Since the advent of the internet, eCommerce has been on the rise. Social media, particularly Facebook, has played a critical role in this major shift in business operations. Marketing on newspapers and yellow pages won’t give you as much reach as online social media platforms such as Facebook. Granted, they still work but not as efficiently as online marketing and advertising.

A significant demographic is purchasing services and products majorly because they have chanced upon promotions and marketing material shared on Facebook. The trajectory can only go upwards.

Although Facebook doesn’t measure up to Google’s status as a leader in purchasing channels, it has an unrivaled force in influencing purchasing decisions.

Findings from a report titled Visual Commerce Report by ViSenze in 2017 concluded that Facebook ranks first in influencing people to make purchases. This plays well into the script of anyone using Facebook for business.

Facebook has over 2.2 billion users and this number is increasing by the day; it is only prudent for business owners to tap into it. You are more likely to find your target demographic on Facebook that on any other social media platform. This article details the ingredients of succeeding at Facebook for business.

Frequency of Posting

That the rate of posting on Facebook directly impacts the success of your business is a no-brainer. The head-ache is in determining the optimal rate.

First, you need to be cognizant that your business is competing for customers’ attention with other businesses in the same niche’. Conversely, Facebook is not in the business of shoving ads down the throats of its users. Expectedly, not everything you post will be viewed by your fans.

For this reason, businesses have noticed a dip in organic reach and have countered this by posting frequently. However, only businesses that don’t sacrifice on quality get a sizeable piece of the cake.

But there are limits to posting frequently. A joint study by BuzzSumo and Buffer that analyzed 43 million posts by 20,000 popular brands found that an average of 2,466 engagements were achieved by businesses that posted 5x a day. Though, those that posted 10x received half that number.

These numbers show that there is no specific formula for getting it right. Nothing is cast in stone: it would do you good to tinker the frequency of posting to find out what works out for your business.

Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

Authenticity is one of the major subsets of successful Facebook for business marketing campaigns. UGC generates the highest amount of engagement on all social media platforms and the reason is clear as day: it boosts authenticity.

Any Facebook marketing manager who is worth their salt will tell you right off the bat that the most successful campaigns included UGC. Content created by customers, fans, and prospective customers rakes in higher conversion rates.

Your customers are smart enough to distinguish between content created for marketing purposes and content-relatable stories. UGC helps create visibility for your brand and builds long-lasting relationships that stand the test of time.

Recently, researchers found that social media users consume well over five hours of UGC per day. Secondly, Facebook ad campaigns have a 20% higher likelihood of influencing purchase decisions compared to promotions on other social media platforms.

As long as you are creative in your UGC campaign, everything will play well.

Remarketing Translated to Higher Conversion Rates

It is well-known that Facebook ad campaigns work well when you have defined your target audience. One simple way of attracting new customers is by targeting users who have shown interest in your product/ service. This is the fundamental principle of Facebook remarketing and is a sure way of achieving better conversions.

Remarketing targets two groups of people. Those who have:

·         Visited your website in the recent past.

·         Shown interest in your product/service.

This makes it possible to cluster your visitors based on the specific pages they visited on your site. You’ll then create custom ads that are targeted to these very visitors on their Facebook accounts.

Users visit your business website for three main reasons:

·         To seek information about the product, service or proprietor.

·         To contact you for clarification or suggestions.

·         To purchase a product or service.

Much as you want customers to buy products from you, you need to understand that they don’t make rash buying decisions. They are mostly calculative and intentional about what they want to purchase:  they want value for their money.

Facebook remarketing increases visibility of your product, reduces your expenditure per acquisition, increases your conversion rate, and allays users doubts: this also plays directly into your strategy.

Facebook remarketing works well because your target audience is familiar with your product/ service. This spills over to:

·         Users who are not familiar with your product but would want to buy it.

·         Users who have visited your website but haven’t bought your product.

·         Those that have bought your product and are loyal customers.

Facebook remarketing anchors your strategy on the traffic you have built since your business opened shop.

Shareable Content cannot be Underscored Enough

While going viral on Facebook directs massive traffic to your product or service, it is far from the norm. However, you can increase the reach of your content by having it shared by the right people.

Don’t get it wrong, we are not suggesting- unless your content infringes on Facebook’s ads policy- that there are gatekeepers in Facebook advertising. Just make your content shareable.

It’s a simple social media content strategy that has worked over the years. A study called the Psychology of Sharing conducted by the New York Times concluded that users share content to learn something new, inform and influence friends and family, connect with others, spread the word and offer support to those who need it.

Shareable content should be informative, entertaining and something people actually want to share.

 Share Native Videos

A YouTube link of your marketing video makes sense but it is not workable if you look at it through the lens of marketing. Facebook tilts towards native video content over links from third-party video-sharing apps.

Users want videos that are uploaded on the business’s Facebook page.

Facebook automatically plays native videos as users scroll through their newsfeed. It generates more views and leaves a positive impression on your fans and prospective customers, which then translates to increased engagement.

The main advantages of uploading native videos include:

1.       Increasing Organic Reach

Facebook’s algorithm has evolved over the years and is angling towards favoring native videos. Videos have proven to increase organic reach on Facebook.

A recent case study concluded that native video content leads to a 135% increase in organic reach when compared to photos and links. A separate study conducted by Quinty found that native videos quadrupled interactions than video links from third-party sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

2.       Creating Video Gallery

The downside of posting links from other video-sharing sites is that your page will not have a dedicated section for those videos. However, native videos have a dedicated gallery for all your videos; users can easily access them later.

3.       Better Analytics

On Facebook Page Insights, you can see the number of users who viewed your video for more than ten seconds. You can even see your best-performing and engaging videos.

Improve Reach using Facebook Live

Facebook Live is appropriate for businesses that have a low marketing budget. Facebook Live increases organic reach, has lower quality requirements and is free. Increased reach means your customers are more likely to consume your content.

Facebook sends out a push notification to your fans when you go live, which is a big plus that increases visibility.

Newbies in Facebook marketing might not know how to cash in on and integrate Facebook Live into their business. Below are some ideas.

Do Interviews: Facebook Live offers a great opportunity for business owners to bring in industry experts and colleagues to deconstruct complex topics and talk about current trends.

Q&A Sessions: You’ll only need a couple of customers to join your Live session and you are good to go. Ask them to send in questions about the product/service you offer.

Stream Events: If your company is launching a product, a good way to engage customers who are not able to attend the launch is by streaming it on Facebook Live. Live streams should not be limited to product launches; community outreach programs, office tours, and team building events are also appropriate.

Discounts as a Means to Increase Sales

Discounts are a great way to reel in new customers and retain loyal ones. Facebook knows this too well, it created a feature to make it easy for businesses to offer discounts. It’s called Facebook Offers. Facebook Offers allows you to post discounts coupons, and deals on your Facebook page. Even more, you can set where customers can redeem their offers. It includes: In Store Only, Online Only and In-Store and Online.

Get into the Fray with Facebook for Business

The information detailed in this article is enough to help you get right into the thick of things. Go ahead and get your hands dirty. If you have any questions, contact Paton Digital below.