5 Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Like nearly everything else in our society, marketing has changed drastically over the last decade. Until the explosion of smartphones and social media, the majority of all small business advertising was still performed in traditional print, radio and television forms, but now these outlets have nearly disappeared in terms of marketing relevance. In a digital world, the man with the most “likes” is king, and social media now determines everything about how consumers discover new brands, interact with one another and spend their money.
While all major social media platforms can be gold mines for marketers, no other outlet can compare to Facebook in terms of scope and potential. Nearly everyone with a smartphone has a Facebook page, and this means that businesses can instantly connect with millions of potential customers from anywhere. In addition to the wide scope of consumers who use it, Facebook also tailors many of its services specifically for small business marketing purposes.
In these ways, Facebook has essentially leveled the playing field, allowing small to midsize businesses the same opportunities to reach massive audiences as major corporations. Unfortunately, just because you are able to create a Facebook page for your business does not automatically mean you will be able to reach millions of new customers. While you can buy Facebook video views, hire content firms to write your posts and contract marketing firms to reach your full social media potential, there are some simple steps that any small business owner can take to build a presence and gain more business quickly and for free on Facebook.
Develop a Strategy
Just like with any form of marketing, Facebook marketing needs to be guided by an overall strategy in order to be effective. This does not mean you need teams of people building PowerPoint presentations and studying market trends, but you should come up with some realistic goals and techniques to get there. Building a strategy will give you a baseline for success and help make adjustments to improve the plan as efforts grow.
Understand Your Audience
Of course, you would like your posts to reach everyone with a Facebook profile, but that is not a realistic expectation. You need to narrow down your efforts and define the target audience who would be most interested in your products or services. Targeted marketing is more effective than general ads with no direction, and you should base all of your marketing efforts on what would be most effective.
Since Facebook knows nearly everything about its users from their shoe size to their favorite elementary school teacher, this is helpful in reaching specific groups. Target audiences can be separated by interests, geographic area, gender, age, and even more specific demographics.
Post Relevant, Interesting Content
While you can throw in some basic promotional advertisements, the majority of your posts should be geared at helping and intriguing your audience. Modern consumers do not trust traditional advertising, but they will lean towards brands that post helpful, honest content geared at gaining their trust, not just their money.
Use Available Tools
Facebook is usually tailor-made for small business marketing, and you should take advantage of all available resources and tools. Facebook Ads come with built-in analytical tools to learn which are most effective and help you make necessary adjustments.
Stay Active
This should go without saying, but in order to have successful social media marketing, you must be active on social media. You should be posting at least once a day, but remember that it should always be relevant and interesting. Linking to other articles or affiliate sites is a great way to stay active, even if you do not have new original content of your own. It is also a great way to build business relationships in your industry.
