Facebook Basics for Your Business

Facebook is probably a part of your life. Facebook currently has more than two billion monthly active users (that’s almost a third of the world’s population). For marketing your business, it’s a platform you can’t ignore. But with the social media giant’s ever-changing algorithms, it can be hard to keep up with marketing best practices. One of the best (and most challenging) characteristics of Facebook is that it is constantly bringing you new, popular content. Consistent upkeep of your business’ Facebook presence is essential. Unfortunately, it’s not enough just to create a Page and post a few times a month. Facebook must be an integral, daily part of your marketing strategy. Luckily, social media management tools like Xpressdocs’ Social HQ, or Hootsuite, Sprout Social and more, can help you get a handle on Facebook’s often daunting time commitment.

This month and next, we’re going to focus on basic Facebook marketing and advertising strategies you need to know, as well as how to analyze your content’s impact for more effective communication in the future. Keep reading for current tips on how to make the most of the world’s favorite social network.

Facebook Basics for Your Business

Before you make any changes to your Facebook marketing strategy, sit down and think about what you want to get out of it. More followers? Access to more leads? Creating a personal dialogue with your customers? Write it down and be sure to come back to it often: a clear goal will help guide your efforts.

Also consider your business’ personality on Facebook. What tone do you want to convey, and how will you do that? Realistically, how often will you be able to create original content, and how often will you plan to source existing content? These details can help you shape your marketing blueprint, and will ensure your expectations fit more in line with reality a few months down the road.

Once your goals are created, first thing’s first: as a business, you should establish your presence on Facebook with a Page. Pages can be liked by anyone on Facebook and once liked, users will receive updates from that Page in their newsfeed. They also don’t have a restriction on the number of friends they can have. The good news is that Pages are free and easy to set up, and you can add other administrators to your Page to share the workload of updating, posting, etc.

Even if you run your own small business, it’s important to differentiate your personal Facebook profile from your business’ Facebook Page. Pages simply have more tools that businesses can utilize, and keeping separate accounts allows you to tailor messaging and content for your business, without an overlap in personal content.

Be sure to detail your About tab thoroughly. It’s often where users will go first when trying to find things like your contact information, hours of operation, pricing structure, and more. And always use your business’ logo as the primary photo for your Page.

Plan to post at most once or twice a day, and at least 2-3 times a week. Regular content keeps your Page engaging and will ensure you don’t get lost in the news feed. Xpressdocs’ tools can help you manage your content calendar by allowing you to schedule posts days or weeks in advance and it will even automatically select the best time for your post to go live, based on users’ fluctuating activity levels.

Here are a few content best practices:

• Videos are king. The Facebook algorithm heavily favors displaying videos in users’ news feed over other static content. They reach about 135% more people than posts with only an image. It can sound overwhelming, but videos don’t need to be fancy. Try utilizing Facebook Live for streaming company events, or simply upload videos that relate to questions you typically receive from customers.

• Don’t make the mistake of only posting promotional content for your business. Share articles, quizzes, photos, and other content from around the web that is relevant to your business and that your audience would find interesting. With Social HQ, your content library makes sourcing this content much easier. Simply select one of the articles from the aggregated list and share!

• Keep posts short and to the point (and don’t forget to ask the occasional question). Creating engaging content will make your Facebook Page more of a conversation and less of a speech.

• Incorporate trending topics, current events, or popular hashtags. Think about creative, out-of-the-box ways you can make current events applicable to your business.

• Be quick and helpful when responding to any customer questions or complaints you may receive via a direct message or comment. This is an approachable way for customers to reach you. Be sure to make their experience with your business on Facebook a positive one.

If you’re ready to start building upon your Facebook marketing strategy with some of these tips, consider Social HQ as a social media management tool to help you save time and be more strategic. It’s an easy way to manage Facebook and all of your social media sites from one convenient dashboard – with a calendar feature that makes planning your activity on Facebook easier than ever.

Stay tuned for our next post that will touch on how to use Facebook ads to generate more followers, leads, and sales!