Presently, Facebook is at the top of the social media platform. With 2.2 billion Facebook users worldwide, it seems like a perfect opportunity to turn followers into consumers. It is one of the most popular social media sites in the world primarily because it provides multiple points of communication between individuals. As such, these varied points of communication also make way for highly fruitful advertising campaigns.

However, using Facebook for business is not cut out for amateurs. It’s challenging but equally rewarding if executed appropriately.

So, here’s a complete guide to Facebook marketing to drive traffic, develop brand awareness and generate revenue potential.

Start with sharing local content

One thing’s proven in Facebook – users must be engaged in a post that aligns with their interest. Start by tagging relevant and most trending topics while avoiding over-tagging, which can reduce interest in your posts. Thus, pick wisely the topic which has the most significant impact and can be of value to the audience.

Why?

The idea behind this Facebook marketing technique is to align your business with something that’s part of your city’s identity. You can share the content of local organisations to capture the essence of the locale and peak interest among your potential buyers.

“Try to make your Facebook page the extension of culture and tradition” – says Neil Patel.

Encourage foot traffic

This is the biggest struggle marketers face while using Facebook to work for them. Making online followers base to turn up at your store can take ages. However, there are a few ways to make these processes quick and convert followers into foot traffic to generate revenue.

It can be done by –

1. Create contents and polls on popular products and services.
2. Run periodical in-store events that your potential customers could be interested in.
3. Start an aggressive Facebook advertising strategy like handing coupons and giveaways.
4. Start an online shopping portal on Facebook and provide rebates.
5. Align your Facebook page with which the audience cares most about.

“Think Facebook as a marketing email and your store a landing page” – says Neil Graham, a marketing analyst.

How to advertise on Facebook?

To set-up an advertisement, consider these ideas:

• Target the desired audience (based on age-group, gender, location, etc.) Use Google Analytics to mine data and use it for targeting.
• Add an engaging picture when using Facebook for business
• Use engaging Ads and easy-to-answer descriptions for maximum reach.

Turning the foot traffic into your potential buyers is only half the job done. Now, it’s time to use business cards, signage and receipts to generate more page likes, reviews, posts and check-ins on the Facebook timeline.

Here’s the second best way to advertise on Facebook –

• Use e-mail signatures to display at your fan page’s URL. It might make a recipient notice it quickly and probably click it.
• Sending out an email blast to let people know you’re on Facebook.
• Promoting other social media accounts along with your Facebook page is a smart way to command your presence on the digital platform.
• Integrate Facebook plugins on your sites gives you an advantage on brand awareness and increase followers.

Apart from these Facebook advertising techniques, you can also create and schedule the status updates.

The average number of active users on Facebook is over 750 million – as per a survey conducted in January 2019.  Add a percentage on those millions, and they could be your potential customer hereafter.

Keep in mind some of the posting statistics such as –

1. Using emoticons have shown to increase Facebook comments by 34%, 38% of the times in posts getting shared, and 58% more posts ‘Like.’
2. According to HubSpot, question posts generate more comments and generate more reach.

Open groups

Creating groups offer a broad range of Facebook marketing advantages, which include –

1. Build a community
2. Establish expertise
3. Networking
4. Offer excellent customer service

Groups are a perfect way to build a controlled community with your target audience. It not only helps you to hyper-focus on a subject of your choice but also allows you to analyze the market efficiently.

Start thinking outside the box

A 2017 report by Facebook states – almost 45% of active users enjoy participating in contests.

A Facebook contest will garner higher engagement and rake in at least 6.6 times more ‘connects’ than standard posts. Introduce polling options, declare results and hand over prizes to the winners. This will increase the competitive attitude of your customers.

Use Facebook jobs feature

Finally, Facebook has introduced this new feature of posting jobs on social platforms. Although this not your regular Facebook marketing technique, but it can be helpful. It’s just another way to employ Facebook’s massive power to help your firm grow.

Return the favor

Now, that you know how to advertise on Facebook, it’s time to return the gratitude. Use Facebook’s ‘@’ feature to make your fans feel they’re important and are a part of your Facebook business page.

Bottom line

Facebook isn’t just an efficient tool – it’s flexible as well. No matter what firm you run, it provides endless marketing opportunities tailor-made to your company’s needs.

Yes, it will take time. But what doesn’t?

Facebook is growing at a tremendous pace, and with each passing day, it’s becoming more indispensable as ever. Hence, if Facebook is still not an active part of your current marketing campaign – it should be!  Set some time aside, tinker around for a few days, conduct a few campaigns and see how your Facebook marketing strategy pans out.

Like anything, all you need is a little push to get good at it.