Facebook has become a buzzed about topic when it comes to marketing. It provides a fun way to display your business and a unique opportunity to connect with your customers. It is also a land of un-chartered and ever-changing territory for many, which can make efforts overwhelming. So before diving into a campaign most people want to know how any social media effort can benefit their business.
Facebook Pages
Facebook pages are pretty much any business’ first stop on the social media train. Why? Well, Facebook is the largest social media platform, boasting 1.79 billion monthly users as of September 2016 (Facebook). With that many active users, it stands-to-reason that customers are chilling online with their friends. Knowing that target audiences are on the platform makes it easy to reach active buyers and integrate them into an online community. It also allows you to expand on this online community with those unfamiliar to your business. The best part – it’s free! By having an engaged audience comprised of your business’ fans your Facebook content spreads onto the newsfeeds of their friends with each interaction. It also brings the opportunity to showcase company culture and a business’ personality. People enjoy feeling involved in “moments.” By sharing moments of employees, office activities, and other fun features you provide a glimpse into work-life at your company and create connections.
Facebook Paid Ads
As with most things, once something free becomes a fad, there is monetization. The good news is Facebook ads are super affordable and can really maximize audience reach. Additionally, super-detailed targeting helps to reach ideal target audiences without spending a massive amount of money. Utilizing Facebook paid ads provides placement in the right hand column ads, audience network, and newsfeeds (desktop and mobile). Facebook also offers ad placement on Instagram for certain ad types. If a business doesn’t use Instagram and lacks an account, ads can still be run on the platform using your Facebook page. There are many measurable ad goals including video, event promotion, website clicks, offers, post engagement and more. The Facebook tracking pixel also make it much easier to track conversions and actions taken by users. This will give you insight to your audience, allow you to create custom audiences using these engaged users, and increase website retargeting with Facebook visitors.
Facebook has provided a place for people to connect and those active users continue to keep coming. Whether you are a restauranteur, car dealer, veterinarian, retailer, event planner, daycare operator, plumber, attorney or work in another profession, Facebook has plenty to offer when it comes to marketing and growing your business. It also allows business of any size a fair chance to find placement amongst a deluge of other content at an affordable price. With new platforms emerging and beginning to monetize, it seems that social media continues to be a marketing trend. Better to hop on this train now than miss it completely.