Facebook management, when done right, really is an art. Small businesses that fully use all of Facebook’s features — along with the platform’s conversational style and ease of posting images — truly put themselves on a different level. Check out the Facebook page of some of your favorite local, indie haunts and I’m sure you’ll find one or two that is killing on Facebook and taking social media to another level. For me, it’s my favorite coffee joint that is truly inspiring me to be better at Facebook for business.

The Market, located in downtown Denver, has been serving locals and tourists kick-ass coffee drinks and mind-blowing pastries since 1983. The spot serves everybody from uptight businessmen and slacker students to artsy musicians and neighborhood families (and everyone in between). Yet somebody must have figured out that just being a local favorite isn’t enough, so in order to keep up with newer cafes, The Market would have to embrace social media. And embrace it they have. The Market is a community staple, so Facebook is the perfect channel for it to behave as such. More so than Twitter, Facebook can really be an instant way to alert customers about the happenings inside your company. The Market’s posts include lost-and-found belongings left behind at the cafe, updates on new menu items, deadlines for ordering cakes, hours of operation changes, chatty posts like celebrity sightings (Prince Henry was recently there) and witty observations from the baristas. In short, The Market’s Facebook page is as warm and inviting as the place itself. The focus on The Market’s Facebook marketing is less about a hard sell and more about talking to their customers in a friendly and approachable manner.

What this is, beyond being great social media marketing, is terrific and solid branding. The company’s message is the same online as it is at the counter. To offer a similar experience on Facebook as you do in person takes some real prowess and impressive skills and my favorite local cafe has it in spades. The Market has inspired me to be consistent and creative with my own Facebook marketing efforts. And mainly not to try to pound my followers with sales messages. As a brand and a social media marketer, I can chat with my followers and make Facebook visits more interesting and friendly.

So, readers, how does one of your favorite businesses use Facebook that really inspires you? Post below!

If your business is having a hard time making Facebook marketing work, take heart. Many companies, even many of the big guys, abandon Facebook efforts after a few months. The truth is this: Memorable Facebook-for-business campaigns take a lot of effort, creativity and time. The daily Facebook game can feel overwhelming, especially when even your best efforts are failing to yield results. Yet before you dramatically delete your page and log off of Facebook for good, here are three Facebook marketing rules that could change the way you use the social network.

Share: We’ve all ended up with “those brands” in our newsfeeds. You know, the ones who just blast us with boring advertisements and never really post anything worthwhile? The antidote to that is to share. Sharing cool images, relevant videos, important company milestones, new product photos and the like is far more interesting than just beating your followers over the heads with branded messages. Share the kind of posts you yourself would want to read and chances are your followers will want to read them, too.

Engage: “Engagement” is one of those buzzwords in Facebook management and marketing that we hear all of the time. And there’s a reason. Brands that can really get their followers engaged on social media have truly succeeded. Facebook posts that demand a response (like trivia questions or polls) get users involved, but that’s just the beginning. To dip your toes in the Facebook engagement waters, start with pictures. Photos are a simple and dynamic way to keep your users engaged. In fact, cool and talked-about pictures are 10 times more likely to go viral for a brand on Facebook than posts without images.

Interact: With social media, brands of any size have been given the golden opportunity to really reach out and talk to customers, critics and followers. Use Facebook to get consumers’ thoughts, to address changes in your business, to alert followers of last-minute deals and specials and mainly to find out what’s on their minds. Don’t have Facebook be a one-sided conversation. Use it as a tool to really get inside your followers’ minds and find out what is important to them.