As of 2021, Facebook has 2.8 billion active users. Of these users, 1.74 billion log into the site daily, and 26% of the world’s population is on Facebook.
Rumors of Facebook's demise have been greatly exaggerated. The average user still spends over 35 minutes a day on the site.
You want to be in front of these people. First, we will cover the free resources available to create an effective Facebook marketing strategy. Next, we will dive into a few different growth ideas for your Facebook marketing strategy.
Free Marketing Resources
Looking to develop a successful Facebook marketing strategy? Let's cover the free tools that are available to you via Facebook.
Your Business Page
Start A Facebook Group
Create a Business Manager Account
Use Facebook Ad Manager
Analyze your Facebook audience data
Facebook Business Page
If you are using Facebook currently. You have your own Facebook page. This is different than your Facebook business page.
You can still use your own Facebook page to talk about your business and post updates, but there are some key differences that you should know about.
First, your Facebook business page is public. This means that anyone on Facebook can see your Facebook posts.
This is a positive benefit as your Facebook posts have the potential to be shared gaining you more reach and eyeballs on your Facebook page.
Generally, posting on your private Facebook page is for those who are your friends on Facebook.
Although you can share your post with the public this isn't the best practice for growing your social media presence for your business on Facebook.
Next, a Facebook business page is optimized for search engine optimization (SEO). This means that people who are searching for your business on Google or another search engine are more likely to find your Facebook business page when searching for your business.
Third, a Facebook business page allows you to run Facebook ads and promotions. You can't do this with your private Facebook page.
Lastly, a Facebook business page allows you to see Facebook page insights and analytics about who is visiting your Facebook page and what they are doing. You can't see this information on your Facebook page.
This is the first step to developing your Facebook presence. If you're looking to use Facebook to market your business, you can go to the following link to create your Facebook business page today.
Need a hands-on guide to help you create your Facebook page.
Note: A fun exercise if this is your first time managing a Business page is to find several Facebook pages from brands that you admire.
Once you have these Facebook pages, follow them and see what content they posts. Then copy the format they use to increase your engagement and page growth.
Start A Facebook Group
If you want to get more involved with Facebook marketing, you can create a Facebook group.
Facebook groups are a great way to build a community around your business or topic ideas.
It's also a great way to get feedback from your customers and connect with potential customers.
There are two types of Facebook groups, public and private.
Public Facebook groups are open to anyone on Facebook. This means they can join without admin approval, see Facebook posts, members list, and more.
Private Facebook groups by contrast require that an admin accept you into the group before you can see Facebook posts, members lists, and more.
Although you have more control over who joins your Facebook group when it's private. You may find that you have more growth if you allow the community to self-manage through a public Facebook group.
Whether you choose to go with a public or private Facebook group will be determined by your Facebook marketing strategy.
If you want to create a Facebook group, you can go to the following link and get started.
Facebook Business Manager
If you want to get serious about your Facebook marketing strategy, you need to sign up for Facebook Business Manager.
Think of the Manager as a centralized hub for your Facebook presence.
From here you can manage page roles and grant access to the various tools you have created to expand your social media presence.
Within you can also create and run ads from the Facebook ads Manager.
Lastly, you can use the Facebook audience tool to gain insight into your organic page growth for both your Facebook page and Instagram account.
The Facebook business manager serves many other functions including Audience creation tools, management of your creative assets, custom reports, and more.
To sign up for Facebook Business Manager, you can go to the following link.
You can also read our guide on setting up your Business manager if you would like to learn more.
Facebook Ads Manager For Facebook Advertising
If you want to create and run Facebook ads, you need to use the Facebook Ads Manager.
The Facebook ads manager is a tool that allows businesses to create and run Facebook ad campaigns.
You can reach your target audience by using detailed targeting to refine the audience, location, age range, and gender of your target audience.
With the Facebook ads manager, you get insight into your start and end date as well as which ad campaigns, audience, and images are spending your dollars.
Want your Facebook ad campaign to show up on Instagram but not Facebook. You can do that within the Ad manager by selecting the placement for your ads.
Just remember that if you choose to show your Facebook content on multiple placements you will need to adjust your image content or video content to fit the sizing dimensions required by the placement.
If you have already signed up for the business manager you have access to the Facebook ads manager for your marketing efforts.
To learn more about using the Facebook ads manager you can use this guide.
Facebook Page Insights
If you want to see all your Facebook data in one place then you need Facebook insights. Facebook insights provides data about your Facebook page, Instagram account, and Facebook ads.
Within Facebook audience insights, you can:
See how many people are visiting your page and the percentage gain
See what posts are getting the most engagement
See what times of day your page is getting the most traffic
See what countries your page is getting the most traffic from
See what Facebook pages your potential audience Facebook users follow
Again if you have signed up for the business manager this is included.
Note: If you are looking for step-by-step data on your overall business performance Google Analytics is still the gold standard when it comes to tracking your business performance.
Facebook Marketing Strategies For The Small Business Owner
Let's dive into some Facebook marketing strategies that you can use to run a successful Facebook marketing strategy.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 1: Save Time And Plan Out Your Social Media Posts.
Social Media Managers today are required to create more content than ever.
Because of this, I like anything that can save me time and effort. The first Facebook marketing strategy is the automation of your Facebook posts.
I currently use a tool called Buffer to schedule posts in advance.
With so much going on it can become easy to forget when to post your next content piece. Let alone create your schedule for the month.
Buffer does this for me and allows me to post on a consistent basis and time.
In addition, you can try it out for free with up to 3 of your social media accounts.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 2: Post Engaging Content
Three to four years ago a lot of the content that was being created on Facebook and Instagram was centered around inspirational content.
Today, the focus has shifted from inspirational content to more storytelling and authenticity.
Facebook users want to know that the brand they are following and buying from is the real deal and not throwing up a false front.
As a side note, this is why I believe you should partner with influencers who are aligned with your brand.
Influencers have the trust of their following and can tell your story tailored to their audience better than you can.
If you can get an influencer to create a Facebook post or Instagram post for you.
You can launch a sponsored Facebook ad with the influencer.
The benefit to you is you can target new traffic as well as get in front of their existing followers.
For the influencer, you are paying to get new traffic to their page and they get to be associated with your brand and mission.
I consider this to be a Facebook marketing strategy worth testing.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 3: Use Facebook Messenger
Facebook messenger can be a great way to communicate with customers.
Whether you have a customer support rep answering questions or you use a tool like ManyChat to automate the replies to some of your common questions, Facebook Messenger can increase customer satisfaction and engagement.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 4: Use Facebook Ads
If you want to reach a larger audience on Facebook, you're going to need to use Facebook ads.
Facebook Ads can be a great way to get in front of potential customers who are interested in what you have to offer.
When making your Facebook ad, make sure that you are targeting your audience correctly and that your ad copy is engaging.
Here are some Facebook marketing strategies to help grow your ad account.
If you are just getting started with your Facebook ads. Consider using an existing Facebook post that has organic engagement.
Use DABA ads. These ads pull from your eComm catalog and show Facebook users ads based on Facebook data showing they are in-market for your product. This is worth a test as Facebook claims DABA ads have more "signal" compared to other ads.
Tell a story. Engage your audience and get them engaged with your brand.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 5: Use Facebook Live Videos
Facebook Live is a tool that allows businesses to broadcast live videos to their Facebook followers.
Live video is a great way to increase engagement and build relationships with your audience.
When using Facebook Live, make sure that you are providing value and not just selling to your audience.
Here are some Facebook marketing ideas for your next Facebook live.
First, if you have a consumable product, show it being applied, used, or opened. This can create community engagement if done regularly
Next, host a roundtable with employees, VIP customers who you trust, and influencers to discuss topics around your mission. Encourage your audience to submit questions ahead of time.
If you have an outdoor location or business consider going live to document your exploration and discoveries. Slip in uses of your product to encourage brand recognition.
Finally, if you have a real estate business you could do lives where you show new property listings. This could be targeted to out of staters who might be interested in seeing properties listed in other locations.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 6: Analyze Your Facebook Data
If you want to be successful with your Facebook marketing, you need to analyze your data.
Data can tell you a lot about how your audience is interacting with your content and what is working well.
Make sure to check your Facebook Insights regularly so that you can make changes to your strategy based on the data.
Facebook Marketing Strategy 7: Explore 3rd Party Apps
I mentioned Buffer and ManyChat as 3rd party tools you can use to enhance your Facebook marketing.
There are many other 3rd party Facebook marketing tools that you use to increase your Facebook marketing performance.
Including:
Canva and pablo.buffer for thumbnails and post creation
Adroll and Adespresso for 3rd party ad analysis
You know what I'm going to save the rest of my recommendations for an entirely different post. I will come back and link to that article in the future.
Use The Free Facebook Tools & Optimize Your Facebook Marketing Strategy
That wraps up both the free tools provided by Facebook as well as some quick Facebook marketing strategies you should use if you want to be successful with your next Facebook marketing campaign.
If you would like to get in contact and brainstorm ideas for your next Facebook ad campaign feel free to reach out and book a time.
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