If you're a small business owner, dedication and hard work are essential to finding success, regardless of your business type. Unlike big companies, you may not have the budget to invest in comprehensive digital marketing plans to grow your business. However, social media can give your business that much-needed boost for better growth.
Social media is critical to growing your brand in today's digital world. Refrain from thinking of it as optional; reaching customers is essential. So, utilizing social media platforms for your business is a no-brainer. What can be a challenge?
While many social media platforms are effective for businesses, Facebook has to be the best place to start, especially for small businesses. Remember, success has nothing to do with your brand being on every social media channel. It is all about being smart and choosing the best social media platform for your business needs. With roughly 1.96 billion daily active users spread across the globe, Facebook has proven itself to be the most popular and successful social media platform, enduring even in the face of challenging rivals like TikTok and Twitter.
The ultimate reason to use Facebook (or any other social media channel) for your business is to engage your potential customers or followers and share valuable content with them.
How Small Businesses Can Leverage Facebook for Growth
- Optimize your business page
- Correct category placement
- Dynamic visuals
- Custom tabs and CTA buttons
- Proper content with relevant keywords
- Utilize Offer ads
Facebook is a place where you can make people aware of the products and services you offer while making them interested in and engaged with the details of your business. Facebook is more or less like a mall where people prefer to hang out, even if they want to avoid purchasing anything. However, the power of window shopping is such that it sets your eyes on something that you find interesting and may consider purchasing in the future.
Since the estimated daily active users on Facebook is a staggering 1.96 billion, there is a very high chance that your target customers spend at least some time on Facebook, which increases the likelihood of them getting to know about your brand.
Let's look at some crucial steps that will help you use Facebook to grow your business.
1. Create an Optimized Facebook Business Page
- You may already have a personal Facebook page where you post information about your business. However, creating a business page for your products and services will make your business look professional.
- A Facebook business page can increase your customers’ confidence in your brand and will draw them towards it.
- Once you have entered all the details, you can start by clicking the "Create new page" button. You can manage your existing pages and make changes at any time.
2. Select the Best Category for Your Product
- When setting up a business page, you can select up to three categories for your business. You should choose the categories that are relevant and specific to the products and services your business offers.
- Categories are the key to discovering your product, so choose them wisely. If you are running a bookstore, you can select the categories “books,” “novels,” and “poems,” as most readers use these terms to search for books or bookstores.
- Even though you can change your selected categories at any point in time, it is advisable to take care and choose relevant sections at the beginning, as it will allow your business to get noticed immediately.
3. Use an Eye-Catching Cover Photo
- The cover photo is the first thing users notice on your business page, so you should ensure that it creates a lasting impression.
- The cover photo should be appealing, but more importantly, it should be relevant to your product and showcase what your brand is trying to convey.
- It is a proven scientific fact that the human brain processes visual content faster than text. Therefore, you should give full attention to your Facebook cover photo as it can overshadow everything else on your business page – for better or worse.
- You can also utilize this space to include taglines and descriptions to state what makes your brand unique.
4. Customize Your Tabs and Set Up Your Call-To-Action Button
- Once you apply the page template, you will have the option to add or hide tabs. You can also rearrange the order of the tabs based on your marketing strategy. For example, if you want to upload videos to promote your brand, you can move the “Videos” tab up and even place it in the topmost position.
- If running a business that delivers products to customers’ residences, you should set up a call-to-action button such as “Book Now” on your business page. It would be wise to link your product catalog to your business page so that customers can look at your offer and choose one by booking directly from your page.
5. Include Business or Product Related Keywords in Your Bio
- A bio isn’t just a general description of your business. You should write to make your audience understand why your business exists and what it stands for.
- Like your cover photo, a bio is also one of the first things that users see on your business page, and you should ensure that it creates a good first impression since first impressions are difficult to change, no matter how much you try later.
- You should include keywords that users will likely search for related to your business or products. For example, if you are running a cake shop, it is a no-brainer to include “cake” as a keyword, but you can also add the terms “bakery” and “desserts,” as most people use these terms as well while searching for cakes or other sweets-related items.
- The content should make sense and should be related to your brand. The bio should be appropriately framed and polished in such a way that it conveys your brand’s story. You should also ensure that the bio section doesn’t look like a random combination of SEO-driven keywords.
6. Use Facebook Offer Ads to Enhance Sales
- Who doesn’t like discounts and offers? Facebook Offer ads are a brilliant strategy for converting your followers into loyal customers. It is an excellent way to entice new customers.
- Facebook Offer ads allow you to run discounts and share them with existing and prospective new customers. The advantage of doing this is that the offers will attract new customers to your brand and subsequently introduce them to the rest of your social media content, retaining them and creating a brand loyalist. It’s a win-win situation.
How else can you grow your Facebook audience?
Here are a few other steps you can implement to grow your audience on Facebook to drive your business.
- Get in touch with popular brands and influencers in your niche and try to collaborate with them or request they promote your business page.
- Try to host a giveaway or contest, as this is one of the simplest ways to grow your page quickly in a short time. You can inform your followers (the ones who follow your individual social media account) that if they follow and like your Facebook business page within a given time, you will reward them.
- Try to be as active as possible on the platform. Beyond only posting on your page consistently – you should quickly answer queries and offer helpful advice to your followers whenever needed. You should involve yourself in the activities of other groups related to your business or products, and so on.
Final Thoughts
Patience is the key. Expect your follower count to surge slowly overnight. Building a solid online presence takes time. Do not focus on the numbers; instead, put your time and effort into providing tangible value.
So many Facebook pages and groups have many followers, yet they remain inactive. So, try to keep your audience engaged. A smaller number of engaged followers is way better than a more significant number of detached ones.
Author bio
Andy Beohar is VP of SevenAtoms, a Google and HubSpot-certified agency in San Francisco. Andy develops and manages ROI-positive inbound and paid marketing campaigns for B2B & Tech companies. Connect with Andy on LinkedIn or Twitter.
