Can your Facebook fans easily distinguish you from your competitors?

Are your posts getting lost in the news feed noise?

Then it’s time to stop sucking and start positioning your business to stand out on Facebook!

The key to differentiation is creating a memory-searing Facebook presence — one that makes your business easy to spot & impossible to forget.

So… where do you begin?

With the 6 tips below, of course!

1. Define Your Mission

Have you clearly expressed what your business mission is in your Facebook “About” section?

A mission statement articulates the purpose behind your business.

It pulls together the essence of your company — sharing the what, why & who (what you do, why you do it & who you serve) in a way that makes sense to your target audience.

Joel Labava, The Franchise King, has an About section that really shines.

It explains who he is, who he helps & why.

I want to Like his page & I’m not even interested in starting a franchise.

Questions to help you create your mission statement

What’s your company story?
What’s your product or service?
How do you help people?
Who’s your target market?
What are 3 problems you solve for your target market?
Now, take that information & add it to the About section on your page.
And don’t stop there!
Share it in your Facebook posts & on the graphics you create for your page.
The information will provide valuable insight to those eager to connect with you online!

2. Know Your Target Audience

Finding your Facebook posts falling on deaf ears?

If so, it’s probably because you’re speaking to the wrong audience.

The better you understand your target market — the easier it is to craft content that speaks directly to them.

But if I asked you who your target market is — could you answer? Do you know their likes, dislikes, needs, wants & desires?

And could you tell me how you help them & why they should choose to work with you?
If not, you’re not alone.
Many businesses stumble in this area — thinking that “everyone” is their target market. That leads to broad stroke marketing & an untailored message.
If you’ve ever wished you had a crystal ball & could see exactly who your target market & Facebook audience is — you can!
That’s one of the main benefits of Facebook.
Take a look at the “People” tab on your Facebook Insights. Here you’ll see the percentage of men vs. women, city, state, country, age group & language.
How you position your content will be significantly different if you’re heavily skewed toward women as opposed to men.

3. Understand Your Competitive Edge

Now that you’re clear on your target market — ask yourself what it is that separates your company from the competition?
What sets you apart & gives you a leg up when you go toe to toe with your competitors on a project proposal?
Sharing what’s unique about your company lets Facebook fans make educated decisions about whether to:

Like your page
Engage with you online
Buy your product
Hire your company
Your Facebook cover photo is a great place to highlight your competitive edge.
Biz2Credit uses their cover to share why they’re different:

How many loans they’ve funded
How many businesses they’ve helped
Their unique (and simple) loan process
Any small business owner looking for business credit is going to be impressed with what they see when they land on the page.

4. Define Your Business Style and Personality

If you were to describe your business as a person — what unique characteristics or qualities would stand out?
Are you fun & outgoing or serious & demure? Simple & classic or brash & bold?
The Embrace Pet Insurance Facebook page consistently shares content with a unique style & personality.
They clearly understand their audience & the type of content fans look for on the page.
They also understand the importance of using their cover photo to remind you of what they do & why they do it:

5. Be Consistent With Branding

Want people to recognize you on Facebook?
Then get visual!
Images are an excellent way to create consistency in your brand — portraying a streamlined image between all your online properties.
They’re also a powerful engagement tool — one that hasn’t eluded the world’s most prominent brands. A study by eMarketer found that photos accounted for 75% of the content posted on Facebook pages worldwide.
Some of the best Facebook pages use graphics to convey their message & better connect with fans.
It can be a quote from your latest blog post or a picture of your product — just make sure you’re using the same color scheme, font & style online & off.
The right images can boost interaction & create awareness for your business.
Lennar is a company that pivots beautifully between its offline & online marketing properties.
The testimonials, quotes & gorgeous images show that Lennar has mastered the art of branding.

6. Promote Branded Content

Have you created great content in the past?
Did you post it once then start something new — never returning to promote the first piece?
That’s a wasted opportunity!

You don’t have to always be creating new content. What’s old can be new all over again with just a few simple tweaks.
Repurpose your evergreen content for a whole new audience.
You can share old blog posts & the traditional marketing pieces you’ve created throughout the years.
As traditional marketing evolves & social media marketing becomes more prevalent, merging the two can provide significant benefits — no matter the size of the business.
Snippets from the past that are still relevant today will help brand your business as the authority & expert in your space.