One of the best ways to promote your own Facebook page is to use it to engage with other pages in your niche. Like quality blog commenting, it has a couple of benefits. Not only do you get known by the page owner; you get seen by a lot of that page's likers as well.

It's particularly good if you have a locally oriented business and page. There are some very busy local pages that you can like and engage with in this way. Obviously it's a bonus if they are in the same niche and location as yours. Then you'll get an even better response. But location will do.

Hugely popular pages like Perth Zoo's come to mind here. I've been liking and commenting on this and similar pages for a while now and it certainly helps. Interestingly, I don't get that many likes as a result. But it does seem to lift traffic to this website, which is linked on the page itself. 

Now, I can't be absolutely sure that this increase in Facebook traffic comes as a direct result of these efforts. But the website clicks tend to trickle in after a sustained campaign of liking and commenting on these big, popular local pages. So I'm pretty sure this is the reason.

Now, originally I was a bit ambivalent about doing this. These pages are not oriented towards B2B after all, and so have vastly more individual Facebook members in their communities than other pages. I thought that maybe the page owners and other members might not like seeing a page like mine in their midst, since it is commercially oriented. But while I'm in a minority I'm certainly not alone. And I never include any overtly (or even subtly) promotional comments, so I'm never spamming the page. I've never had any adverse reaction to this activity. So I'll keep doing it.

It appears that simply by constantly popping up in the list of likers and commenters on page posts the community has gotten to know me a little. Some individuals have repeatedly seen my face and the name Perth Business Help and are curious about what I offer. They have a look at the page, and click through to the website to know more. 

Now I'm offering something pretty niche-oriented and on a small scale. So it makes sense that this tactic doesn't get many likes. (The likes go way up in frequency when I use the same strategy with more closely related local and Aussie pages dealing with digital marketing. No surprises there.)

But if you had a business website offering something with much wider appeal, such as a cafe, or bar? Well, I'm sure it would get you a consistent flow of likes -- not to mention the website visits. Even if you didn't have a website as such and were only on Facebook it would be a great branding exercize apart from anything else. You wouldn't even have to comment. You could just log in every day and like stuff. Before too long your catchy business name would have been seen by tens of thousands of people. And all for free! That's got to be useful, surely ...

Being so isolated geographically Perth in a unique time zone. This certainly has ramifications for when you should post updates on social media. 

Of course this isn't a problem if you wat to connect only with people in this city. But if you want to market to people over a much wider geographical area you'll have to change your strategy somewhat. Remember that when it's 9PM here, it's midnight in Sydney and Melbourne. So your Australia-focused tweets and shares could easily fall into a black hole.

Similarly, much of the content that you share early in the day will be missed by your followers in North America and Europe. That's why if you have many connections there, it's best to be active on social media late in the evening.

I've noticed the effect this can have by looking at my Twitter analytics for one of my accounts. Many of my followers are in the northern hemisphere. Engagement goes way up if I share stuff after midnight here. 

Of course you don't physically have to stay up and do this all manually. You can use tools such as Buffer to spread those social media updates out.

There are many times when small business owners need help with various tasks. They don't want to take on new staff because the need is only temporary. Obviously there are lots of online classifieds sites to post ads asking for this kind of help. And the local papers are still effective and cheap. 

But there are some sites popping up that are focused on fulfilling this need in particular -- which proves just how widespread it is. The biggest and most well established is Airtasker. This Australian site describes itself as "an online marketplace for people and businesses to outsource tasks". 

It's not just your garden variety job board. It has some unique characteristics that make it a more productive and reliable method of finding good people to do stuff for you. The review system, for example, gives each "airtasker" a rating. So you can get an idea of what sort of service you're going to get in advance.

Another site with similar characteristics is Jobs and Services. This is billed as an "online tradie marketplace" that is probably more useful to individuals seeking workers than businesses. However, there are many B2B services such as commercial cleaning listed on the site. It caters to an Australia wide audience, but was created by a Perth local, and so a high proportion of its listings so far relate to this city.

It had an interesting genesis:

The website was created in response to the difficulties its founder, 24-year-old Ronan Bray, had in finding an accurate quote while renovating a family bathroom. At the same time, a close friend who was undertaking an apprenticeship in plumbing was struggling to find enough work.

The site has proved very popular. And much of this has come from promotion on social media. In my opinion this is yet another reason to establish a presence there if you haven't already: 

In the few months since it launched, Jobs and Services has already accumulated 33,000 page visits and 3400 Facebook likes. It has also accumulated more than over 420 business/service postings, exceeding a personal target of 400 jobs by August.
 
“The majority was through social media – in particular Facebook – focusing locally on Perth,” Bray says. “I also contacted a lot of people directly just to let them know it existed, and networking through friends, because a number of my friends are tradespeople.

It's well accepted that on Twitter, as with all social networks, it's the quality of your following that counts the most. Basically you want to have interesting, interested and preferably influential people in your niche joining your network. That's why you shouldn't concentrate on building up the numbers just for their own sake. Do that and you're putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

Having a large number of followers may look impressive to some people but in the end these teeming hordes won't give you any real benefit. Better to have a hundred engaged followers than ten thousand who are either bots, or don't give a tinker's about what you do.

All this is true. However I don't think you should discount quantity completely. It's great to have a small number of consistent engagers in your network. But it's even better if you have a large number of people like this. Having many more followers is a real bonus, as long as they are of a good quality too.

If you get to this point you'll really gather momentum. You'll get many more retweets and mentions, as well as clicks on the blog posts you're sharing. It can lift your profile a lot. And you end up with still more quality tweeps finding and following you as a result.

Now, some people believe that quality and quantity in this context are ultimately mutually exclusive -- that the meaningfulness of the interactions is diluted by their number. Certainly this does occur when you get into really high numbers. It's impossible to even remember, let alone engage sincerely, with tens of thousands of followers, after all.

But remember that Twitter, being such a super fast, laser targeted and distilled medium, trains you to really get to the point and process information very quickly. After a few months of using the site you'll be amazed at just how much you can put in a tweet, as well as what you can actually recall about your followers and what's been said between you. Those interactions may have been brief, but it doesn't mean they were insincere or meaningless. For this reason I think it's a good idea to keep finding, following and interacting with new tweeps so that you build a following that's large as well as engaged. 

As I get more and more people learning about this site via the search engines, social media and offline advertising, I've been amazed at how many of them have tech related issues. There are the classic hardware related frustrations that afflict occasional computer users generally, older people in particular. 

Then there are various troubleshooting issues related to their use of social media. For example, they can't find their login details. Or maybe Google logs them in automatically to one account, but they have unknowingly created several, resulting in different lines of content. They want to bring them all together but can't. 

Whenever I get these queries I politely decline their pleas for help. I never feel good about it, because I know how frustrating they are. 

But here's why: Apart from the fact that I'm not a tech head it's always best if you can muddle through these issues yourself if possible. If you can, then you'll save money apart form anything else. You'll also get a real sense of confidence that will hold you in good stead. With one solved problem under your belt you'll be able to tackle others in future. And if you are going to get into the online world, then you are sure to encounter more of them in the future. So you might as well start now. 

And by far the best way to do this is to Google your specific issue or question first. The search engine is astonishing in its ability to answer questions. And there are sure to be many experts out there who have experienced your particular issue and written clear guides about how to address it.

You can also join various online discussion boards and communities. Quora is a great site where you can ask questions and have numerous very knowledgeable people answer it. The Google Plus communities are full of experts who are willing to help, too. Not surprisingly, issues with that social network in particular are a very popular topic for discussion.

If you participate in these communities you'll not only find answers to your questions, you'll be building your social media presence as well -- not to mention developing confidence and skills in how to use them. 

I've been giving private lessons in how to use sites like Twitter to people in Perth for over a year now. I'll keep doing this, of course. It's a really interesting experience because every student is a bit different and you learn a lot yourself in trying to help them in the best way possible. So I'm a student myself in a way. And the process of teaching others presents a variety of lessons. 

For example, I've realized that there are some very stubborn and pervasive misconceptions about social media in particular and online marketing in general. These are mainly to do with technology. It's astonishing how many people seem to think social media marketing is "all about computers"; that it's a primarily technological process. But it's not like that at all. It's all about people in the end.

This idea that it's a geek's territory is so widespread it's almost a given. So disabusing someone of this misconception is usually my main aim, at least in the beginning. If I can do that I know I will have helped them quite a bit. 

I've also learned what they expect from a private lesson. There seem to be two general types of student. The first is someone who really doesn't know much at all and just wants someone who does to come in and pretty much take over and tell them what they need to know to get started. These are exactly the kind of people I want to meet because in an a couple of hours I can give them a good introduction, illustrated with real examples, into the whole journey of social media (and it is a journey!).

Usually these people twig to what it's all about pretty quickly and I see the scales drop form their eyes. It's a great feeling because they realize it's not nearly as daunting as they thought it would be and they already have all that they need to succeed with it. It feels good to walk out of a lesson like this because I may well have saved them a lot of money. Instead of paying someone to do this for them they'll probably get into it themselves, which is always the best option in the long term anyway ... 

Then there are people who know a bit, are well into the whole world of social media, but are frustrated for whatever reason. Maybe they've got a Facebook page that's going okay, but they feel they've hit a bit of a wall and want to know some tricks and techniques to overcome these. Or maybe they've got a Twitter account and they just don't have time, so they want me to basically tell them what to do to get the absolute maximum benefit for the least amount of effort. Or perhaps they have aesthetic concerns and want to know how to redesign their pages ... 

They're looking for a trouble shooter, a consultant, or a guru. Much as many people go to get advice on where to invest money, they say you're the expert, tell me what to do.

At the risk of sounding judgemental they don't want to learn in the truest sense of the word. They want a problem solved and that's it. They want to be given a strategy they can follow to save time and money. That's perfectly valid, and a lot of business is conducted in this way. There are people who offer these kind of services. But I'm not comfortable doing so.

I'm a bit of purist, I think. I just don't want to give them tasks to follow. My whole approach is based on the idea that the business owner is the expert in his field. So he is the best one to carry out his online marketing. I just want to quickly show these people how the social networks work so they can get going in the right direction and own the process themselves.

In the end site like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and the like are just communication tools, not unlike the phone or the postal service. They're just way more efficient, targeted and comprehensive than those are. They have enormous potential. But you've got to want to own the process to realize that potential. You can't do it at arm's length, logging in every 3 months. You have to get into it!

If people have this intention, then I can help them. But if they don't I can't. So that's what I try and figure out. That's why I say to some people that I can't help and that they're probably better off Googling for answers to their specific issue. They'll almost certainly find them there, and for free!

A lot of people would probably think I'm mad, doing myself out of easy money! But I think you've got to have a clear idea of what you're offering, and stick to that. 

When creating any kind of content online, obviously you have to find the right angle. You can't just keep cranking out advertisements. These will eventually bore your audience on social media. And they won't do anything to lift your search engine rankings either. (Too many could even damage them over the long term.) 

So you have to find an approach, an angle, that promotes what you do while still being interesting, useful, unique and engaging. It can be quite a challenge if you're not in a "sexy" niche.

I've been thinking about this question as it pertains to my YouTube channel for this site. It's been a bit tricky. See, I have another blog about Perth that I've been making little videos for. That's really easy. I basically just walk around the city and pull out my camera when I see something interesting.

But this site has a narrower target audience and so a different strategy is required. Ideally my videos will be visually interesting as well as related to business promotion. 

A while ago I made some half-hearted efforts in this direction. They weren't all bad, but they were jut kind of vague. So I didn't upload them. 

Recently, however, I've found a better approach. I've been keeping an eye out for new projects, events and the like and looking at them as mini case studies. I figure that if I've heard about them they must be doing something right marketing wise. So I can swing past one day and get some footage of them, adding a few thoughts as I do. 

I've only done this twice so far. But the process flowed easily and I think it's a good angle to repeat.

This approach has a couple of advantages. Firstly, I already know that what I'll be filming is in the news or has a bit of a buzz about it. So people in this city are sure to be interested and will be searching for it. 

Being locally oriented content, it will be comparatively easy to rank highly for relevant searches for it on YouTube (which is a hugely popular search engine in its own right).

This "case study" approach could be applied to pretty much any niche. Say you're a builder, specializing in a certain kind of structure. You could just lob at a notable example of this getting some publicity, and start shooting. Having so much expert knowledge of what's being done, including an engaging narration (either as you film it, or afterwards) wouldn't be a problem.

I'm still focused on locally oriented Facebook pages and what makes them work. I keep thinking about which ones really stand out and why. 

Another notable one is Perth Zoo's Facebook page. And there are a few reasons why it's so successful. 

It's one of a kind

Firstly there's its uniqueness. It's the city's only zoo, after all. It always was and still is the go-to place if you want to take your family out on a fascinating adventure into the natural world without leaving the metropolitan area. And so it is in the world of Facebook. It simply has no local competition, and therefore dominates its niche completely. 

It's a visual feast

Then there's the visual feast it offers. The page is constantly updated with countless stunning photos of its spectacular creatures, great and small. Who doesn't like looking at pictures of magnificently maned lions and mischievous chimps? They are something we humans never get tired of ... 

Why are such images so compelling? I think it's because in wild animals we see what we used to be. Perhaps it's relief that we're not like that anymore. Or maybe we yearn to have the freedom and immediacy of such a life again. It could even be a bit of both ... 

Well, whatever the attraction they are a magnet for eyeballs. For the same reason David Attenborough has been drawing hundreds of millions of viewers to his natural history documentaries over several decades, Perth Zoo's visual updates mean guaranteed likes and shares.

It tells stories

Images aside, there are many other ways the page can engage people's emotions. There really is an amazing amount of drama going on there: birth, death, illness, healing, love, hate, power struggles, you name it. With ongoing storylines aplenty, it's a veritable soap opera for critters!

Updates about the birth of animals occur regularly. Not surprisingly, photos and news of these adorable creatures' first hours of life outside the womb -- or egg, as the case may be! -- are highly shareable. Many of the photos come with cute captions, too, that really heighten the "Awww!" factor. (Speaking of anthropomorphism: The page managers often employ it to humorous effect with updates featuring grown animals as well.)

There are other elements in their strategy of course. But the above mentioned ones are the first that come to my mind and seem to offer the best lessons for marketing on social media. Basically, if you have something not found elsewhere (or can at least find a unique angle for it), exploit its visual appeal, tell stories, use humour, and engage emotions you'll have gone a long way towards succeeding on Facebook and other social networks.