Social Media Marketing Primer: Facebook
When it came time to plan this Social Media Primer series, it was obvious where to start. Facebook is the big fish in the social media ocean with over 2 billion active users – that’s billion, with a b.
Facebook is insanely popular and it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. It also provides an excellent baseline for your social media presence. Facebook’s versatility allows you to work with a wide range of content options when compared to the more confined platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
With that said, ignoring Facebook isn’t an option for any business. Whether you’re the smallest operation or a massive operation, Facebook offers options that can help you grow your business. Using Facebook for marketing falls under three categories: pages, ads, and groups. Each offers unique benefits and challenges – and the best campaigns incorporate two or three of these categories.
There’s one important thing to remember before we jump into the technical details: social media marketing takes time and effort. Because so many people use Facebook for pleasure, they assume that Facebook marketing will be fun and easy. But the truth is marketing is hard work – no matter what channel you use.
It’s hard work, but worth the effort. So, keep reading to learn how to use social media marketing to grow your business.
Facebook Pages
You’re probably familiar with Facebook profiles – assuming you are one of the 1.23 billion active users. You probably know about pages too, but just for the sake of comprehensiveness let’s talk about them for just a minute. At the most basic level, pages are profiles for businesses.
As your business’s profile, your Facebook page is the place to start when getting into social media marketing. The first steps are relatively simple: set your profile and cover images. For your profile image, just go with your logo. It might be tempting to get creative here, but you want your page is to be easily recognizable and always on brand – so just stick to your logo.
If you’re looking to get creative, your cover image is the best place for that. Feature a unique image of your location or maybe a team photo – just don’t slap text all over your cover image because Facebook won’t like that.
Next, turn your attention to the ‘About’ section. Spend some time crafting copy that captures your mission in your brand’s unique voice.
As you work on setting up your Facebook page, remember to try to avoid getting to clinical. Facebook might be work for you, but it is fun for your customers – keep it that way with a more lighthearted approach.
Finally, it is time to start added content to your Facebook page. The key to successfully using Facebook is to balance consistency with quality. If you post a lot of low-quality posts you’ll lose followers, but if you wait for the perfect content you’ll never gain attention. Find a balance that works for you and do your best to stick to a consistent content creation schedule.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook is great fun, but Zuckerburg and Company aren’t creating all this for fun – they’re in it to make money. And the primary way that Facebook makes money is through advertising dollars. That means that Facebook, at its core, is a pay-to-play space for businesses.
There are two primary ways to pay for exposure and reach on Facebook: boosted posts and advertisements. Each offers their own strengths and weaknesses depending on your specific business goals. The best social media campaigns will use a combination of boosted posts and ads, but finding the perfect balance relies on understanding what each method can accomplish for your business.
Boosted posts are the simplest way to expand your Facebook reach; that’s why you’ll see these pushed heavily by the Facebook team. Basically, you set a budget and Facebook will push an existing post on your page to a wider audience. You can set demographic, time, and geographic controls for boosted posts to ensure that you’re getting in front of the right people.
The advantage of boosting existing posts is that can pick your most popular organic posts. This means you get to test their success for free and only invest in the stuff that resonates with your audience. But your options are limited when it comes to customizing the post beyond the basic already available on your page.
Advertisements offer more control and features, but the learning curve is a bit steeper. The main advantage of advertisements is the ability to create call-to-action buttons that fit your advertising goals. Not every campaign is looking to increase likes; maybe you want people to buy something, or sign up for a newsletter, or call your location. For those goals, Facebook ads offer powerful tools.
Ads also allow you to get deeper into Facebook’s demographic targeting options. Which means that you can get your message in front of your ideal customer every time. The downfall is that you don’t get the option of testing before you run, so tracking and A/B testing are critical to advertising success on Facebook.
Facebook Groups
The final tool for marketing on Facebook is much lesser known that Pages and paid advertising: Facebook Groups. Using Facebook groups for marketing purposes requires a pretty hefty work-load, so it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you’re willing to put in the work, Facebook groups can offer a huge reward for no cost beyond your time. There are two main ways to use Facebook groups for marketing purposes: participating and hosting. The easiest way to use Facebook groups is to join existing groups and offering valuable insights under your business name. As always, offering quality content is good for your business.
If you’re willing to put in the extra work, you can host your own Facebook group to establish yourself as an industry expert. This is a great (and free) way to put your expertise on display for the watching world. But hosting a group requires near constant input, moderation, and engagement. It is probably a tactic best suited for companies that can dedicate full-time resources to social media management.
Social Media Marketing
Social media – and especially Facebook – has become an essential tool when it comes to marketing, advertising, and growing your business. The amount of time and effort will vary depending on your business goals, but the need is beyond dispute. Many businesses jump into social media marketing with excitement and vigor, but that tends to wane over time.
If you’re struggling to keep your social media presence moving forward, consider looking into a marketing agency that offers social media marketing services. Fusion Group USA offers monthly social media management plans that fit your budget and needs – contact us today for a totally free consultation.
