If you're a small business owner, dedication and hard work are essential to finding success, regardless of your business type. You must take every advantage available to you, and that includes social media.
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.
While many social media platforms are effective, Facebook marketing 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.
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 2.04 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.
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.
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.
Who doesn’t like discounts and offers? Facebook Offer ads are a brilliant strategy for converting your followers into loyal customers. It is just one of many clever tactics 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 these types of Facebook ads 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.
Speaking of ads, if you want to add another layer to your marketing and advertising, you should try Facebook retargeting.
Also called remarketing, it is a method of targeting only people who have engaged with your content previously. These potential customers are better prospective buyers because they've already show interest.
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.
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.