Let's face it: Facebook is a great way to get your content in front of your fans and potential customers. With over 2.91 billion active users, large companies on Facebook have a huge following. But the major brands don't have exclusive rights to the platform; there are plenty of ways you or any small business can also use this incredible social media platform to grow a loyal (and profitable) customer base.
It starts with a plan: a Facebook marketing strategy aimed at your target market. With a solid strategy, you can start creating Facebook content that will appeal to your target audience. The key to success is producing useful, relevant content that builds trust with your customers and encourages them to engage with you.
Here's how you can get started right away.
Why Facebook?
Facebook has been around for over 18 years and shows no signs of slowing down. It's the most popular social media platform in the world; over 1 billion users use the Facebook marketplace every month alone, never mind the number of potential customers scrolling through their news feeds daily.
Moreover, Facebook has completely revamped its newsfeed algorithm, and the results have been incredible for marketers. The news feed prioritizes:
High-quality content that engages users.
Brand awareness posts that are relevant and useful to their custom audience.
Sponsored stories that Facebook users can interact with — whether via comments or likes.
While it's true the feed prioritizes friends and family over businesses, people are reading the posts in their feed, giving you an opening to create content that grabs their attention. And Facebook is second to none as a vector for digital marketing audience insights. Facebook marketing tools come with data on everything from demographics to interests, attitudes, and buying behaviors — useful for businesses looking to understand their audience better and create better social media marketing campaigns, wouldn't you say?
That's why the Facebook platform can serve as a launching pad for all your other marketing efforts. Once you've optimized your Facebook ads, for example, you can use them as a model for similar campaigns on other platforms.
Facebook Marketing 101: How to Get Started with Facebook Marketing
If you're just starting with Facebook marketing, you'll want to create a Facebook page. This will be your main hub for all things related to your business.
It's important to note that a Facebook page is different than a personal profile: you'll use the page for business-related posts and updates while using your profile for more personal or private updates.
Your Facebook Business Page
The business page will be used to host your company's Facebook presence. You'll use this page to post updates, publish ads and create contests or sweepstakes. There are a few things you should know about your business page:
You're in control. You can see who's connecting with your Facebook business page, monitor comments, and edit the associated information.
It's free. You don't have to pay for a Facebook business page — it's included in your Facebook personal profile. It's an extension of your personal profile that lets you share more information about your company with customers and fans.
You can add other administrators to help manage the page. An administrator has all the same permissions as you do, but only the main administrator can post on behalf of the page.
You can coordinate with other Facebook groups to maximize the reach of your Facebook business page. If you have a large network of friends and family, it can be helpful to spread the word about your Facebook business page through other groups and pages. You can also use groups to help form customer connections on social media platforms like Twitter and Pinterest.
Building a Facebook Marketing Plan
Facebook has a lot of options for how it ranks your content. If you want your Facebook posts to be seen by more people, try posting at a time when more people are on Facebook. Use the Facebook algorithm to your advantage by posting relevant content to your audience, and post often enough that you have a steady stream of content.
Promoting your posts, inviting others to see your page, or paying for ads are all ways you can reach a larger audience. Facebook is also an excellent marketing tool for keeping in touch with customers who have already purchased from you or expressed interest in your business.
If you have a Facebook page, be sure to post regular updates with new information about your company or industry. You can use Facebook messenger to reach out to customers and send them coupons or special offers.
With an email marketing list, you can combine this with Facebook to benefit both platforms. You can use Facebook ads to promote your website and email list, as well as your Facebook page. Another way to use Facebook is to run contests or giveaways. These can all be excellent ways to build up an email list and create buzz around your business.
Advertising on Facebook
Advertising is a great way to reach people who are interested in your products. With the powerful Facebook ads manager, you can create ads that speak directly to your audience and increase engagement with your brand.
Advertising on Facebook can be a great way to generate new leads, improve customer loyalty, and increase sales. You can use paid and organic advertising methods, which can be especially effective when used together. For example, you could run a paid ad campaign that drives people to your website and then convert them into customers with an organic post that promotes a sale or offers a discount code.
Paid Ads
There are several types of ads you can create on Facebook:
Product Ads: These ads show an image of your product and a call-to-action button that leads people to a landing page where they can purchase it. You can also add text, video, or carousel images.
Lead Generation Ads: These ads ask people for their email addresses in exchange for a coupon code or free shipping promotion. When someone enters their information into the form field, it's automatically added to your customer database.
Video Ads: You can create videos for Facebook and Instagram and upload them to your ad manager. When someone views the video, they are sent to your website or a landing page on Facebook.
Use Facebook tracking pixels to track conversions from your ads. The Facebook pixel will send you information about how many people visited your website or clicked on a link in an ad so that you can measure the success of your Facebook marketing campaigns. You can combine that with Google Analytics on your site to gain even more Facebook insights about how your campaigns are performing.
You can also use Facebook's built-in tracking tools to measure how many people have seen your post and how many people have clicked on an ad set. These allow you to understand how well your campaigns perform and what types of content drive the most engagement.
Organic Marketing
Facebook can also be a great channel for organic marketing. Content marketing is the key to organic reach. Create content that people will want to engage with and share with their own networks. If your content is boring or offers nothing of value, no one will want to see it.
There are many kinds of content marketing that you can use on Facebook, such as:
Blogs: Blogging is a great way to share your expertise and help potential clients see how knowledgeable you are. You can also use blogging to get people to leave comments, which will help you build up your own Facebook page's engagement.
Videos: If you have the resources available to create videos, then they're a great way to get people interested in what your company offers. The more views a video gets, the more likely it is that someone who might become a customer will see it.
Infographics: Infographics are a great way to take a lot of information and condense it into something easy to read. They're also very shareable, so they can help you reach more people than just those who visit your website.
Social Content: You can also use Facebook to share links from other sites relevant to your industry or niche. This helps build up credibility for yourself and helps potential clients see what makes you different from the competition.
That's why using Facebook for your organic marketing is so effective — the options are virtually limitless. And if you combine organic marketing with paid advertising, you can have a powerful, two-pronged approach that will help you reach more people than ever before.
Getting Help From a Facebook Marketing Partner
As you can see, there's a lot to know about being a Facebook marketer. Social media management isn't easy, even if you have an excellent array of tools like Scorpion backing you up. There are many moving parts to manage; if you don't know what you're doing, it can be easy to miss something important. That's why we recommend getting help from someone who can help you with your Facebook analytics.
Scorpion is an expert in helping small businesses find success with Facebook marketing. Get started today.
