Intro to Facebook Marketing for Small Business
When you’re running a small business, it’s often difficult to imagine budgeting for three to six months of work before you really start to see results, but this is often the case when it comes to SEO. Search engine marketing is another option, but it can be extremely expensive if you don’t know what you’re doing. So, that leaves the wide word of social media marketing, of which, Facebook is currently dominating.
Many small businesses are creating a stir on social media and building a captive audience that is just waiting to hear what they have to say and how their products can enhance people’s lives. As alluded to above, social media is a large market, but Facebook is currently leading the pack for small businesses because of its advanced targeting methods.
With Facebook advertising, you can attract the people who are most likely to become your brand advocates. This differs from Google Adwords in many ways. The one that stands out, though, is the fact that you can market to a very specific set of people who have chosen to announce to all their friends that they like brands that are similar to yours.
But that’s not to say that Facebook marketing is easy. You must know which brands to target, who is in your ideal demographic and use the right words to reach these people with your ads.
Here are a few tips for making that happen:
Be consistent – Don’t post once and forget about Facebook for three weeks. That’s not how to build a loyal following because when you have forgotten about Facebook, you’re audience has forgotten about you.
Be relevant – It’s tempting to post something funny just to get likes and shares, and that’s a good strategy, if it relates to your business. But don’t post office humor when you’re selling an outdoorsy product. Choose posts that make sense for your brand.
Be fun! – Why do you visit Facebook.com? Is it to learn about the latest trends in digital marketing? Heck, no. It’s to see what your friends and family are up to; nothing more and nothing less. Sure, sometimes you get sucked in with a really good ad and find yourself shopping. That’s the beauty of this channel. But you never want to feel like you’re being taken advantage of, or even being pitched anything. This is your fun time. Keep that in mind while you’re drafting posts and ads. Would you want to read what you’ve written?
When you’re doing everything right on Facebook, you’re going to start building a loyal following. And that will lead you to another of Facebook’s perks: access to your spectators social networks. Having a friend like a page is a lot like having them endorse a brand. Facebook is designed for this kind of social sharing like no other network, which is why so many brands see success when they run “Sponsored stories” in the newsfeed of their network’s connections.
Don’t make the mistake of discounting Facebook simply because it often feels like a high school reunion. The fact of the matter is that your audience is here, and they are likely checking in every single day. If you want to reach them, there’s no better place than Facebook.