Back in the day, email marketing and other similar methods were the picks of the bunch. However, things have changed in recent years and instead of bombing people with random emails, entrepreneurs put their focus on other ways to promote themselves. Social media is one of the best examples of the recent change, and Facebook was the catalyst of changes.
The big whales of internet marketing are pumping as much as they can to get their presence felt on the platform. But what about smaller businesses? Well, things might be a bit more difficult, but there are still plenty of things to do. If you want to find out how, make sure to read the rest of the article.
Table of Contents
Have a Clear Posting Intent
There are a lot of pages out there who post random stuff with hopes of attracting attention. And even though it might be surprising, some of them receive quite a lot. In all honesty, though, this happens mostly because they spend a lot of money on Facebook ads and reaches all sorts of people. If you want to ensure that your campaign is not wasted, you need to understand how important it is for a post to have a clear intent. Consider whether that will be the post to spend most of your ad money on, whether it will be pinned, or whether it is a simple post to give your followers.
Interact and Engage
The more replies you give, the easier it will be to grow the page. You should do your best to leave a reply to every comment, like it, etc. People appreciate this more than they realize themselves, especially on a subconscious level. And it is not just your followers. You should also like and comment on other people’s pages. This way, you will establish relationships which could lead to a lot of great things in the future.
Optimize the Profile
Your profile is the representation of the business. You need to make sure that everything is in order. For starters, get a picture for both profile and cover. It would not be a bad idea to spice things up a bit. After all, people get more interested in things that are innovative. Facebook has added a feature of cover videos which could be another perfect way to grab the attention of your visitors. Also, do not leave any blanks on the business information page.
Recycle Content
Even though it might seem unethical, plenty of pages practice this. What worked in the past is more than likely to succeed again. Try posting the same content with slight changes after enough time has passed so that it will not be noticeable.
Update Profile and Cover
Consider changing your profile and cover pictures every now and then. This will catch the attention of your visitors and gives the page more visibility.
Contests and Giveaways
Since your goal is to get as many people to like and engage, organizing a simple contest is the best way to get started. An entry should be simple: liking, sharing, leaving a comment, maybe tagging a friend or two. It has been argued that visual content is the best for Facebook page promotion, but nothing will ever get as much traction as a giveaway. Do note, though, that there are some pages who organize fake giveaways, which means that they do not give away the prize. You should not attempt it under any circumstances because if they found out, your page is done for.
User-generated Content
Do not be the only one to post. Let those who want to join in on the fun. Whenever someone sees their creation on a page, the person starts to feel good and important. Moreover, you will have fewer problems coming up with original content.
Video content
As you are probably aware, more and more pages are putting out posts as ads that are in a video format. This is an excellent technique. Videos are arguably the most popular form of medium. If they catch your eye, you are bound to stay and watch the rest of it. It would be worth noting that Facebook stories should be part of your strategy if you’re serious about utilizing video content to drive sales for your business.
Use Insights
The insights exist for a reason, and that is to help you figure out which sections of your page require improvements, which posts have been doing great and should be used as a future reference, and which posts have done poorly and are no longer worth your resources. Use social media tools such as Onclusive’s social listening software to get the insights that you need.
Invest in Facebook ads
Getting started with Facebook ads without any experience is not something that a lot of people would recommend. Instead, you would be better off hiring someone who has worked with it before. It will cost you some extra money, but at least you will be in good hands. Of course, if you are in no rush, you can learn about them yourself as there are plenty of sources available online.
You could also consider advertising and marketing opportunities on LInkedIn to generate business leads .
Schedule Posts in Advance
If you have time and content, you should definitely schedule at least a week’s or month’s worth of posts in advance. Of course, it might be impossible depending on the type of your page, but if you believe that it is possible, then, by all means, go for it. Also, if you are going to be going away and will not be able to post anything for some time, use the scheduling tools to at least plan some posts for the time you are unable to do things manually. You can also take care of security issues. You can use FB hack tool to learn these things.
Don’t Stick to Links
If you have been using Facebook for some time, you should be aware of its engagement rate algorithm. Quite a few posts tend to get plenty of comments and reactions, whereas some make no impact.
To avoid this problem, you need to change your posts a bit. For one thing, if you stick to links that are outside Facebook, you are bound to get ignored. Pictures, links, videos that are within the confines of the platform are going to perform a lot better. Of course, you will have to make a post with outside links at some point, but the main takeaway from this piece of advice is putting more effort into original content.
Image Size
While Facebook does take care of most formatting, images that you put out in posts are your responsibility. Why would one even bother with it? Well, the answer is quite simple. What we see on a computer screen looks different when using a smartphone or a tablet.
It is also worth pointing out that the majority of internet surfers prefer to use their smart devices rather than a computer. Even if you are not an avid smartphone user, you should be aware of how websites are optimized nowadays. The same applies to images on Facebook.
Post Timing
Depending on how frequent you plan to post, determining the best time to do so should be one of your priorities. The timing itself is as important as the post itself, if not more so.
Of course, if you have a global audience, the problem becomes even trickier. Finding the middle ground will not be possible if you are doing everything manually. As it will take time to test things out, make use of auto-scheduling tools for social media.
Promote Content Outside Facebook
It is more than likely that you will be running social media accounts on other platforms or even a website dedicated to your brand. You need to make use of these sources to the fullest and may need to keep track of posting shedules by using a posting calendar template. Whenever you send an email to your subscribers, include social media buttons. Do the same for the blog. Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Reddit, Quora, and plenty of other sites are a good way to spread your influence. Take time and learn about them as well because they will come in handy in the future.
Improve Response Time
There are bound to be customers who will make inquiries to you directly via Facebook, which presents opportunities for small businesses. If you have been using the social media for a while, you should have noticed that there is information on how fast the page tends to respond. As everyone has high expectations of business pages, it is in your best interest to make sure that you respond in time.
At the very least, if you are no longer able to respond to every message and comment, hire someone who can take care of this matter. There should not be a lot of problems finding the right person on freelancing websites.
Keep up with Your Results
Insights have already been mentioned, but it would be worth pointing out that you should have a weekly measurement of how good or bad you did. There are a lot of metrics to keep track of when you are running a Facebook page. Having a weekly or even monthly evaluation of things will give you a bigger picture.
Experiment with Ads
Businesses are throwing more money into Facebook ad campaigns than ever. Facebook has a dedicated ad creator which gives you the ultimate weapon to crush your competition and achieve better results. Facebook ads are perfect for everyone who is looking for flexibility and great features. Hardly any other ad creator can offer as much as this one.
Make a Facebook Group
More and more entrepreneurs create a group on top of the page that already exists. There are a few reasons why they are taking this approach.
- More intimate engagement. Groups are more casual for discussions and are not as intimidating as pages. Members of the group will be more eager to engage in discussions because they are part of something. Finally, if a question comes from another person rather than business, there is no barrier.
- Instant feedback from polls. If you can manage to build a group that consists of “niche” members, you can expect to receive a lot of valuable feedback. Polls are just one of the examples.
- Pinned Posts. A group allows you to pin posts at the top and everyone who enters it will see that particular post first. This creates a perfect opportunity to make a call-to-action.
Do note that groups work only if you provide value to their members and build their trust over time. Share relevant news and what you have experienced first-hand, answer questions and provide any sort of help that strengthens the bond between you and them.
Contact Other Pages Directly
Even though there is a lot of competition, you should still consider building some relationships with businesses that have identical or similar niches. Most of your inquiries will probably be turned down because they do not want to do anything with those who pose a threat, but smaller pages should be eager to exchange ideas. You never know when a simple approach could turn out to be one of your best decisions.
Realistic Goals
No matter how big or small your business is, you need to make sure that you have realistic goals. It is very rare to see something that has success over one night. However, struggles are just everyday life for those who are trying to make money on the internet. Failures can be a big bummer, even more so when you have high expectations. Therefore, it would probably be better to weigh exactly how much you are capable to achieve. Even if it is on Facebook, do not put too much at stake when working on it.
Continue Learning
Things never stay the same, which is even more true to the world of internet marketing. Despite how much you might have learned in the past, things are bound to change in the future. Sites like Facebook will never stay static, and those who are unable to keep up could end up in a place with no return. Therefore, if you want to remain relevant, make sure to stick with the times.
The bottom line is that Facebook has a lot to offer for both big and small players. If you want to increase your presence on this social media platform, following these tips will help you get there in no time.