Australian small businesses have been using Facebook to grow their brand and generate leads since 2008.
In the last few years, Facebook has really fine-tuned its advertising capabilities. It’s really become a game-changer for everyone who is using the platform to share their products and services.
In 2021, customers are looking for solutions to their problems in an instant, you need to make sure you’re sharing your services in the most user-friendly way possible and sharing them regularly.
At Social Direct, we recommend you use both paid and organic campaigns to reach your target market and we’re going to share 7 tips, to give you the best opportunity to grow your business quickly and effectively on Facebook.
Organic Facebook Marketing Tips
When a potential customer searches for your business in Google, not only does your website come up, but also your Facebook Page.
More often than not, people will click into your Facebook Page before your website. This is because they will be able to garner what type of customer service you offer right off the bat. This is where organic marketing strategies come into play.
If you are posting regularly, replying to questions and comments and re-sharing content that you’ve been tagged in, then the customer will be able to see that you provide a high level of customer service, and will likely enquire (on your Facebook Page) to see if you can help them.
Let’s start with a few organic growth tips that need to be utilised with the paid strategies to ensure your business is being seen by those in your marketing area who are looking for your services.
1. Post on Facebook at least 3 times per week
You want your content to be seen as soon as possible, so make sure to post your content during the times where most people are using the platform. Ideally, between the hours 6am-8am (Morning commute), 3pm-4pm (School pick-up), or 4pm-6pm (Afternoon commute). These are the hours that most users are on Facebook during their day. Remember to tailor this to your audience.
2. Create engaging content
Facebook only displays engaging content on a user’s feed. The amount of engagement each post receives determines how many people see it. That means that you need to make sure you’re content is engaging. Whether it’s encouraging people to use a wide range of Facebook’s reactions (like, love, laugh, care, etc), inviting them to comment, or sharing with their friends. The more people interact with and share your posts, the more visibility your page is going to receive.
3. Interact with your followers
If someone comments on your post, reply to them. If someone inboxes you, reply to them. If someone tags you in a story that’s relevant to your business, share the story and thank them. These may seem like small actions, but they add up quickly and people will begin to trust you and share their experiences with your business without any prompting.
4. Create behind the scenes content
By utilising the stories feature for your page, you’re able to share important information with your followers that may previously be lost in their feed. Unlike posts, where popular ones are shown first, stories are shown in the order of when they’re posted.
This means that you’re able to share updates, share a behind the scenes look of your business, or even share a personal moment with your followers. Businesses who utilise this feature will often create a community within their business, and the people following them become quite invested in the wellbeing of both the owners and the business itself.
Like all organic marketing though, organic Facebook marketing needs to be paired with a high quality paid marketing campaign for you to continue to grow, and allow yourself to focus on providing excellent service for your customers instead of spending all your time trying to keep your business from dropping in visibility.
Paid Facebook Marketing Tips
While organic advertising is important, it can only get you so far. You need to make sure that you’re applying these three organic strategies to your business as much as you can to maintain the traction you will be receiving from paid advertising.
Paid Facebook advertising is a must if you want to run a successful Facebook business page in 2021. There is a big difference though, between ‘boosting a post’, and a Facebook ad campaign.
Most of the time when people hear negative comments about Facebook and their paid advertising platform, it’s from people who either boosted a post and crossed their fingers or tried to run a campaign with no prior knowledge of how to do it correctly. These tips will point you in the right direction if you’re trying Facebook Ads for the first time.
5. Create a lead magnet
A lead magnet gives the user an incentive to click, submit their details, book an appointment or purchase a product. Some great examples include guides, ebooks, whitepapers, and discounts.
Without a lead magnet, the user won’t feel compelled to interact with your ad and they’ll keep scrolling on their Facebook feed. Get creative with your lead magnets and think about what will make your target market stop scrolling.
6. Create a landing page
If you’re paying Facebook to show your ads and generate clicks, you want those clicks to matter. That’s where a dedicated landing page comes in. Landing pages have a very specific purpose – to convince the user to submit their contact information, set an appointment or purchase a product.
On a good landing page, there are no distractions (links), or unnecessary information that will stop the user from proceeding to your goal. You can build landing pages on any platform you like, however Click Funnels is user friendly and provides heaps of free information on how to build a winning landing page.
7. Test everything
Facebook advertising is one of the best forms of advertising available to small business owners when it’s done correctly. It gives small business owners the opportunity to target specific suburbs, ages and niche interests such as “Engaged in the last 6 months”, “Interested in Motorbikes”, and “Interested in High-End Fashion”.
There is no point in running a campaign to people who have no interest in your products or services. Not only is it a waste of money, but it’s also a waste of time. This is when people become frustrated with paid advertising.
When you create your first campaign, you should try creating lots of ads (i.e. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket). After a few days, you can remove the non-performing ads and spend your advertising budget on the winners.
As a Facebook Marketing Partner, we are here to help you quickly and effectively implement Facebook into your small business with ease.
Social Direct’s team of Facebook advertising experts work every day with clients in your industry and it’s highly likely we already know what lead magnets and landing pages work best for your industry.
Our clients love our down to earth marketing team, upfront pricing, and the results we generate for them.
If you’d like to find out more about our services, schedule a free appointment and we can show you how we can add value to your business with Facebook and digital marketing.
