Facebook and marketing

Here we review Facebook and marketing. If you think Facebook is going anywhere you are mistaken, look at the best ways to grow a business without ads.

First of all, we are talking about a Business based Facebook and not a personal family snaps area.

I like to use low-cost marketing wherever I can and Facebook is one of those mediums.

Facebook is still the biggest media in the social group and their ownership on Instagram gives them an even greater hold on the industry.

I was interested to learn that 79% of all Facebook views are on a mobile phone and that there are about 1.4 billion users worldwide. Add 30k new subscribers every hour.

Is that a big market or what?

Facebook is a search source

Many people use Facebook as a search source for good business leads. Generally, we put all our information into our Facebook about page that contains an email address, phone numbers etc.
I often use it when gathering new customers and need those extra details.

When I consider targeting a new client one of the first things I do is have a look at Facebook. Is it current, is it interactive and what effort is applied?

This provides a window into the business and the people in it.

Of course, I also use Linkedin and Instagram as well to build a history.

You will probably notice that Facebook has changed and that the old style has been replaced. They want you to spend money on advertising, this is where they get the revenue to live a lifestyle we all want.

However, advertising is not the only chop on the block, consistent and relevant posting still works.
Trust in marketing, is it still viable.

Build a following

Groups are one way to build followers but not other business groups because it is difficult to market in most of these. However your own group is an open house, you make the rules others follow them.
This remains a great marketing tool as you develop followers and have a captive audience.
Make sure you don't have the sales hat on every time you post, remember that readers want to be entertained or informed and not hit about the head.

Scheduling your posts

Facebook is really one of the only places that does not penalise scheduled posts. Instagram hates it even though there are some platforms that allow you to do it.

Facebook has recently changed the way this is done and I had to go search for an answer.

How to schedule a Facebook post

Notice; Post scheduling and additional options are available in Publishing Tools and Business Manager.
Facebook

Back in the olden days of a couple of months past, the scheduler was on the front page. Things have changed and now it is hidden away in the backblocks. It took me about five minutes today trying to find the scheduler because I had forgotten where to look.

I went to Publishing tools on the front page. Then the create button at the top right.

Downloaded my picture and then wrote about it.
Hit the share now button,
Schedule and pick a date and post and post.

With the My Rescue Cat site, I post daily with fun pictures and the business site weekly for 6 weeks to eight weeks ahead.

You can do it at anytime thus keeping your site current should never be a problem.

Best way to post a link

I sometimes use the free service at Canva to build a Facebook post and build a link from that

Use the templates but head it with the site URL

Type or paste the URL of the Web page that you want to share into the text field. Include the “http://” section of the URL. Press the spacebar and wait while Facebook automatically links the URL and adds a preview image and paragraph to the link.
Mmallbusines.chron.com

Remember that you are in the entertainment business

People are just not into you, so get over it. They care about their own lousy lives and they are on Facebook to be entertained and just maybe educated.
So your job is to grab their interest, quickly and get some action happening

We often forget that as we try and sell our product instead of branding what we do.

However, Facebook for business is a delivery channel, you want readers transported to a selling page. Your website, funnel or blog.

There is often confusion when a webpage sends you to a Facebook page, no, don't do it!
We all get lost on social media, flitting from one post to another and never returning to the selling site.

What do you post to Facebook about?

This is an interesting and important topic and one that I often forget. I am a seller so I forget the rules of branding and not hard nose hitting.

On one site I run a series of my customers businesses and what they have to offer. I even link to them at times to introduce business directly to them.

We all work on the theory of Know Like and Trust in marketing. These are the three pillars that must be established before people will buy.

Facebook still offers the opportunity to establish a connection with your future market.

Social media for many businesses has made you lazy & stopped you doing what you needed to be doing.”

“Likes, comments, retweets, connection or follower numbers, won’t pay your bills. Getting on the phone might.”

“Most social media experts, gurus & ninjas tweet circa 100-200 tweets per day x 7 days a week of evergreen out of date stuff, quotes, memes & anything they can get their hands on. Who has the time for all of this?

Your job is to be awesome at your job. Nothing else”

“For most of you in business. Social media is not the answer. For most of you it will simply be a costly distraction.”

“Instead of going to another social media conference where they’ll tell you the same thing you would have heard 5yrs ago. Use that money to hire an SEO expert to SEO and make the best out of your site.”

The above was cut from a Twitter guru's comments about social media, but are they true?
The social media effect in society.

If you are marketing locally it is the easiest way for new clients.

Balance time against money. Like any market, there must be a return of some kind.
I also like to remember that Branding does not pay bills, OK for the big guys but not us small business owners.

Social media is necessary for Small business

Getting good leads on a shoestring budget

All social media is subject to age demographics.

Instagram targets 18-35-year-old females, in fact, BrandWatch recently posted,

” 90 per cent of Instagram users are younger than 35″
I know as the young adopt a media the old follow, the parents become interactive with the posts because they follow the family.
This still tells us that Instagram has a tight demographic.

Pinterest is an interesting one with nearly 50% over the age of 45 and that includes many in the over 65-year-old group (USA 2019 and a large majority-female at 72%)

Twitter is an interesting media.
Donald Trump has made an artform of Twitter, it is not just his tweets but that the Press keep them in the headlines giving a lot more exposure.

I find myself following a lot more Twitter feeds in the political and sporting world and the younger ones with music and film trash.

That leaves Facebook as the overall favourite

All ages use Facebook, ok the Teenagers are moving away to Snapchat and other instant photo action but they are not our market.

It is easy to do messages and you can program them in advance.
Advertising is readily available in several formats if you want to spend money.
Re-targeting works in many industries and should be considered if you have a budget.
Any online store should use Facebook to regularly market goods.
Never leave a page neglected, it will have a reverse effect.

Conclusion

I have outlined some good and bad things with social media so that you will understand where it is best to build your brand. Remember it is an avenue to your webpage or sales funnel it is not there to Sell.
It is different to a personal page so consider it in terms of your market, and work it to get future or potential clients to know and like you.

You should have a Facebook page, it must be kept current and entertaining and include your contact details.
If you can target your market, do so and keep at it until you get a return.

If you are too busy then delegate, get someone else to do the posting, the small cost may pay a big return.
Finally, a reminder that Facebook is there to get clients to a site that will do the selling.