Long Live the King of Social Media! Use Facebook the Right Way

Author: | Posted in Facebook, Social No comments
Long Live the King of Social Media! Use Facebook the Right Way

Is Facebook marketing dead? No. Bad Facebook marketing is, though. Just think about how many times you’ve been on the biggest social media app out there these past few days. 

Those were all opportunities for brands to interact with you. Now multiply that by the 2.7 billion monthly active users the platform still has, and you’ll rethink leaving it out of your marketing tactics. 

With the rise (and fall) of many new social media platforms and marketing tactics, some have come to see Facebook as obsolete. The truth of the matter is, yes, the platform and its users have changed a lot. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, if you know how to adapt to those changes.

Are you thinking of getting (back) into Facebook marketing, or want to seriously up your game? We’ve collected a few tips to make the most of it and the current trends on the platform.

Set goals for your Facebook marketing

We’re not starting with a quick fix or fancy new tool. One of the most important things about having an effective Facebook marketing strategy, is knowing what effect you actually want it to have. Just being present on Facebook and posting weekly probably won’t get you very far. 

You need to set out a roadmap to reference how Facebook helps you reach your marketing goals. Focus on preferably one thing per channel. It can be raising brand awareness, community engagement, or, an old classic: increasing sales and lead generation.

Make these goals as quantifiable as you can. If you can measure improvements, you’ll know it’s working – or not. Adapt your content accordingly. Then decide what content will spark the right feeling within your audience to remember you, interact with you, or buy from you.

Define your Facebook ads strategy

Truth be told, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to escape the need to pay for distributing your content to a big (and relevant) enough audience.  There are more than four million advertisers and counting with an average click-through rate of only 9%

Advertising on Facebook can be simple – they offer quick options. But that doesn’t make it easy to get results. If growing your audience is a part of reaching your goals, you need to start looking into paid ads.

You can only spend every dollar once, so you want to make sure you get the most out of it. Therefore, outlining a strategy will help you increase the ROI of your Facebook ads.

Your campaigns should – apart from engaging and creative, always be cost-effective, and relevant. Relevant to your target audience and the goals you are trying to reach. At first, you can start by reaching a bigger audience. Not only to build awareness, but also to A/B-test which content works better for instance. 

From that point on, you can become more specific and decide which content to target at which people. Which brings us to the next tip.

Use those analytics

Don’t let your creativity get wasted on the wrong people. Facebook offers in-depth analytics to get a better understanding of your audience and the efficiency of your content. From age-groups to job titles, from simple demographics to devices: use the data at hand to optimize your Facebook ads —proactively. Testing is key.

Rethink your content

Whether it’s ads or daily posts, there has to be a reason to post something on Facebook. And that reason should directly be linked to your audience. Often, we think about what we have done that we can share. But Facebook is more than a showroom. Your audience wants to see something that is specifically interesting for them. 

For your next piece of content, think about the following two things and make sure you’re ticking these boxes.

Is your content rewarding? Your viewers spend time looking at your content, so what are they getting in return? Is there a deal, valuable knowledge, an offer they simply can’t refuse, or a reason to come back to you for more?

Does your content drive action? Sure, it’s nice when people view your video from start to finish, but if they simply scroll on afterwards, what was the point? Include a tempting call to action in your posts, or at least something that drives interaction. Asking questions or requesting feedback is a great way to get people to engage with your posts. 

Include Facebook in your customer service channels

If you are going to be on Facebook, be on it fully. Use the options it offers not only to post content, but also to connect with your audience. After all, it’s a social media platform, not a page of advertisements in a magazine. 

Competition is rising in every business and market. Customers go where they feel most welcome, and to who replies to them fastest. Delivering a top-notch customer service experience is key in attracting new customers and keeping existing ones coming back for more. 

If you utilize Facebook Messenger as an extra point of contact, you make your brand more approachable. But even replying in the comment section or hosting regular live Q&A sessions on your page will help you drive engagement. 

Use influencers the right way

Love them or hate them, but influencers changed the game of social media marketing completely. Knowing it is difficult for people to relate and connect to businesses, and easier to do so with an actual human being, they’ve become a central point in a lot of effective social media campaigns.

Now, not every influencer is right for you. We’re not just talking about the types of content, but also the scale on which they work. The big names are great for growing your audience, but for connecting with your future customers, you might want to step it down a notch.

Micro-influencers are big. Why? Because when there’s a smaller, yet select group of people they have a certain power over, they’ll be able to actually converse with them over the products or services they are promoting. Rather than just showcasing them to a big group of people who might not exactly be your target audience.

Facebook is still the reigning king of social media for many businesses and target groups. And if you figure out how to use it properly, it’ll give you great things in return. 

Vicky Frissen

Vicky Frissen is a freelance writer with an itch for giving brands more human voices, online. She’s a writer for Typeform and can’t stop blogging about digital marketing and digital nomad life.