Build Your Business Empire with Facebook

If you can utilise Social Media wisely, investing in effective Facebook Management can equal a serious Return on Investment. Facebook comfortably fits into the SponsoredLinX ethos of Traffic > Conversion > Engagement on all levels. It helps to drive traffic to your business, it helps to convert your leads, and it certainly helps in continuously engaging your customers to turn them into loyal brand representatives.

There are numerous facets to Facebook for Business that business owners should familiarise themselves with. Setting up a Business page on Facebook really couldn’t be easier, and it is free. For the initial set-up, the only information you need is your company’s contact information such as your phone number, email and address. You will also need a short and long biography about your business which is compelling and informative, and a plan for what content you want to use to populate your page.

Here we have a short and sweet list of the Facebook services we think you need to understand when you initially set-up your Facebook Business page.

• Insights – a lot of businesses often completely ignore the Insights within their Facebook account, but it can give you accurate information in regards to traffic, how people respond to your content, what kind of people are engaging with your page, and what times and days to post, etc. There is a saying in the online marketing industry that if you can’t track and measure what you are doing, then stop doing it. At the end of the day, data is the online world’s version of gold, as it will inform every marketing and business decision you make, and Facebook Insights is where all of this data is stored.

• Ads – there are many different ads such as ‘Page post ads’, ‘Video ads’, ‘Mobile App ads’, ‘Conversion ads’, ‘Clicks to Website ads’, and ‘Like building ads’, just to name a few. However Facebook is always coming up with new ways for businesses to advertise. Some of the newest ad features are Multi-Product ads (or Carousel ads).

• Replying – Facebook gives you the ability to get real-time feedback and communicate with your current and potential customers like never before. As the world’s most popular social media platform, you can communicate with your current, past and potential customers to keep them engaged with your business.

• Remarketing and Custom Audiences – Targeting your ads means your ads reach the people who will actually take notice of your ads. Part of correctly targeting your ads comes down to how you remarket to previous customers (who have or haven’t converted previously) and who you choose to target. You can serve ads to your email database, people who are similar to those who currently like your page and more. You can even remarket to people who have visited your site, but not performed a specific function, like complete a purchase.

Facebook, like Google, are always introducing new features. Some of the latest services include Instant Articles, GIF compatibility, and Multi-Product ads (MPAs). MPAs, or carousel ads, are useful for businesses with a large product or service range or businesses that are looking to display more images about their services or products (which is useful if you are a niche business market). Video ads are also really popular at the moment and are providing the lowest Cost Per Click across any online medium, often resulting in less than $0.02, however this depends on how relevant your targeting is. App Installs and App Engagement ads, with a new Local Awareness ad type will be coming to Australia soon, which will be great for ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses which are wanting to build foot traffic. Facebook is also currently trialling a paid message service, where you can pay to message people who are not in your friends list; this includes giving businesses the ability to pay to message people through their page.

You know the saying, ‘fish where the fish are’? Facebook is the best stocked lake out there! People who are interested in your products and services are on Facebook. With over a billion users, how could they not be? The same also goes for the content on Facebook which gets the most engagement, which currently, is video. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, everyone’s Facebook profile is default set to show videos which automatically appear in the News Feed, which makes people stop and watch when one pops up. Another reason is because Facebook is extremely visual, and video ads are the ultimate visual platform, giving you the ability to really get your message out. The last is because Facebook makes it so. Their fight against YouTube has led them to elevate the reach oif Facebook based videos over external link based videos such as YouTube and Vimeo.

A good strategy includes an overall plan of attack. You can’t just rely on organic posts, and you can’t just rely on ads. You need to be using everything Facebook has to your advantage. The last thing is to give it time. A lot of people get impatient and turn to buying fake likes to build their page – you don’t become an overnight success, overnight.

If you are keen to learn more about how Facebook can ignite your business’s success, register to join our Optimise Webinar, in partnership with SMEAA, ‘Facebook Fuel to Ignite your Business’, which will launch on Wednesday 24^th June, 10:30 am AEST. We can’t wait to see you there.

---