Getting The Most Out Of Facebook For Your Business

Regardless of what you may have heard or how many new apps come out, Facebook still dominates the social media market. With 1.85 billion people logging in daily, which is a 16% increase year-over-year, it’s still the most popular social network available. Not to mention, Facebook owns 60% of all social logins. Facebook is simply too big to ignore or dismiss. And really, why would you want to? The platform offers some excellent opportunities for small businesses to reach their target audience in simple, direct and cost effective ways!

In order to best reach consumers, having a presence on Facebook is a given for most businesses. You’ll want to make the most of your Facebook Page to attract and engage visitors, drive them to your website and convert them into leads then, customers.

To do this, you want to optimize your profile, post high quality content, use boosting and ad targeting, connect with your customers and maintain a consistent presence.

Optimize Your Profile

There are many ways to optimize your Facebook Business page. Here are a few of the top ones:

-Use a high quality logo, cover image and images for your posts

-Fill in all of the About info, preferably using your chosen keywords

-Utilize DM’s and autoresponders to connect with your customers

-Be sure to answer DM’s and comments quickly. Set up notifications to help you keep track

-Choose the CTA button that’s appropriate for your business

-Customize your page tabs to what is most relevant for your business

-Go through each option in the Edit section and ensure it is fully filled out and that you’ve adapted any areas of the profile that are customizable

-Set up your DM’s to auto respond to messages so you receive the Responsive badge. This lets your current and potential customers know that you manage your page and will connect with them where they prefer to connect.

Your Business profile page on Facebook is like your website and deserves the same attention to detail and thoughtfulness.

Share High Quality Posts

While you may be tempted to post frequently to gain more traction, the Facebook algorithm is set up to favour quality over quantity. Posting too often will usually result in lower engagement on those posts and a lower engagement score teaches Facebook that your posts are less relevant to your audience. This will result in less organic traction.

In order to get the most out of organic reach on Facebook posts, we recommend focusing on sharing high quality content as often as you can create it. As long as your audience is engaging and seeing the value in what you post, the frequency is up to you.

Creating quality posts includes a few important elements that need to be executed well:

-Use quality video and images

-Create as much video as you can – it gets higher traction

-Share links to your best content (blogs, webinars, video series)

-Post content from other thoughtleader accounts that’s interesting, entertaining, helpful and/or relevant to your audience

-Post at optimal times which are usually between 9am-3pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays

-Avoid posting on Sundays and any day before 7am or after 3pm

-Be sure to check your data to know what is resonating with your audience

Grow Your Following

Your focus should be on attracting quality followers who can actually become your customer rather than the quantity of followers you have overall. Finding the right audience for your content will ensure those who follow your page and engage with your posts are your target customer types. This helps to ensure your efforts on social media are fruitful.

There are easy (and free) ways to attract new followers to your account:

-Use relevant hashtags that include those that are generic, the more niche ones and those that are localized (if that’s your audience)

-Include a link to your Facebook page on your website, emails, blog page, invoices, etc.

-Invite your existing customers to engage with you on Facebook

-Ask for Facebook reviews

The more visible your profile is, the more likely that you will attract new people to your excellent content!

Advertise Your Business On Facebook

On average, your posts are served in the feeds of about 5-10% of your followers organically which means you need to allot budget to Facebook spend if you want to reach more people.

Paid advertising on Facebook includes boosted posts and targeted ads and they both have different functions. Boosting allows that specific post to land in the Feed of more people within a defined audience type, those who follow you already and their friends or various other options. Boosting is used to create engagement and drive traffic to your website or a promotion. Ads are more intricate and defined. They typically have lead generation and conversion goals. Essentially, boosted posts will attract attention and engagement and create soft conversions. Ads will usually find colder leads and bring new people into your sales funnels.

Some tips for getting the best results from your Facebook budget:

-Make sure you test your ads and keep a close eye on how they are performing. Adjust as necessary and as soon as your results start to wane so you don’t waste any budget.

-Boosting posts helps you to see how they perform with a smaller budget. The ones that get great traction make great ads!

-Use your Facebook pixel to serve your ads to those who have come to your website so you’re finding the warmest leads possible.

-Utilize your customer database or email list to create a lookalike audience. This feature gives Facebook the profile information it needs to find others who are similar to your customers. It’s like a built in customer persona!

-Make the most of Custom Audiences, which is a feature on Facebook that allows you to target those who have interacted with your content in the past.

General Tips For Facebook Success

All social platforms should be used in the way that best represents your business and how your audience wants to interact with you but there are also some universal tips that will help any account.

-Be consistent with your posting, answering comments and DM’s.

-Encourage your audience to share content they have made that includes your business in some way. UGC (user generated content) gets better traction and provides social proof.

-Use well timed and exciting contests and giveaways to attract new people (Facebook has a strict policy for these though so look into it first).

-People love events, sales and promotions and Facebook is one of the best places to promote these!

-Keep your company info up to date (ie. hours, services).

-Use Facebook to provide great customer service. Encourage people to reach out to your business on the platform directly and be sure to respond quickly.

-Not all content has to be made by you. You can also position yourself as a leader in your industry by sharing important news and relevant information. Adding your own take on it is important though so you show your thought leadership.

Most small and medium sized businesses have done a great job getting started on Facebook. Truly optimizing the platform and getting the most out of the advertising options requires expertise and a more intricate understanding of the ins and outs of Facebook, especially because they change very frequently. This is where partnering with a marketing agency to support your overall strategy can be helpful.

At Digital Monk, we have Facebook experts that can guide you through making the most out of Facebook for your business. Give us a call today to chat more about the kind of results you could be getting!