FB for Biz

If, like me you grew up in the noughties, then Facebook will have come of age around about the same time as you did. And boy, have we all been through a lot of changes since then.

Back in the day the most popular things to do with your Facebook page included creating a fan page for Leo, uploading an entire album of photos from your digital camera after every-single night out, and writing cringe-worthy inside jokes on each other’s walls.

In the time that has elapsed since then, the world of social media has become a little more sophisticated. Apps have become more accessible, users insatiably engaged, and features are so plentiful that it is simply impossible to keep track of them all. And, although the tweens of the current not-so-roaring twenties might prefer to spend their time online lip-syncing to the words of reality stars gone by on TikTok* Facebook at least is now a great a place to advertise your business and interact with prospective – and current – customers.

*other short-form video blogging sites with hefty lawsuits have always, and will always be, available

Even though FB has been comfortably sitting on our phones, laptops and tablets for a while now, many still do not know how to properly utilise it to promote their business. Below, we’ve created a simple step-by-step guide to get you started…

1. Create a business page

Not to be confused with a personal Facebook page like the one you already have; a business page is the most compliant and effective way of easily promoting your business online. Simply log in to your FB account, click ‘pages’ in the left sidebar and select ‘create new page.’

To get started you’ll need to upload a profile picture, cover photo and basic info about your business. This is easy enough to do by yourself, but keep in mind that in order for your page to look super slick and be easily found by customers, you’ll want your bio and imagery to be optimised…

2. Optimise your content

Optimising your page means writing an about section and social media posts that will engage your audience and provide useful information that search engines can easily pick up and rank. To do this effectively you’ll need to understand your audience and create posts that they’ll find interesting and useful, consistently encouraging people to like, share and engage with your CTA’s.

3. Be active

To make sure your business page is working hard for you you’ll need to be consistent in your activity on the platform. This means participating in Facebook groups (public and private), posting regular updates with a variety of content types, imagery and links, and replying to customer queries and comments – even the bad ones!

4. Promote events

If you’re a local business, using Facebook to promote an event for your business is especially important. Be sure to use all of the tools at your disposal to attract people to the event. This can include creating an event group, sharing teaser or countdown posts and even planning an ad campaign around it. Most people check their Facebook app multiple times a day, so don’t miss out on the chance to engage with people who are quite literally waiting for something to tune in or turn up to.

5. Interact, interact, interact

This might seem pretty obvious for social media, but it really is a must if you want to see any real engagement or traction from your online community. Make sure you answer questions, respond to comments and participate in conversations that are happening online to ensure that your posts are showing up to your followers, and theirs.

6. Stream events

In the current climate, hosting real events or attracting customers to a shop or place isn’t realistic. Luckily, you can now host events virtually on Facebook live. This allows you to interact in real-time with your audience, safely. This is another great way of promoting your business because when you go live, all of your followers will receive a notification, prompting them to engage with your page when they see the notification pop up.

7. Run ads

Facebook ads are now one of the most popular and cost-effective ways to reach a large, targeted audience. Even if you’re a complete novice, you can get a lesson directly from FB themselves to get you started. You can also easily control budgets to ensure that you’re spending as much, or as little, as you like.

8. Get Creative

The beauty of social media is that it’s always on, which means that your prospects and customers are too. That gives you plenty of opportunity to promote your overall brand messaging and ethos in lots of different ways. A great way to show off your company culture is to share candid day-to-day tasks, images and video clips of your team to engage with audiences on a personal level and thus encourage interaction.

9. Get competitive

If you haven’t already guessed it, encouraging engagement is one of the main objectives of FB promotion. A good way of enticing more followers to your page and thus raising the profile of your business is to host competitions and giveaways. This is simple, easy to manage and helps to increase brand awareness, whilst also generating interaction with followers.

10. Be valuable

No matter how invested you are able to be with your FB business page, the most important thing to remember is that your content should always provide value to your audience. Whether that’s providing useful insights, sharing relevant news stories or blogs, creating powerful imagery or telling important stories, if you’re generating valuable content then your business will ultimately benefit as a result.

No matter what type of business you’re running, Facebook is an essential part of your social media marketing and should be treated as such. To keep this as effective as possible it’s important to develop both organic and paid social media strategies to support the growth and success of your business, especially in a more digitally reliant world.

If you need help with creating your social media presence, from professional, captivating imagery to optimised content and tailored strategy simply get in touch with us today, we’d love to help!