Facebook Marketing can seem like an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be.
With so many different strategies and tools that are now available for businesses of all sizes on Facebook alone – from targeting demographics just right for your target market or generating sales with paid advertising campaigns – there are never-ending possibilities when you use this powerful platform.
The top tips for beginning Facebook advertisers are all about maximizing your advertising potential. With so many services and features available to marketers, it’s important not only to know what you should be doing but also how best to go about doing them in order to succeed with this medium as well.
Here’s what you need to do to get your start with Facebook advertising:
You might also be interested in HOW TO TARGET FACEBOOK ADS BASED ON PHONE NUMBERS
Create a Good Page
The first tip on this list has nothing to do with complex marketing theories or ways to target your potential customer. You’d be surprised how much a good Facebook Business page means in the grand scheme of things.
Have you ever gone to a brand’s business page and found something off? For example:
● No contact information
● No link to a website
● Low-quality profile picture or cover photo
● No additional tabs, etc.
Facebook Business Pages are a great way to seamlessly run your business without ever having an actual website. The best part? You can get started on page with all of the necessary content and information that will keep users engaged from day one.
After all, the Facebook Business Page is a reflection of your business, just like your website, logo, business cards, and other elements.
Best practices for setting up your page:
● Remember Facebook’s photo size specifications: For profile pictures, they will display at 170×170 pixels desktops, 128×128 pixels on smartphones, and 36×36 pixels on most feature phones. They are also cropped in a circular shape, so make sure your profile pic doesn’t get cropped. Cover photos must be at least 400 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall. In both cases, you can also upload videos instead of photos.
● Fill out the About tab: add your contact info, website link, and even a few words about your business. Even if you want people to go to your site, they still may need an extra push before they’re ready to click on your link.
● Choose a button: based on your business activity, you can choose a button that will be placed at the top of your page, such as Call Now, Send Message, Learn More, and others.
● Choose the right tabs: your Facebook Business page has some standard tabs like About, or Photos, but you may need something extra, depending on your business. For instance, if you have a restaurant you can add a Menu tab to let your audience see what food you offer.
Don’t rush setting up your page. Design it to support your activity and business goals.
Think of What You’ll Post – and How
Then, it’s important to consider what you are going to post, and the ways you’ll do it. Facebook Pages are great tools for a company to make various announcements and post on, with Facebook hosting different types of posts – for example:
● Simple text posts
● Photos (including albums with multiple photos)
● Videos
● Links, such as those to blog posts hosted on your site
● Events
● Questions
It is important to post different types of content on the blog, and never focus solely on one topic. Some topics may be inappropriate for your business activity such as Events but you will get more success if you publish several forms each time a new post goes live with this form or another type in which it applies instead.
As for the “how” component of this item, there are several levels to unpack. The first is the most important: your content calendar. Creating a content calendar for your Facebook page is important in order to keep followers engaged. You should have at least three posts per week and no more than two a day so that you’re not overloading them with too much information all at once. It’s great if news outlets can post even more often because they’re sharing breaking news!
Consider the Quality of Your Posts
● Photos and videos must be high-quality and eye-catching, relevant to your text, and fit your overall brand message.
● Facebook’s autoplay doesn’t turn on the sound automatically when it shows a video in the news feed. So, make sure your videos are very captivating at the beginning and encourage viewers to enable sounds for an even better experience.
● When it comes to text, keep it short, clear, and concise. Facebook lets you post quite a lot of text, but don’t go overboard as you risk losing people.
● If you need to post an extra link, consider a Vanity URL. These are shorter redirect links that you can easily add to a post. With it, the post will look more professional.
Giving your users something else to engage with is a great idea when you’re posting on Facebook. For instance, if the store has clothing and wants people’s attention about that specific product line then it might be good for them to show off other items in their closet or even give discounts during certain days of the week depending on how much time they spend online browsing through different social media platforms, such as:
● Industry articles
● News, announcements
● Special offers
● Thank you messages to your customers
● Contests, etc.
Your Facebook page is more than just a place to share links. It’s the gateway into getting in touch with your target audience and developing an effective posting strategy for sales pitches or other forms of communication that will engage them on this channel.
Give Live Videos a Shot
Facebook Live is a new way to get your content in front of more people. When you go live on Facebook, followers will be able to watch and listen just as if they were there with you.
With the rise of social media, live videos are becoming more popular because they only require a smartphone and decent background. It doesn’t take much effort on your part to set up while still showcasing what you have going for yourself in this modern era where everyone has access at any time with an internet connection. Live videos work best for:
● Tutorials
● Q&As
● Interviews
● Product announcements
● Follow-along formats, such as workout videos
This type of content is a great way to engage with your consumers, so remember that you need calls-to-action and encourage people by asking questions like “What do you think?” Interact with them in comments or post their thoughts.
Create a Group
There are a variety of ways you can get your brand in front of more people. One way is by sharing content on social media and groups, but be careful not to spam their feed.
A much better use of the Facebook Group in our opinion is to create your own and encourage your followers to join. There, you can share new content, offers and encourage customers to join the conversation by starting their own live video broadcasts!
By engaging in the conversation under your brand name, you are building a stronger community. Not only will this help build trust with clients but it’s important for developing new business partnerships as well.
Try Facebook Advertising
Finally, we have the Facebook advertising component. We recommend you only start paying for ads after your page and posts are getting traction on its own in organic reach of people’s news feeds with relevant content that speaks directly to them – not just a general “hello!”
Our goal as marketers should be about making connections rather than broadcasting our message at all costs so don’t feel like giving up if it seems too difficult at first – patience pays of.
It may be difficult in the beginning, but think of everything as a trial run. As you post different forms of content and try to grow your audience on Facebook Insights look for people who follow back, such as:
● Demographics
● The type of content they prefer
● When they are most reactive
After you learn these things about the audience you have, you can start trying to expand your reach and run some paid ads.
Facebook Ads is a very complex social media advertising system that you can run huge campaigns for the purposes of getting people to follow your page, generating leads, and even just buying products or booking services.
You also have a lot of different ad formats that can help you reach said goals, such as:
● Photo and video ads
● Carousel ads, which display several images or videos in a single ad
● Collection ads, etc.
This is quite an extensive topic, and if you want to learn more about Facebook ad formats and which ones may work best for your business, you can read our other article on this very topic here.
Start Your Facebook Marketing Strategy Now
You can’t afford to not be on Facebook. It’s a necessary tool for any business these days, but how do you know what should go where and when? Our team at Australian Internet Advertising has years of experience in the field. There are more than enough reasons why having an active profile is crucial whether your goal is simply generating traffic or getting people into their shopping carts!
Book a free 30-minute strategy session with Australian Internet Advertising now or call our office at 1300 304 640 to find out more about our services.
