I’ve talked about how to pick the right social platforms for your small business. But, what do you do once you’ve started your profile? Let’s take a deeper dive into each platform and how you can use them to your advantage. This week, Facebook!
Since it’s inception in 2004, we’ve seen Facebook grow and evolve many times, giving its users more tools, more content and more ways to connect. As a business owner the platform has also developed a highly targeted set of tools just for you with Facebook Business.
With over 100 million hours of video watched on Facebook every day, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not taking advantage. Facebook’s business tools have made it easy to target your videos in a way that best connects with your core audience’s viewing habits.
One of the best things about Facebook Business, it’s extremely user friendly. It’s clearly designed with small business owners in mind with step-by-step instructions to set up the right campaigns based on your business goals. Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness or drive conversions, Facebook’s robust resources walk you through what type of content to use, how to position it and will even guide you through building your audience. Even if you’re a novice in digital advertising, Facebook has you covered.
In addition to the advertising and marketing tools at your disposal on Facebook, business owners can also reach their target audience in a more meaningful way through organic content than you can on something like Twitter or Snapchat. With no character limits for your posts, you can get more in-depth with your information. While you don’t want to get too wordy, Facebook posts allow you to connect with your audience in a more conversational way, playing to the platform’s core purpose of building connections with friends and family.
Video has also become a valuable asset for business owners on Facebook. It’s no secret video is a vital marketing tool and Facebook is a great place to showcase your content. With over 100 million hours of video watched on Facebook every day, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not taking advantage. Facebook’s business tools have made it easy to target your videos in a way that best connects with your core audience’s viewing habits. Video allows you a way to tell a story that a written post or photo can’t always achieve. To go even further, Facebook Live allows you to live stream content from anywhere right to your network. This hot trend in video marketing gives you the chance to get agile with your marketing and bring your audience behind-the-scenes and inside your business like never before.
You may think all of these tools will eat away your budget pretty fast. But, that’s not necessarily the case. Facebook’s marketing and advertising tools make it easy to test the waters from as low as $5 a day. This allows you to test the waters, get a sense for what works and drive your budget toward the successful methods.
Now, there are still things you want to watch out for. In recent months, digital advertising platforms have come under fire for not providing enough security for advertisers to ensure their ads were not being placed near any inappropriate content. Facebook specifically has faced criticism for it’s loose standards in what type of content can be monetized. We saw this take center stage after the 2016 Election. However, this week Facebook has announced it’s new eligibility standards for monetization and ad placements, which will help give advertisers better reporting on where their ads are appearing and provides more protection for your brand.
In short, Facebook is no longer just a way to connect with college friends or for your grandmother to keep tabs on your photos. It’s become a powerhouse in marketing and advertising for your business.