Facebook is the most popular social media site in the U.S. However, you can also use it to further your business. While Facebook does offer paid options for marketing your business, there are also plenty of free options at your disposal. No matter if you are paying or you are there for free, here are some good tips for you.

Reply to everything written about your company, be it on your page’s wall or elsewhere on Facebook. This, at a minimum, means you need to have someone read wall postings each day and check for “@” postings from other users. Respond to them quickly for best results. That goes double if the person has a problem with your products or services.

Posts about your business should always be professional. Although social media tends to be more relaxed, it is important that you present your business as a professional one. Maintaining a professional tone will help build trust among your customer base.

Giveaways are a great method of drawing attention to your page. Encourage new subscribers by offering free products. Put the list of winners on your wall, and keep doing this every time you have a contest.

Try making a group as an alternative to creating a page. Facebook groups will encourage potential customers to establish their own community. You can have both a group and a page, the page for updates and the group for interactivity.

Always take the time to answer any questions and address any comments made to you through Facebook. Thank them for contacting you, and try to give helpful answers to their questions. Sharing a link to another page that has the right information is an appropriate way to give a good answer.

Custom tabs can give a big boost to the effectiveness of the results from your Facebook marketing. Tabs will give you the opportunity to organize information on your page. For example, if you are holding a contest, you can include a tab for the contest information.

A fan base is a must before you begin marketing on Facebook. Don’t focus investing too much into promotions or marketing products until you have around 5,000 fans. Once you gain a large following, you marketing efforts will become much easier.

Carefully choose your updates to create more interest. If you don’t share content that has value, you won’t keep fans very long. Make sure your updates are helpful, educational or entertaining. Facebook Insights can help you keep track of which updates are particularly popular, allowing you to try and repeat your success time and time again.

Take time to answer questions and respond to comments posted on your wall. When a customer makes an effort to contact you, have the common courtesy of quickly responding to their questions. Facebook should be looked at like a phone call; you answer whatever questions they have and respond to their comments.

Offer an easy way for your followers to sign-up for contests. Provide something of value for anyone who registers or signs up, to create an ongoing interaction with interested people. Contests are a sure-fire way to get people excited and interested in your page.

There are more social media marketing choices other than Facebook. Facebook is a great networking site, but there are plenty of others that reach out to different demographics. Try researching your target market to learn about the social networks they are using the most before starting your campaign.

You now have some tips that can help you when marketing on Facebook. Facebook requires no investment of money, so it is simple to get started. Start your campaign as soon as possible to get your name out there. It is also possible that they are reading this article, so begin now.