So you don't have a marketing team with fancy titles like “Inbound Marketing Manager” or “Social Media Analyst.” That doesn't mean that you cannot rock Facebook for small business.
Did you know there are 1.04 billion daily active users on Facebook?
That is daily active users. Imagine getting a piece of that action. The numbers are outstanding. If you are not taking advantage of this powerful network, you are missing out. But what if you are completely confused about how to market to and engage with these users as a small business owner?
Using Facebook for Your Small Business
Your approach to Facebook is going to be a bit different from an agency. But believe it or not, you have an advantage by crafting personal relations.
By interacting on a smaller scale, you can connect with your smaller audience on a more personable level. This is exactly what Facebook users crave.
How Do You Get Started?
Facebook for small business should tackle several different aspects of your marketing, social media and content teams. Even though many marketers believe Facebook can be ineffective, there are ways to use it successfully so you actually see a return on your investment.
Don't get bogged down by your social media, and instead, try to use these 10 tips to masterfully build and manage your Facebook:
1. Maximize Branding Power
First, you want to make sure your page is ready to be seen. Are you maximizing the branding power of the Facebook Fan Page?
Here are the areas of focus:
- Profile Picture
- Cover Photo
- About
- Call To Action
- Intro Video
Use the space offered for your profile and cover photo to show off your brand's personality. Make sure you have a short and sweet “About” paragraph to describe your business.
What do you want people to do when they visit your page? This is your call to action. And while a video is not an essential element, this type of content is a great addition for those who would rather watch than read what you are up to.
Need inspiration for your cover photos? This is a time when there is no shame in stalking. Here are some Facebook business examples that rock the cover photo space:
All completely different brands and products, yet all these covers work. They work because you get a sense of the brand right away with no further exploration.
Starting a business Facebook Page from scratch? Check out our Facebook Business Page Guide.
2. Define Your Target Audience
You cannot exactly reach your target audience if you do not know who they are. This step is essential and will help you develop the proper tone and voice for your Facebook posting. You may have already completed this work when you started your business by creating buyer personas or an ideal customer profile.
Use this information as you go into content creation for Facebook. Your business needs consistency from your local venue, if you have one, to your website to your social media profiles.
Speak, act and think like your target audience. Get inside their heads, hang out where they hang out, care about what they care about. If you click on “People” under your insights on your Facebook page, you will be able to see if your page is reaching your desired market.
3. Get Clever With Free Engagement
Once your branding is optimized and your page is ready, it's time to start sharing posts in your feed. Who doesn't love free marketing?
Here is where we will explore the different types of engaging posts you should try. You will want to balance different types of content to attract different users and keep your feed interesting:
- Questions
- Statistics
- Contests
- Behind The Scenes
- Photos
- Videos
- Fill In The Blank
- Tutorials
- Product Demonstration
Along with sharing your products, services and content, a fun behind the scenes post can stand out and capture your audience. Neil Patel did this in a recent post. A great photo with a humorous caption:
His post drove more than 980 reactions and 50-plus comments on a simple but fun Facebook post.
Another great way to engage your audience is to let them be involved in the creation of your products and services. Burger Revolution does this by allowing followers to name their Burger Of The Month.
You could also involve your audience with a “Give Back” campaign. O.H.S.O. Brewery recently launched its campaign that gives back to nonprofits for every pint sold. This is a great way to get involved with your local community and engage customers as well.
4. Check Analytics
Once you have some posts up, it's time to see how they are doing. You can do this by checking the “Insights” tab from your page manager. In Facebook insights, you can view your recent posts and see their reach and engagement. Using this information you can decide what types of posts work best for you on this platform.
This becomes even easier and useful if you use Sprout Social's Facebook analytics tools. Remember that engagement is the key factor. If you have a lot of followers, but they are not engaging with your content, it may be time to rethink your strategy.
5.Try Paid Promotion
You do not have to spend a lot of your marketing budget to boost your reach on Facebook. There are a variety of ways that you can use paid promotion. If you see that a particular post is doing well, you can boost that post starting at just $20.
When boosting a post, you can target Location, Interests, Age, and Gender to make sure you are reaching an audience that will be interested in your business.
Facebook will even help you develop Ads specific to meeting your business goals. You can also use paid promotion to share your Fan Page with a wider audience, promote your local business and your website.
6. Schedule Your Time
Part of being successful on any social network is being organized and having a schedule. Spontaneous posting is fine and even welcome at times, but don't make it your complete marketing plan. Create a social media editorial calendar for your Facebook Posting and stick to it.
Otherwise, you will likely find that it is not getting done. By implementing a consistent posting schedule, fans will know what to expect. They will also see you as someone who is professional and organized.
If you care, your audience will begin to care too. Whether you choose to schedule posts directly from Facebook or with a content manager like Sprout Social, be consistent.
7.Interact & Respond
You have a business to run and do not have time to be on Facebook 24/7. That's understandable, but, don't always post and run. Facebook is a social network, so you must be social for the sake of your brand. When you receive comments on a post, respond to as many as you can. When messages come in, be quick to provide answers.
Facebook is the place to be helpful and set yourself up as the expert. By engaging with your customer base regularly, answering questions and giving support, you will build a loyal community of fans. If you have completed step 6 and created a schedule, it will be easier to free up the time to interact.
8. Keep It Real
We started this post by talking about your advantage of personal relating. Don't forget this on your Facebook journey. The reason behind the scenes pictures and videos are so popular is because they showcase the human element of a brand. In this digital age, people no longer relate to the cool and distant. People want real.
As you continue to develop your Facebook content, make sure you are humanizing your small business. Salvage One, an antique store, writes humanistic captions that show they're just as excited about their products as their customers.
Facebook is a long-term, community-building investment. It can take time to collect a fan base that trusts and believes in you. Give people the chance to get to know you better.
9. Re-Evaluate Your Facebook Strategy
Once you have been at this a bit, use all the tools you have available to figure out what is working and what is not. Use your insights, intuition and even your content manager to find out what's successful. You could even ask your audience to get their opinions. Make sure your Facebook marketing is working for both you and your fans.
Is your content consistent? Are you receiving engagement? What is the feedback like? What could you improve? As a small business owner, you may be too close to get an unbiased view. This is why analytics and customer feedback can be so useful. Be brave and truly evaluate the data.
You will not be able to improve until you face what is really happening.
10. Be Ready to Grow
You have applied the tips, set your branding and voice, know what's working and what's not and analyzed your Facebook content accordingly. Now, what?
It's time to grow and it only gets better from here. Be proud of all the work you have put in and share your page. Add it to your website and business cards. Promote it on your other social networks. Share it with friends, family and colleagues. Don't be afraid to take it one step further with your Facebook efforts.
We hope you received some awesome tips from this post and now it's your turn to dive into this powerful network. Brand your page, engage your audience, review your insights and grow!
This post How to Master Facebook for Small Business originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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