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Having a strong social media presence isn’t only beneficial to large corporations. In fact, Facebook reports that two thirds of its users report visiting a small business’ page at least once a week.
Facebook is one of the best platforms to advertise on in 2021. With 2.74 billion monthly users, there’s no other platform that can provide the opportunities that Facebook does. Of course, simply having a Facebook page isn’t enough. If you aren’t using the platform’s built-in techniques and tools to enhance your advertising experience, you are opting out of a large number of customers and opportunities.
The following guide will introduce you to some of Facebook’s most useful built-in advertising services. You’ll learn how to:
Easily incorporate effective strategies into your ad campaign
Turn visitors into customers with various retail options
Strengthen your customer base with audience-targeting technology
…and much more
How To Optimize A Company’s Facebook Page
Your Facebook page needs to inform and excite visitors. With proper optimization, your page will perform well in search results, and visitors who click on it will stay and browse. Consider these tips:
Fill out your entire profile – this should include a profile picture, a cover photo, and a detailed page description
Add as much contact information as possible – this should include an address, phone number, email address, and company website
Choose a keyword and use it in your page’s description. Make sure not to overuse your keyword – your description should still read naturally
Post Regularly
There are plenty of tricks to get your page’s visitors engaged, but posting great content is the most organic way to generate support from your customer base. If your Facebook page isn’t used to publish posts on a regular basis, you’re not getting the most out of the platform. Don’t be a stranger to your audience – take the opportunity to communicate exciting news and fresh information with them.
We recommend not just considering frequency, but focusing on consistency as well. This means planning out how many posts you will publish and sticking to a predictable schedule. Going weeks without posting only to bombard your followers’ timelines with three posts in one day would be jarring. Meanwhile, sticking to one post a day will leave your followers with a sense of consistency.
So, what exactly should you post? This is where you can get creative. Here are a few popular ideas:
Haven’t posted anything yet? Kick things off with a strong welcome post. Write with a celebratory tone as you announce your business’s entrance to Facebook
Visual components are effective, so whenever possible, post photos – especially ones that show people
Ask questions that prompt engagement from your page’s followers
Generate excitement with posts that mark product launches or contests
Ask your customers for feedback on ideas or existing products or services
Always Tag Your Products
It’s common for retailers to post images of their products or services in action on Facebook. You can connect these photos to the goods or services they represent by using Facebook’s free tagging feature. By tagging a photo with a product, viewers will be able to see the product’s name, price, and a short description – plus, they’ll be able to shop in their browser.
Engage with Customer Reviews
Don’t be afraid of customer reviews on Facebook. You might think this kind of criticism will tarnish your brand’s reputation, but it actually provides a ton of useful opportunities: you can repair customer relationships, demonstrate your damage control or customer service abilities, learn about your audience, and gain direct feedback from customers.
Ignoring customer reviews is the wrong approach. This won’t sweep them under the rug like you may think. Instead, they’ll make you look unresponsive.
Instead, engage with every review: thank customers for positive reviews, and apologize or follow up with customers who are more critical. You’ll generate a trusting relationship with customers this way. In fact, a 2018 report from Harvard Business Review suggested that businesses that respond to all reviews, positive or negative, increase their likelihood of generating an overall positive customer rating.
Run Ad Campaigns
Want to post ads on Facebook, but you’re not sure where to start? Ads Manager is the tool you’re looking for. This portal walks you through the entire advertisement creation process, from planning to creating and collecting metrics that allow you to measure your ads’ success. Specifically, here’s what you can do with Ads Manager:
Customize your campaign by determining an objective and audience
Set the budget for your campaign
Review your campaign’s performance in real-time, and edit as necessary
You can even perform some of these tasks on your mobile device using the Ads Manager mobile app.
Consider Boosting Facebook Posts
Don’t forget the importance of making Facebook posts. While plenty of advertising techniques can enhance your page’s success, posting solid content is the most organic way to generate interest on the platform. Posts can keep your audience engaged, and if you publish them frequently and in a consistent manner, your customers will see your brand as a familiar presence within their social network.
If you believe that a particular Facebook post can achieve your advertising objectives as well as an actual ad can, you may choose to boost the post. This technique allows you to apply advertising practices to a post to improve its reach – specifically, you can set an audience, duration, and budget.
Test Out Different Ad Placement Options
Facebook gives you a few options as to where viewers can be exposed to your ads. These options are called Placements, and they include a few different sections of Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. For example, your ad might show up on someone’s Facebook feed, or in between Instagram stories they browse. You can either manually check off which placements you wish to advertise on, or select Automatic Placements – this option is recommended by Facebook, and it distributes your ads to all Placements on which it is available.
Use Facebook Analytics to Learn About Your Page and Audience
Facebook Analytics is one of the many useful tools that Facebook provides to give you a close look at your page’s success. It is the ultimate hub for your page’s performance, as it offers categorized metrics that show plenty of useful data on your posts, your page’s viewers and much more.
Analytics is split into two sections:
Page Insights, which offers a detailed analysis of your page and its individual components
Audience Insights, which offers an in-depth collection of data on your page’s followers, as well as a comparison of that group to Facebook’s user base at large
Both sections are packed with colourful graphs, valuable statistics, and opportunities to cash in on the observations you make from the data. There are too many useful features in Analytics to list, so you’ll have to try it out to determine which parts are valuable to you. Here are a few of our favourite uses:
Easily collect demographic data about your page’s audience
Compare data from other Facebook pages to your own with the Pages to Watch feature
Optimize your flow of content by learning what time of day your posts are likely to gain traction
Check Metrics, But Don’t Overthink Them
There’s no doubt that metrics are inherently useful. These snippets of data can help you create better posts, reach more customers, and refine your approach to achieving your goals. However, you may think that all numbers need to be perfect. In reality, not all metrics are equally valuable. Instead of trying to jumble every single conclusion that you may draw from Facebook, determine what matters to you and your objectives.
If there’s one metric that is regularly given too much thought, it’s the number of likes a post receives. Sure, you may instantly associate the ‘thumbs up’ icon and the word “like” with Facebook, but likes themselves are relatively unimportant. They don’t instantly translate to new customers, sales, or engagement.
Contribute to your Facebook Story
Facebook reports that over 500 million daily users interact with its series of Stories platforms. The feature grew rapidly upon being released by the platform, and millions of businesses have cashed in on its success. Stories are so popular that some users ignore their newsfeed and jump straight to their friends’ stories.
Story ads offer a great way to advertise. Since they are only viewable for 24 hours, they foster a sense of urgency, which is great for encouraging customers to make a purchase or sign up for your services in a flash.
Learn more about Facebook Stories.
Activate Facebook Pixel
If there’s one piece of code you should add to your website, it’s Facebook Pixel. This tool will note whenever someone interacts with a component on your website – this could include clicking on an ad or purchasing a product. The pixel will then advertise to these people accordingly, and you can even add these users to your custom audience.
All you have to do is add a free piece of code to your website. You may wish to do this yourself or seek assistance from a web developer. Click here for thorough instructions.
Sell Your Products With a Collections Ad
If you’re using Facebook to amplify your storefront or eCommerce business, there’s one type of ad you should familiarize yourself with right away: Collections.
Facebook lets you choose from plenty of dynamic ad formats. These templates determine where users will see your ads and how they can interact with them. One of these ad formats is Collections, which is formatted as a grid to look just like a real digital storefront. Users can browse and buy products straight from Facebook, making this format a must for any digital retailer.
Retarget Users Who View Your Videos With Custom Audiences
Some Facebook users may have watched your video content but did not engage further with your page. These people came close to becoming followers, fans, or customers, but did not take the final step. Have no fear – Facebook’s Custom Audiences tool allows you to advertise directly to these users.
Test Your Campaigns
To increase the success of your ads, consider running them through one of Facebook’s experimental options. These are tests that can help you determine whether or not a certain ad campaign is correctly calibrated towards achieving your goals.
There are three types of experiments you can run:
A/B testing – this test format allows you to compare two variables to see which is more beneficial to your campaign. These could be, for example, ad placements or formats.
Lift testing – this test format compares metrics from two groups of Facebook users: those who saw your ad, and those who didn’t. This can be used to determine whether or not your ads are actually working to achieve your objectives.
Experiments – this is Facebook’s overarching tool that allows you to perform one of many test types.
The Takeaway
With a massive pool of users and a familiar interface, Facebook is one of the best places to advertise. However, simply having a Facebook page will not get you the best results for your brand. After learning about the techniques and tools we’ve described above, you’re now ready to:
Optimize your Facebook page to achieve your objective
Redefine your audience using the Facebook Pixel and Audience Insights
Transform your visitors’ newsfeed into a digital pop-up shop with Collections ads and product tagging
Strengthen your ads by viewing metrics and running experiments
With these tips considered, it’s never a bad idea to go back to the basics and reconsider the essential elements of a Facebook page for a brand.
