Facebook. It’s our favorite social media site where we can share photos, update people on our lives, and stay in touch with friends and family. It’s fun, but it’s not a tool for business. Or is it?
In actuality, Facebook is a fantastic venue for business promotion and growth. You can create content for your relevant audience, connecting with them on a personal level, and if you play your cards just right, you can even expand your reach beyond what you ever might have imagined.
It’s not a matter of if Facebook can work for your business; it’s how to take a social media site and turn it into an effective marketing strategy.
Here are just a few ideas to get you and your business started:
1. Follow other businesses on Facebook.
What better way to check out a few Facebook marketing strategies than to see them in action? What are your competitors doing? What kinds of content works best with the platform? And, perhaps most importantly, which posts are seeing the most engagement? By noticing those strategies, you can create your own relevant content to get those likes, comments, and shares flowing.
2. Create content that makes people want to share with their friends.
The goal is to create posts that are newsworthy, educational, ridiculously funny, or otherwise entertaining. Stop your audience in their thumb-scrolling tracks. The key is to ensure your post content is relevant to your audience. You won’t see a physical fitness instructor sharing posts about the best donuts in the city; in the same way, you won’t see a food author writing about how fewer calories will be worth eating plain, flavorless food.
Be relevant to your audience, and post things they want to read.
3. Vary the types of content you post.
All-text posts can only get you so far. If it’s not eye-catching, it’s not going to be thumb-stopping. Use high-quality images to supplement the ideas in your text, and include an instructional or informative video here and there.
Plus, by mixing things up, your page with catch the attention of that Facebook algorithm, bumping you up in the ranks and making your page more likely to be shown to new users.
4. Don’t be afraid to go “Live.”
Putting yourself out there like that might be daunting. There won’t be any redo or retake. Whatever will be, will be.
But it can help you connect with your audience. It’s a good idea to plan; know the most important points you’d like to hit in your video, and practice saying what you want to say a time or two. The more you use it, though, the easier the experience gets.
Some ideas for “live” videos include:
• Show tutorials or other similarly styled videos that make it clear to your audience that you know what you’re doing and that you can do it well. Plus, you can answer questions right then and there. Be sure to mention the commenter by name when you talk to them.
• Take the audience with you to a place they might not be able to go otherwise. Give a “Behind the Scenes,” show off a business event or conference, or let people in on a show.
• Create your own version of a talk show. You can bring in guests, hold contests, or even just speak regularly about the ins and outs of your business field. The ideas are limitless.
Be sure to schedule and promote these “Live” videos as best you can. That way, people know when it’ll happen, and they’ll be more likely to tune in.
5. Give a little extra love to those videos.
Videos are a great attention-grabber. But, for one reason or another, most Facebook users aren’t fans of watching a video with audio. Maybe they’ve got kids sleeping in the next room, or perhaps they’re in a public place where they can’t hear their phone speakers well. Whatever the reason, it means you need to add something to your videos: subtitles. That way, anyone scrolling passed your post can still benefit from the information without having to pump up the volume.
6. Mix up your posting times.
Are your posts not getting much engagement? It might be because you’re posting at times when your audience isn’t online. Experiment with the times you post content and see which ones get the most interactions. You’ll be surprised at how many more likes, comments, and shares you’ll get if you drop it into the newsfeed at just the right time.
7. If you ask, you shall receive.
Do you want people to feel more committed to your brand? Get them to interact with you. And what easier way to do that than ask? Don’t just hope for comments; post a question, and solicit people for their answers. Don’t just wait around for shares; let them know that your post is so important that they need to share it with their friends.
People love to share their opinions. Find the trends most relevant to your field, and give your audience the opportunity to tell exactly how they feel about it, all while increasing your engagement level.
8. Use your other social media platforms to drive traffic.
Did you post something awesome? Tweet a link. Add it to your Instagram page. Embed a link to your post in your blog. No rule says you can’t use one social media site to increase engagement on another platform. Only rookies put all their eggs in one basket.
In the end, Facebook is a marketing tool that’s begging you to use it. It’s a free opportunity to make money. What’s not to “like” about that?
