As a marketing professional, you already know the power of social media for connecting with your customers, spreading the word about your business, and increasing awareness of your brand.

If you’re struggling to build an effective Facebook marketing strategy, however, don’t despair! These tips will help catapult your Facebook marketing efforts to the next level.

Set Your Goals

Having a social media page is almost a necessity for today’s businesses, especially those with any kind of online following. Even more important than the existence of your Facebook page, however, is your overall goal. Your Facebook page needs a clear purpose. Once you’ve defined it, you’ll be able to gear your marketing efforts toward meeting that goal. Some common goals include:

• Increasing brand exposure, typically measured through likes and post engagement.
• Increasing the number of visits to your website.
• Accessing more customers who will make purchases from your website.

Once you’ve defined your goals, you should have a clear metric for measuring them that will allow you to more effectively determine whether or not your Facebook page is meeting those goals.

Pay Attention to Your Content

You’ve likely already spent time discovering what types of content are most interesting to your audience. The content that gets more likes, shares, or clicks to your website is the type of content you want to post most often. What you might not have realized, however, is that the type of content your customers are most likely to respond to may depend on when it’s posted.

For example, you may find that on the weekends, customers are more interested in “fun” content like comics and anecdotes, while on weekdays, you’re more likely to attract customers with serious content that details exactly what they should expect from your business, how to solve common problems, or how your products can offer benefit to your customers.

Target Interested Customers with Ads

Facebook ads are a great way to raise awareness about your business and increase the number of customers who are able to discover everything that your business has to offer. The most effective Facebook ads, however, target exactly the customers you need for your business. Don’t just push out ads to the general public! Instead, specifically target Facebook ads to your buyer personas.

You can target Facebook ads based on your target’s age, geographic area, and even their interests. Use specific keywords that you think are likely to attract their attention in order to get your ad in front of people who are more likely to care about your content!

Source: Slideshare.net

Engage with Customers

Your Facebook page isn’t just about throwing out information in the hopes that someone will read it. It’s also an excellent chance to connect directly with your customers–and if you aren’t taking advantage of it, you’re missing out on an excellent resource that could shape your company’s future marketing efforts, products, and more. Instead of treating your Facebook page like a shorter blog, try some of these strategies for connecting and engaging with your customers.

• Respond quickly to questions or negative reviews on your page. Leave your responses in place so that future customers can easily see your comments and concerns.
• Take polls and listen to what customers have to say. When you see frequent requests for specific products or services, work to make them reality for your customers.
• Create a group for your customers where they are free to discuss products and services, ask questions, and connect with other fans. Note that you’ll need to decide for yourself what rules govern interactions within the group: do you want off-topic discussions to stay off of your page? Should customers answer questions for each other, or should that be left to a member of staff? Set the rules out clearly to prevent future issues.
• Design posts that are geared toward increasing interaction both with your page and between customers. Encourage healthy debates or offer chances for customers to share their stories in order to enhance their sense of connection to your product.

Engaged customers are committed customers. The more customers connect with your brand, the better their opinion of you will be, and the more likely they will be to choose your business for their future needs in your industry.

Connect Your Social Accounts

Do you have an Instagram account? What about Twitter? In many cases, you can connect those accounts to increase your Facebook results. For example, customers are more likely to engage with a picture on Instagram than they are with the same image posted on Facebook. You’re probably already doing your best to create a consistent user experience across your social media channels. Enhance your efforts by connecting your accounts and building a deeper connection for your brand.

Be Facebook Savvy

If you’re going to use your Facebook page as an advertising platform, make sure you’re familiar with basic Facebook etiquette.

• Ditch the hashtags on Facebook. They work great on Instagram and Twitter, but they don’t belong on Facebook–and your fans notice when you use them.
• Use proper grammar. It’s okay to use language that’s designed to connect with your customers, but they shouldn’t have to wade through errors in grammar and typing to get to it!
• Don’t be needy! Yes, likes and shares are critical to your social media marketing goals. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should constantly beg your customers for them.
• Check your posting frequency. Customers want to hear from your business on a regular basis, but they don’t want you to flood their newsfeeds. Find the posting balance that works for your business.
• Complete as much of your social media profile as possible to make it easy for customers to find out relevant information about your business.

Building your Facebook presence can be challenging. By setting clear marketing goals and taking a few simple steps to meet them, however, you can design a fantastic advertising campaign that will help you connect with your customers on a deeper level than before.

If you’re ready to get started with your Facebook advertising, but aren’t sure where to start, contact us today to learn how we can help.