4 Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

We live in the social media age. Businesses no longer need to dig deep to fund their advertising campaigns. Old school methods like direct mail and television broadcasting are expensive, especially for small businesses! Social media has changed the way we play the marketing game.

It is now fundamental for any size business to have a presence on social media. With Facebook being the most popular social media platform, it makes sense to start here. How you ask? Here are some tips.

Creating a Facebook page 

There are 1.86 billion monthly active Facebook users worldwide, and people are hooked. Everyday people wake up, and what’s the first thing they do? You got it, they check Facebook.

Now, Facebook are very specific about the profiles they allow to be created, after all, an average of 5 new profiles are created every second! You can’t create a new profile if you’re trying to promote your business. To start building your businesses social media presence, begin with creating a Facebook page. 

How to create a page 

There are different options provided to you by Facebook, so make sure you select the one that best fits your business. Here are your options:

Choose your Page type

Establish your Username 

You want to ensure that people can find your business easily and remember you, so you must make sure you’ve chosen your Facebook username. Your Facebook username will appear below the name you gave your Page, but that’s not the only place. The username also features in your URL. If the ideal username of your business isn’t available, chose one which closely represents your brand. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get the exact name you want, so long as it represents your brand accurately.

Analyse your audience

Hopefully, if you’re at this point, you’ve established your target audience and you know everything about these people. With Facebook Page Insights, it is easier than ever to determine who you’re reaching out to with your posts. You can find out their age, gender, location and so much more. Better still, it tells you when your audience are most active online!

Audience reach insights

The mistake a lot of businesses make when it comes to their Facebook page is not adapting to the needs of the audience when they post. If your audience aren’t getting constant updates from your page, likelihood is they’ll eventually stop paying attention or unfollow you completely. Likewise, if you’re posting too much and clogging their timelines, it could have the same effect. You need to establish how many times a day, and at what time during the day, your audience expect to see updates. Experiment with your post times till you get the engagement you want to achieve. The beauty of Facebook is you can see how each post does in terms of reach and engagement. Optimise your posting schedule and content so you can get the most out of your followers.                                                           

Post relevant content 

As much as its important to post at the relevant times and days when your audience is online, the content you post is even more important. Simply: Offer Value. When you post, you should be offering more value than you’re taking. If you are not participating in a fair value exchange, your audience are likely to not engage.

One simple hack if you’re starting off is to have a look at what your competitors are up to. Check to see what they post, when they post, what the likes and comments are like on their posts. Keeping tabs on your competitors Facebook pages will give you some good insights and tips on what you can do.   

People typically spend 20 minutes on Facebook per visit. For that brief period, you want to engage and entertain your audience. The more entertaining and engaging content you post (relevant to their needs of course), the more they will tend to gravitate towards your page. Pictures, GIFS, videos, and the infamous memes help entice your audience to comment, like, or share a post.

You don’t have to come up with new content all the time, if you’re starting off this can be time consuming and exhausting. Just make sure your pages are looking fresh by posting a mixture of content. Most importantly, make sure you’re offering your audience value. If you’re trying to take all the time, people won’t engage and your page will flop.

Try Facebook Ads

As I mentioned above, social media advertising changed the game when it comes to marketing. No longer do you have to pay large sums for direct mail campaigns, it can all be done at the click of a button and for a fraction of the price. Although they are cheaper than traditional advertising, you still need a healthy budget. But if your budget allows, Facebook Ads are a must for all businesses in the modern day.

The benefit of Facebook Ads is that they enable you to target your audience to a T. You can get down to the nitty gritty details, targeting your audiences age, gender, interests, location. You can run your Ads to increase your Facebook likes, boost your post reach, drive traffic to your website or online store, or get video views. Whatever you need the Ad to do, the likelihood is that Facebook Ads can do it.

Facebook Ad Objective

Sounds simple, right? Well, you're correct. Facebook Ads can be simple, but they can also cost you a lot of money if little details aren’t quite right.

If you define your goals early, establish your target audience accurately, and have engaging content, you should reap the benefits from Facebook Ads.

For businesses in 2017, small or large, having a Facebook page is fundamental if you want to be taken seriously. Luckily, Facebook have made it easy for you to get started. If you follow the hints and tips from this article, you should have no issue generating business from Facebook.

Aaron Savage - Social 365