3 Best Practices for Smart Facebook Marketing

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If you’re a “planner” like me, the start of a new year feels like a breath of fresh air. Social media planning is a large part of any content marketing plan. So, let’s start with your Facebook business page.

How many could your Facebook business page reach?

Here’s a crazy statistic: As of September of 2020, the number of daily active Facebook users around the world was 1.8 billion. (That’s billion with a ‘B’.) Monthly, there were 2.7 billion active users. To provide some perspective, the current world population is 7.8 billion.

That’s a-lotta people on Facebook!

Despite some legal troubles and questions about the addictive nature of the platform, I think it’s safe to say that Facebook isn’t going away any time soon. It continues to wear the crown as the world’s most popular social media website.

That’s why it’s a mistake to downplay it as part of your plans to market your business, especially if you’re new to entrepreneurship.

If you’re just starting out in business or if you already have some experience and success, it’s important to keep the fundamentals of Facebook marketing in mind to promote your brand.

Stick to the fundamentals

As smart marketing strategists know, the newest shiny marketing product or approach is going to grab attention. It’s going to create excitement. It’s going to create hope to affirmatively answer the question: could this be the quick and easy fix to my marketing problems?

Excitement and hope are lovely to experience, but the reality is that in almost every endeavor – business, sports, whatever – the most direct route to success is sticking to the fundamentals.

So how do you leverage Facebook fundamentals for meaningful marketing and promotion? Here are three principles that work.

1. Facebook business pages get results when you have a solid content strategy

What is content strategy? According to the Content Marketing Institute, it’s the “creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” Clear as mud? Let’s break it down:

The “content” part of content strategy is information – the factual, informative, practical, or entertaining message for your audience.

That content needs to be structured to fit the appropriate context: in other words, what the message is supposed to help you and your audience accomplish. This also includes identifying your target audience and the reason for creating and publishing the message.

Next, medium. No, this isn’t about talking to spirits in the afterlife (although sometimes marketing feels that way when you don’t get any responses). It’s about selecting the channel where you intend to publish the content. Things like social media, print media (magazines, newspapers, direct mail, etc.), radio, television. Of course, your chosen medium will influence your message tone, structure, and length.

Finally, form. Is your content in text form in a Tweet? Are you communicating an infographic? Is your content an interactive form of audio or video?

All four of these elements – information, context, medium, and form – must be closely integrated into the ongoing process of content strategy. Most importantly, the engine that drives content strategy is your business objectives and goals.

If you want a more in-depth understanding of content strategy and how to create and utilize it, check out Hubspot Academy’s free course.

2. Facebook business pages work when you post great content.

On a fundamental level, the point of your Facebook business page is to stay in your customers’ or clients’ line of sight. You digitally “wave” to them when you post. The goal is for them to remember you when they’re ready to buy. Hopefully, they also spread the word about your products or services.

You can’t just keep waving, though. You need to routinely share content that is helpful, entertaining, compelling, or action-oriented enough to keep your followers engaged.

Identifying your buyer personas is one of the best ways to create and maintain engagement on Facebook. I know business owners who resist the idea of creating client personas. They believe it limits their options for more sales.

If you’re in that camp, please think about this… You want to sell to someone who ultimately wants your product or service. When you qualify the type of person who can benefit from your offer and you post messaging that deeply resonates with them, you streamline your sales process. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.

Here are some free tools to help you create buyer personas: upcloseandpersona, makemypersona, userforge, smaply.

If you just can’t bring yourself to construct buyer personas, at the very least use your Facebook business page to share your unique perspectives. Be open. Seek to help. In short, be interesting.

3. Facebook pages succeed when you don’t do these things.

When you’re a new business owner, it’s so hard to know what you’re doing wrong. I have some mistake-horror stories that are real doozies. You probably do, too.

When it comes to Facebook, social etiquette and messaging approaches have the potential to completely endear people to you or completely p-ss them off – so much so that they temporarily “mute” you or permanently unfollow your page.

What you should avoid doing with your Facebook business page:

• Resist the temptation to invite your personal Facebook friends to like your business page – unless you plan on shutting down your personal profile.

Your entrepreneurial success is not just about the number of likes anymore. You set yourself up for more success when the content on your Facebook business page – both that posted by you and by your business followers – aligns with the focus of your business.

• Unless solicited, do not post your business promotional messages or comments on other people’s walls. It’s so unprofessional and, quite frankly, rude.

• Refrain from sending private messages to everyone on your friends list, asking them to promote your product or service. Instead, select just a few people who you believe would be genuinely interested and personalize the message.

• Finally, if you’re active on Twitter, consider whether it’s in your best interest to have your Twitter updates automatically appear on your business Facebook page.

Unfortunately, in our politically divided times, public policy views and interests are better kept out of business.

If, like me, you’re in planning mode now for 2021, keep these Facebook business page fundamentals in mind. You can’t go wrong for a brighter, better year in business!

Do you have questions about how you can succeed in your business and accelerate your journey toward reaching your goals? I invite you to learn more about From Startup to Success coaching packages. Begin with a no-cost 30-minute consultation to discuss where you are with your business and where you want to go.

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