TIPS ON HOW TO MARKET ON FACEBOOK
Even with all the social media channels and news feed algorithm updates, Facebook can still be an important tool for your business. When used correctly, Facebook can help you to market if you look at it as a search engine and don't forget its ultimate purpose. Here are some tips on how to market on Facebook without turning off your followers by being overly promotional.
LOOK AT FACEBOOK AS A LOCAL DIRECTORY
Did you know there's a Facebook local app? With this app, users can enable their location to find events and places near them. Companies should be looking at Facebook as a way to build their local search by listing their location, hours and ratings.
Facebook is still getting billions of searches amidst all the other social channels. When searching for a company in Facebook's search, you'll get results that are targeted to your location. That said, companies really should be leveraging their page to target locations.
ENABLE FOLLOWERS TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION
Facebook is making it very easy for users to visit your company's page and take immediate action. As soon as users land on your page, you can enable them to convert by listing a call to action. For example, Facebook is putting a large emphasis on events, enabling you to sell tickets directly through the social channel. This will help you not to lose prospects that don't make the transition to your website.
Remember, Facebook is a social network. Therefore, this is the perfect place to encourage customers to do the selling for you. By having contests and posting reviews, it will encourage your prospects to take that immediate action.
LEVERAGE ADVERTISING TO INCREASE ENGAGEMENT
Once a company has built its page on Facebook, it can be hard to keep any visibility. Facebook prioritizes content from friends, family and groups in its news feed. So, companies must work hard to gain their customers' attention.
A good way to do this is by leveraging your advertising for engagement. Facebook considers active interactions as comments and shares versus likes. Therefore, if you have ads that are encouraging people to share and comment, you are more likely to increase your company's changes for showing up in the news feed for organic posts.
However, approach this with caution. You do not want to leverage engagement-bait type posts, such as “share if chocolate ice cream is your favorite.” By creating content that is authentically shareable, you will not have to tell people to share it.
REVIEW YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR SEARCH
Social media engagement can be used in more ways than one. While Google says it doesn't use social signals in their algorithm, I still believe there is a correlation with search, especially since the search engine has an algorithm dedicated to looking at trust. An engaging social media site will help you to gain that trust. Furthermore, Bing directly reviews those engagement metrics from social media channels, helping companies to increase their rankings with social initiatives.
Many companies look to increase brand awareness with social media while dismissing some of the other positives. Interacting with users will do more for your company than building awareness, which is why a strategic approach to providing helpful content is necessary when learning how to market on Facebook.
