No doubt that the new Facebook features will help Small & Medium Businesses to develop their communication on Facebook and reach a wider audience.

• Page administrators will no doubt appreciate the ability to assign specific roles to other admins. There are five different categories now available on Facebook. In descending order of the most permissions, they are Manager, Content Manager, Moderator, Advertiser and Insight Analyst.
• Facebook administrators (with permission to create posts) will be able to schedule posts up to 6 months in advance, with the ability to run posts at least 15 minutes apart. All times on these posts will correspond to your own timezone.

Tools are great but should be used in a global strategy. Let’s have a chat with Simon, a new comer on the Flower Business which uses Facebook as a great communication tool. He has spent quite a lot of time thinking about strategy before opening his Business page.

First of all, Simon tell us what ” Au sabot de Venus “?

I created a florist’s brand called: ” Flowers of future “. And opened a shop in the city center of Valenciennes under the name of ” Au sabot de Venus “. In addition to the shop, an E-commerce website and M-commerce are available.

My concept is to associate flower design and well-being. My products are original, ecological and ornamental: plant frames, vegetable suspensions, depolluting plants. My value proposition is to optimize the quality of life thanks to depolluting plants and bring Natural benefits to everyday life.

What is your Facebook strategy ?

The importance of social networks in the communication mix is very clear to me and it is why I have opened profiles on various networks platforms. On each of them I describe my company and I also add all the links related to my business.

After this first step, I add professional contacts like business managers, start-ups, bloggers, and also some individuals who are fascinated by social networks.

For example, on Facebook, I created a list ” network entrepreneurs ” to publish links, status or newsletter without bothering my friends or my family. The idea to make lists is amazing and very interesting. It is similar to the circles of Google +.

I also created, two ” Fan pages “.on Facebook. The first one for the brand « Flowers of Future » and the second for the shop ” Au Sabot de Vénus “. I also connected my Facebook account to the other networks as Twitter in order to increase my visibility. Consequently, I get better engagement ( ie more of ” like “), a high number of shares and thus comments on my status.

Social links are very important in order to build a reliable relation. I consider fans as potential customers, and even if they are not buyers, they can become ambassadors of the brand.

Besides, Facebook can allow you to make a market study on your concept or your company (in other words, check if your products or your services will please the general public). Networks have a real impact for VSBs (very small businesses) and SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses).

What are your objectives on Facebook?

The main objectives of my Facebook pages are to be known as a brand and develop my e-reputation of that my company. I also aim at developing the loyalty of fans by offering interesting contents and promotions.

What kind of content do you broadcast? How do you encourage engagement from your fans?

I try to get fans to participate by asking them questions like: ” on which networks did you learn about « le sabot de Venus “?” They have multiple choices to answer. From that specific question feedbacks from fans have helped me modify my communication and my position on social networks.

I also post a daily publication « photo of the day ». It is really appreciated because every day, I post a new picture. I get a higher number of Shares which is good for the visibility of my brand: as you know Shares lead to better visibility.

One « Fan page »is a long-term job, but there are some solutions for the lack of time: for example I sometimes use an automatic software for some publications.