If you’re a small business owner, you know that growing your Facebook fanbase can be a slow process. Cross-promoting with other local businesses can be a useful tool in seeing steady growth. Here are some steps you can take to make effective cross-promotion a reality:
1. Do a little reconnaissance.
Research the fan pages of other small businesses of your size who have similar fan-counts. You’ll be looking for those companies that are not direct competitors, but with similar customer demographics. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, you may want to consider looking for florists or DJs.
2. Figure out what your cross-promotion will be.
Will you be doing a week’s worth of promotional posts for each other?Guest blogging? A joint event that you can promote through Facebook? If you’re doing a sweepstakes or giveaway, make sure to research Facebook’s rules regarding sweepstakes (and be sure to partner with someone who also understands them.)
3. Come up with a pitch.
Mary, owner of a jewelry boutique wanted to partner with a small bakery on her block. She framed her proposal as wanting to reward her loyal Facebook fans by doing a small sweepstakes where they could win a dozen cupcakes. In exchange for her neighboring bakery providing the cupcakes, she would offer to do a series of Facebook Posts during the sweepstakes that would promote the bakery and link to their FacebookPage, Twitter, etc. At the same time, she offered to give away a piece of custom jewelry for a similar sweepstakes on the bakery’s Facebook page.
4. Reach out.
It may seem daunting to contact someone out of the blue about possible cross-promotion, but you’d be pleasantly surprised at how receptive people are if they’re in the same boat as you. Just remember, they’re trying to build fanbases too! In the end, it’s a numbers game – The more businesses you contact, the better your odds will be at finding someone to partner up with. Another tactic is to attend local business networking events to meet people in person. It’s often easier to convey the benefits of cross-promotion over the phone or face-to-face, than through e-mail.
5. Stay in touch.
The added benefit of this type of cross-promotion is that you’ll be forming meaningful relationships with other local businesses. Mary, who we mentioned above, did end up partnering up with the local bakery, and she and the owner remain friends to this day. They’ve even partnered up for tradeshows and other events, and now have an ongoing business relationship that is proving to be mutually beneficial.
