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Facebook has established itself as the #1 social networking website and it continues to give a wealth of benefits for businesses. If you have not yet thought about the marketing opportunities you can have with Facebook, consider the following points:
1. Facebook advertising is less costly compared to other forms of advertising.
For small and medium-sized businesses, this social network provides a very affordable advertising platform. Spending just a few hundred dollars a month on advertising can go a long way on Facebook.
2. Targeting options make it more efficient than other forms of advertising.
Facebook’s geo-targeting features make it easier for your business to reach the right people. Its target advertising even lets you specify interests, employers and zip codes. So what that means is you can literally reach almost anyone from anywhere. This is something that no mainstream media can do.
3. It allows for a two-way engagement with real people.
TV ads, news ads and other forms of advertising is one-way. Once your message is sent, that’s it. But with Facebook, your target audience has the opportunity to like, comment and share your posts.
Advantages of Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool
A company’s marketing strategies can have a significant impact on its success. This is why it is essential for business owners to keep on promoting their products and services so they can have a steady stream of customers. This is where Facebook can really come in handy.
I’ve listed some of the key advantages of using Facebook as a marketing tool for businesses of any size and from any industry:
1. It’s an inexpensive marketing strategy.
Creating a Facebook business page is free so even if you have no marketing budget right now, you can still set up your own Facebook page. Although promoting your products and services on Facebook is not free, you can specify your budget so that you don’t have to spend anymore than what you can afford.
2. It lets you communicate with existing and potential customers.
You can interact with your followers on Facebook by sharing videos and photos, replying to their comments, and others. Your customers can directly contact you on your Facebook page, making it more personalized compared to an automated email.
3. You can provide customer service via your Facebook page.
Customers always appreciate it when a business is quick to help them with a product or service-related issue. Now with Facebook, you give your customers an easy and widely available channel to get in touch with your staff so that their concerns and issues can be resolved faster.
4. Your website traffic will also increase.
Social media marketing through Facebook can also help with your SEO efforts. Every time your Facebook post gets shared, you’ll get more and more traffic to your site when you add a link to your site in each post you publish.
5. It boosts your credibility online.
On the Internet, one’s perception of a business depends on what others say about them. So, by focusing your efforts on customer interaction and by being quick to respond and resolve issues on your Facebook page, you get more and more satisfied customers. Soon word will spread about how great your business is and people will be flocking to your Facebook page to see for themselves what a great company you have. They will see all the positive comments and reviews on your page, which will convince them that your brand is the right choice for them.
Social Media Marketing with Facebook
There are generally two ways you can market your business on Facebook – (1) the long way and (2) the short way. Option 1 is essentially doing your promotions manually – you invite friends to like your page and you encourage them to tell their friends to like your page as well. This can work but it will take a long time before you’ll see any results.
The short way, on the other hand, refers to the use of paid advertising on Facebook. With this option, you can target your ads based on the location, age, interest, gender, relationship status, education, and language among others.
You can create or add images to your ad copy, which is actually recommended because ads with images get more responses than those without.
Now your ad copy is very important. No matter how attractive your ad image is, if your ad copy is poorly made, you’ll get very low conversions, if at all.
Facebook only allows a 25-character headline and 90-character body. So make the most out of your ad by following the AIDA formula in copywriting:
- Attention – Draw your target audience into the ad by creating an attention-grabbing headline.
- Interest – Briefly describe your product’s most important benefit to get your audience interested.
- Desire – Entice them by giving discounts, a limited time offer or a trial offer.
- Action – Always close your ad with a call to action (CTA).
Keep your ad short but clear on what you have to offer and what’s in it for your audience.
You’ll need to bid on Facebook ads to get maximum exposure. If you’re new to Facebook advertising, it’s OK to set your bid on the low end of the bid range. But you may soon realize when you track your ad’s performance that the CTR (click through rate) is low. You’ll have to increase your bids over time to widen your reach.
Final Thoughts
There’s definitely a learning curve in using Facebook as a marketing tool and not all your campaigns will give you the results you want. Nevertheless, Facebook advertising can be a cost-effective marketing channel for your business once you’ve figured out how to use its features to your benefit.