We have talked in length about the importance of your business having a presence on social media. While some social media networks are better than others, there is no argument among marketers that if a business was to choose just one network to engage with customers, it should be Facebook.
After getting your Facebook page set up, it’s important to know that you must work your page in order for it to benefit you. Simply setting up a page and forgetting about it will not reap that benefits of social media that are available. Luckily for you, maintaining a social presence is simple and there are tools to help you succeed. Below you will find six ways to leverage your Facebook Business Page to grow your online presence.
Updated Information
This one is simple and pretty obvious. Keeping your page information up to date is crucial. Customers that verify a business authenticity will be looking for basic information; such as, business hours, business address, website and phone number.
Seasonal hour changes should be reflected on your Facebook Page or a quick post that you’re closed for a Holiday will help customers and potential visitors from becoming frustrated if they are given inaccurate information and make a fruitless trip to your business. If you have an online website, you can redirect customers there so that you’re still earning revenue outside of traditional business hours.
Updating your page with timely photographs or logos is helpful for consumers to verify authenticity of your business as well. You want to make sure that your Facebook Page visitor is confident they have landed in the right location.
Consistent Posts
Creating a Facebook Page, updating all the information, but then not doing anything with it won’t help your business. Posting throughout the week will give you an opportunity to engage with your audience and also allow potential customers to learn more about your business.
Typically, it is standard to make 3-5 posts weekly on your Facebook Business Page. Creating a balance between inundating your followers with content which can become annoying for them and result in a loss of followers, but also being present enough that your business is staying top of mind. Creating this framework goal of 3-5 posts per week is a great basepoint and then you can fill in more during promotions or events.
If you’re not comfortable being on social media daily, this can be a hard habit to get into. Thankfully there are tools that will help. Facebook Pages allows scheduled posts which means that you can go in once a week and create post in advance to be posted throughout the week. If you’re looking for something that is a little more user-friendly and also has the ability to schedule posts across multiple social media platforms, Buffer or Hootsuite are great options that have low cost options.
Creative Content
While any post is better than nothing, it is well-known that not all posts are created equal. Think about you as a social media user. Do you enjoy watching videos? Love a good meme? Fascinated by a high-quality photo? The same could be said about your users. When it comes to content, variety is key.
In the past year, 71% of Facebook users have increased the number of videos they watch on the app, according to Hootsuite. Live videos were watched 2x more than regular video posts. What does this tell us? Users want to see the authenticity of the brand of business. More consumers are gravitating towards live video because it appears to be more truthful and it’s more of a human to human experience. Treating your audience like you would a friend will create loyalty between you and your followers.
Supporting posts with links to other content or supporting imagery will increase the engagement of the content. For instance, why would you say, “Come check out our new merchandise!” and not include a picture of said merchandise. Removing any obstacles to the sale with simple things like providing more information rather than less.
Quick Response
You don’t let your business phone ring, unanswered for days on end, so why would you leave a comment or message on Facebook go answered for weeks at a time? Responding to any and all interactions on your social media profiles should be done quickly. Even if it’s not a question, doing something as simple as “liking” a comment will show that person and any others coming to your page that you take their comments seriously and are on top of your social media presence.
Furthermore, social media’s core purpose is to be social! Using these opportunities to engage with your customers will at a minimum make their comment feel validate and could at best mean that you learn something about your audience to improve your business or even be the necessary piece to close a sale.
Due to the casual nature of social media, engaging with customers and potential customers on social media is a great avenue to have a little more fun with your responses and show your personality. Being professional doesn’t mean you have to be stuffy, and your audience will want to learn more about the person behind the business.
Don’t miss out on notifications because you’re uncomfortable with social media. Even if you’re not an active user or prefer not to have the actual Facebook app on your phone, there are ways around that. Logging in on your desktop throughout the day to check your page’s activity or adding the Facebook Business app on your phone that is built specifically for managing your pages without having to deal with the personal side of Facebook are great tips to stay on top of communications.
Ad Campaigns & Boosted Posts
Outside of giving your current customers another outlook to talk to your business or validating your business for a potential customer that found you on Google, you can use your Facebook Business Page to find new customers.
Facebook ads are a great way to reach a wide range of people for a low cost. While creating ads can seem overwhelming for a new user, the Facebook ads manager tool is simple and easy to use. Facebook will walk you through creating ads that are focused on several objectives. This could be brand awareness, engagement, or website visitors. They also include a pixel tool that can be installed on your business website to track clicks through to your website and clicks that turned into purchases so you can track the ROI from your ad campaigns.
If getting started with an ad campaign is a little overwhelming for you, using the simpler option of “boosting” posts that you have created on your page is a great option. Set up for these ads are as simple as a click of a button. Clicking boost post, selecting your ad spend and completing a few other fields of information will have your ad up and running in no time. To maximize this ad, make sure you’re inviting those that like or interact with this post to “Like” your page.
Strategic Facebook Audiences
So, you have your Facebook Business Page set up and all your information is up to date and you’re responding quickly and posting creative content throughout the week and you’re putting some money behind ads. Now, it’s time to optimize your ads.
The entire point of advertising is to find customers that would be likely to purchase your product or service, but they just haven’t heard of you yet or they aren’t in the market yet. The key to a successful ad campaign is the audience it is targeting, not just the ad creative or promotion. Thankfully, Facebook has created a really sophisticated way to build audiences for your ad campaigns that is easy to set up and use.
Creating audiences and filtering based on location, demographics and behaviors will optimize your ads so you aren’t wasting money showing your ad to consumers that either are unable to convert because they aren’t in your area or are outside of your customer demographics. For example, if I own a small hair salon with a client base of women 16 – 45 years old in Wichita, KS, I won’t need to show my ad to a male 55+ living in New York City because the likelihood that this person would ever become a paying customer is really low.
Furthermore, you can build multiple audience sets to optimize your campaigns based on the content message. More tips for optimizing your Facebook Page audiences can be found here.
Ariel Westphal
“Hi there! I’m Ariel, the Marketing Director for Acumen Connections. I led the team in establishing Acumen Connections’ identity and processes when Brian J. Staver purchased the company in 2017. Nowadays, Renee and Anna do most of the heavy lifting on the content writing side as I oversee all marketing initiatives, but our team works together to create an environment that supports Acumen Connections’ mission of “Building Business Connections”.