positive effect on them, unless they’re specifically searching for those services.

“It’s not just opportunity for an upsell,” Corbett adds. “This is about getting your customer in on an emotional level and giving them a connection to your business that they might not otherwise have. It’s about having a personality and telling a story about who you are as a business.”

Don’t be afraid to use Facebook to share photos of company gatherings, employee profiles or feel-good information. Sharing stories about how your propane business participated in a food drive or fundraising effort will help raise positive brand awareness – something that can’t be easily achieved without a supportive following.

If your website has a blog section, share those articles via Facebook to help drive traffic to your website. Make sure both your Facebook page and website are regularly updated so followers aren’t confused by discrepancies.

Most importantly, use Facebook as a communication tool. Followers may message you with questions or they may comment on one of your posts. Answer quickly, be courteous and don’t be afraid to show your company’s personality. Treat Facebook as a platform to ask your customers questions.

Interacting with your followers will help you build relationships, and those relationships will help grow your propane gallons.