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| Facebook for Digital Marketing: Facebook Marketing |
Facebook Marketing
Facebook marketing is a need. With 2.29 billion daily active users, Facebook is the most popular social media network in the whole globe. Also, it's not only self-deprecating pictures from vacations. Social media is the main platform used by 53.2% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 24 for brand research. Additionally, 66% of all Facebook users visit a local company page at least once every week.
What should you do first, though? Do you require running ads? About what should you post? Do business Pages signify participation in the metaverse? You will find all of your questions answered as well as a step-by-step guide to help you get started with Facebook marketing
What is Marketing Facebook?
Facebook marketing is the practice of promoting a business or brand on the social media platform. Businesses may utilize it to spread the word about their brand among consumers, build an online following, gather leads, and make more sales.
Facebook marketing tactics can include:
Organic text, photo, or video content
Paid, or “boosted,” text, photo, or video content
Facebook Stories and Reels
Facebook ads
Facebook Groups
Contests and giveaways
Facebook Messenger chatbots or auto-responders
Influencer marketing campaigns
How to set up Facebook for business
For those on a tight budget or none at all: Facebook marketing is entirely free. You might choose to use sponsored services like Facebook advertisements, boosted content, or influencer/partnership campaigns to hasten your growth.
Let's start with the source: the Facebook page for your company. You need to create a Page whether you solely do this and post organic material or use the other advice in this article.
Create a Facebook Business Page
1. Sign in to Facebook with your personal account. Your personal information won’t show on your Page, but you can also create a new Facebook account with a work email address if you prefer.
2. Open the menu (the nine dots on the right side) and click Create, then Page.
3. To create your Page, enter:
a. Name: Your business name
b. Category: Start typing to see the available options. For example, “retail” or “restaurant.”
c. Description: A sentence or two describing what your business does. You can edit this later.
4. Congrats! Your Page is live. Click Edit Page Info to add more to your About section, add a website URL, and more. I’ll cover exactly how to optimize your new Page later in this article.
It helps, even when you don't need it. How can you obtain the same tiny blue checkmark as the hip brands? Verified Pages signify that Facebook has verified the identity of the brand or individual. In light of the fact that 72% of people believe they distrust Facebook, it conveys trust, which is crucial. In theory, becoming confirmed is as easy as completing a form. Facebook, however, only authenticates pages and profiles that belong to organizations or well-known individuals.
It can be difficult to get a personal profile verified, but it’s quite easy for businesses of all sizes, especially if you have a physical location. The key is ensuring your proof of identity links are independent, non-promotional content from high-quality sources.
Open a Facebook ads account (optional)
It’s a good idea to set up a Facebook ads account even if you don’t plan to use it right away. Once you have a business Page set up, go to Facebook Ads Manager (now part of Meta Business Suite). You can add an existing Facebook ads account or follow the prompts to create a new one.
Now you can start an automated campaign, create your own campaign from scratch, or promote (“boost”) existing Page content. Not sure if you’re ready for Facebook ads? I’ve got tips on when and how to start later in this article.
How to create a Facebook marketing strategy
Define your audience
Before you do anything, you must first define who your ideal potential customer is and what they want on Facebook. Then, create a marketing and content strategy around that.
Every article about social media marketing says this.
…Because it’s true.
At a minimum, you need to define your target audience by answering the following:
What age range do they fall in?
Where do they live?
What types of jobs or job responsibilities do they have? (Most relevant for B2B brands.)
What problem do they have with [your industry/product]? (And how are you the solution?)
How and when do they use Facebook? (At work, home, doom scrolling before bed?)
Not sure where to start? If you already have followers on your Facebook Page, check out Audience Insights inside Meta Business Suite to see the demographics of your existing audience.
Meta’s Insights area offers more than basic info, including:
Education attainment
Relationship status
Location
Interests and hobbies
Languages spoken
Facebook usage statistics
Past purchase activity
Do your data match the clients you wish to draw in? Keep up the wonderful job, it's perfect. Not really? To re-direct your audience to the one you desire, adjust your content strategy as necessary and keep an eye on your insights. If you wish to experiment with Facebook advertising, this information is also useful for ad targeting. Prepared to delve far? Here's how to use Facebook Audience Insights to obtain all the geeky information you need.
Define your goals
Why do you want followers? What do you want them to do? For most companies, the answer is, “Buy something.” But it’s not always about money. Other common goals for a Facebook Page are to:
Build brand awareness
Improve customer service
Maintain a consistent brand image across social media
Bring in traffic to a physical location
Your Facebook marketing goals will depend on your overall marketing strategy. Do (Need a refresh? We’ve got a free marketing plan template for ya.) If you’re up for more no-BS advice, check out this post about setting social media goals and how to measure them.
Plan your content strategy
No need to overcomplicate this. Your content strategy is:
What you’ll post
When you’ll post it
What to post
Will you share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your process? Will you post exclusive discounts? Will you stick to business, or include some fun and games?
Let your imagination run wild with ideas— Ha! Just kidding. You’re gonna post what your audience wants, right? From all that research you did in step 1, right?
Creativity is encouraged, though. Blend what you know about your target audience with what you think will perform well. Think of your Facebook content strategy like buckets. Each bucket is a topic.
For example:
Industry news
Company news
Tuesday Tips, where you share a short tutorial for your software
Reviews/testimonials
New products and promotions
You get the idea. And you know what makes everything, including creativity, more fun? Rules! A few classic social media content strategy rules to consider:
The rule of thirds: One-third of your content is your ideas/stories, one-third is direct interaction with your audience, and the last third is promotional content.
The 80/20 rule: 80% of your content should inform, entertain, and educate, and the remaining 20% can be promotional.
When to post it
The final component of the jigsaw is choosing when to post what you've decided to share. Although our research has shown that the ideal times to publish on Facebook are between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Facebook Audience Insights can still be useful in this situation. Wait a minute. That represents a broad generalization. Experiment, just as with anything else in your plan! Examine several periods to determine when you receive the greatest participation. Utilizing Hootsuite Planner makes it simple to keep on target. Before you have a "oh crap, I need a post right now" content emergency, everyone on your team can see planned articles, participate on drafts, and spot any gaps.
Optimize your Page
Whether you’ve just set up your Facebook business Page or had one for awhile, make sure you have:
A profile photo—your logo works great—and a cover photo. (Check our social media image size guide for current specs.)
A call to action button, such as Book Now.
Contact information, including URL, phone number, and email address.
A detailed about section.
A pinned post with your latest promotion, offer, or FAQ.
A custom Page URL. (For example www.facebook.com/sanjun)
An accurate business category. (Ours is an “Internet company.”)
If you have a physical business location, also ensure you’ve added a street address. If you’re an e-commerce business, use Commerce Manager to display your products in the new Facebook Shop tab. Not sure how? Here’s how to set up a Facebook Shop.
Try other Facebook tools
1. Create a Facebook Group
Groups require a lot of moderation and attention to be successful, but they can earn powerful results.
2. Drive engagement with Hootsuite Inbox
Hootsuite Inbox allows you to respond to DMs and comments from all your social platforms in one place. Besides replying faster, it also enables your entire team to manage communications without duplicating work or missing anything.
3. Try Facebook Marketplace for local sales
While you may think of Marketplace as simply the modern-day replacement for Craigslist, it’s actually a powerful business sales channel, too. In 2022, Facebook Marketplace ads reach a potential 562.1 million people. While most sellers are people cleaning out their basements, business listings are welcome, including in lucrative categories like car and real estate sales (where regional laws permit).
It’s free to create listings, making it a must-try for local businesses. If you sell nationally, consider promoting your shop website, too.
Install Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel)
Meta Pixel is a small piece of code installed on your website to allow tracking, testing, targeting, and analytics for Facebook and Instagram ads. You only have to set it up once per website. (And wait, you’ve already linked your Instagram account to your Facebook page, right?)
To install Meta Pixel:
1. Log in to Facebook Events Manager. In the left menu, click Connect data sources.
2. Choose Web as the data source and click Connect.
3. Name it and enter your website URL. Depending on what your website runs on, there may be a one-click integration available. If not, follow the prompts to install the code manually.
4. Set up the events you want to track. From your Pixel’s Overview tab, click Add Events, then From the Pixel.
5. Enter your URL and click Open website. You’ll be able to select buttons on your site to track as an Event with your Pixel. No coding is required. Assign each button a role, such as “Purchase,” “Contact,” “Search,” and more. Ensure your browser allows pop-ups for this to work properly.
Try Facebook Advertising
Although Facebook advertisements may dramatically increase traffic and sales, starting a campaign can be challenging. You undoubtedly also want to know how much Facebook advertising cost. It fluctuates. (Spoiler: We appreciate you.) With a potential audience of 2.11 billion users by 2022, Facebook advertising have the highest potential viewership of any social media network. In other words, that is 34.1% of all adults on Earth over the age of 13.
For the majority of businesses, Facebook is the greatest place to start if you want to start social media advertising. There is a lot to understand, but it is made simpler by our step-by-step tutorial for making your first Facebook ad campaign.
When to start using Facebook ads
The greatest time to experiment with Facebook advertisements isn't the day after building your brand-new, sparkly company Page. But allowing someone else to decide when you're prepared isn't the solution, either. Heh. Yes, like with other marketing-related issues, there isn't a single right answer or KPI that may indicate when you should begin experimenting with advertisements.
I’d argue you should have these things first:
At least 100 Page Likes (followers)
Meta Pixel set up
Clear Facebook marketing goals
At least 20 Page posts (ideally more)
Multiple creative assets for each ad
“Boosting” a post is Facebook lingo for taking a regular Page post and turning it into an ad. Boosting is the gateway ad those senior content marketers warned you about. Side effects of success include conversions, audience growth, and a newfound appreciation for digital advertising.
When you should consider it: If you’re completely new to Facebook advertising and want to test the waters. Boosted posts are relatively cheap since you specify your budget upfront. Remember: Cheap isn’t effective if the ad isn’t accurately targeted. Ad groups, creative options, launch dates, awareness ads, conversion ads, multiple formats, copy options… A full Facebook ad campaign is a lot of work.
It’s worth it. The combination of organic and paid Facebook content is the secret sauce to achieving all your social media. When you should consider it: You want to build focused momentum for a product launch, event, or other promotion.
Any budget may be used for paid advertisements, but spend some time improving your targeting techniques beforehand. Trying out boosted posts can help you fine-tune this. You can tell whether the target market is you when you see an advertisement. Like learning that A&W serves kid-sized meals at 5:30 on a sweltering summer Sunday when I know that if I turn on the oven, my soul will leave my body. You want the viewers of your advertisement to think, "This is for me."
Types of Facebook Posts for Digital Marketing
Text
Text posts don’t include links, so they’re not meant to drive traffic, but they can be surprisingly good at growing your Page audience. Text posts have the highest average engagement rate at 0.13%.
However, these posts can easily get lost in the algorithm. For text posts under 130 characters, you can choose a colourful background to help them stand out. Keep text posts short: Communicate something quickly to your audience, or ask them a question. Or, be super relatable and funny.
Photo
Photo posts are second only to text posts for engagement, with an average engagement rate of 0.11%. A photo post can be any type of image, including a photo, infographic, or other artwork. You can add as many photos as you want to each post, but for 10 or more, consider creating an album instead.
Every type of business can make impactful photo posts:
Show off your latest collection or share the process of making your products.
Bring your audience into your office or workshop.
Wow, them with data visualizations to make your point.
Better yet, feature your customers’ photos for a unique perspective on your products and engage your audience, too. Limited photography budget? Check out these free stock photo sites like canva and other
Video
Video communicates in a way nothing else can. It’s the next best thing to have your audience right in front of you.
Stuck for ideas? Here are a few types of videos to share:
Explainer videos
Demo videos
Interviews with industry experts, or your own team
Behind-the-scenes sneak peeks
Event Coverage
Products, either informally or a formal commercial shoot
Webinar recordings
MojoGrip is a go-to resource for aviation fans. They know their audience is just as passionate about aircraft as they are, so this “How It’s Made” video was a big hit.
Wondering what successful social media videos have in common? Check our tips for creating viral social videos.
Live Video
Keeping your audience interested is key to using live video effectively. For B2B businesses, Q&As are one of the most successful live video formats. Demo movies demonstrating how to use your product are a good idea for both B2B and B2C, especially to highlight uncommon use cases or "hacks."
With this Live, Lenovo was able to hold the attention of its audience while showcasing the abilities of a new product. In order to demonstrate the laptop's durability, viewers voted on several methods of destruction, which Lenovo then carried out live. Just how to do it, not what to talk about? We have a beginner's guide to Facebook Live.
Links
Links = anything directed to an external source, like your website. Link posts can contain any type of media, too. Creating one is easy: All you need is a caption of your own, then paste in any link and Facebook will pull in an image, title, and meta description from the website. Or, you can manually add your own.
Facebook Stories
Every day, one billion Stories are posted across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp—Meta’s family of apps.
Facebook Stories include a well-known vertical structure and let users to add links, stickers, text, and other elements. A picture or a video can be used. Videos can be up to 20 seconds long per Story, while images display for 5 seconds. After 24 hours, all Facebook Stories are deleted. Keep text and graphics to a minimum for optimum effects and make advantage of the space to let your shot or video do the talking.
Pinned Post
An existing post on your Facebook Page can be "pinned" so that it always appears at the top of the page. This is useful for a greeting, links to crucial sites like customer support information, or whatever you're currently advertising. Your pinned post can be changed at any time. In order to accommodate new promotions, like this one promoting app downloads, McDonald's often alters theirs.
Facebook Group Posts
It might be a lot of effort to manage a private Facebook Group in addition to your company page. Due to its 1.8 billion active monthly users, Facebook Groups are the ideal approach to accomplish your aim of creating a community.
Similar to publishing to your Page, but only viewable to members, is posting in a group. Do you believe it would work well? For building a Facebook Group for the company, we provide step-by-step guidelines and suggested settings. Hello, Fresh offers a #FreshFam Group for users to post pictures and comments on the recipes they've created. Under the Community tab, there is a link to their company Page.
Fundraisers
Facebook fundraising for a good cause or your own foundation is a great method to expand your audience and have a positive influence. Fundraisers demonstrate your principles and introduce people to the goal of your company. By doing so, you demonstrate your sincerity. Extra credit: You may decide to match all contributions (up to a limit of your choice).
And of course, make your new fundraiser your pinned post to maximize views, like the Humane Society of the United States: However, only verified Facebook business Pages for public figures, brands, or charities can create fundraisers. There’s a workaround if you’re not verified yet, though. Create a fundraiser with a personal Facebook user profile, then share it on your business Page.
Events
Creating an event post has 6 unique benefits:
It’s featured in a separate tab on your Page (“Events”).
It’s listed in Facebook’s Events section, so people can discover you even if they don’t Like or follow your business Page. Over 35 million people use Facebook to find events near them every day.
People can RSVP for both in-person and online events, so you can plan attendance.
If someone doesn’t want to RSVP yet, they can click “Interested” and Facebook will remind them closer to the event.
You can create Facebook ads for Events for more views.
You can have multiple hosts, and it’s listed on all host Pages, so it’s easy to work with partners or influencers to promote it.
Facebook Ads Library
Sometimes all you need is a little motivation. A searchable collection of all the ads that are now appearing on Facebook is called the Facebook Ads Library. By location, ad type, and keywords, you may refine your search. Find inspiration for your upcoming campaign, note popular words or images, and research what your rivals are up to.
Hootsuite lets you manage everything for all of your other platforms, including your Facebook business page, content, and advertisements. Plan and schedule content, run advertisements, interact with followers, and use advanced analytics to gauge your effect. Get a free trial now. With Hootsuite, your Facebook presence will grow more quickly. One dashboard will allow you to schedule and monitor all of your social media updates. Even though circumstances may be changing, most marketers still consider Facebook advertising to be a critical ability. It is simpler for consumers to find and connect with your brand online when it has a Facebook business page that is optimized. Learn how to create one.
The algorithm (as well as your audience) can identify that your material is worth sharing if it has Facebook likes. Here are 8 suggestions for increasing Facebook likes. These Facebook tips can help you perform better overall, gain an advantage over your rivals, and level up your social game.