It's fun, it's simple, but is it for your business?
You use it for entertainment, connecting with people, finding out what is going on with those you care about and dare I say it-even news.
So, in reality, how is Facebook any different from the cable, internet, or even radio you currently use to market your company?
Let's face it, you probably just don't want to meddle with a platform you know little or nothing about in the business realm.
As a company executive, it is just one other metric that you need to be aware of to assess its reach and value to your customers or clients. As a marketer, you need to know both the metrics and strategies that you can employ for your business to make a mark on this space. Of course, you do this on other media already.
Facebook is a public social media platform hosting over 2.7 billion active users worldwide. That is access to 2.7 billion people worldwide, and all of them can have access to your business. However, if that information alone is not reason enough to jump on the 'Market Your Business with Facebook' bandwagon, then here are a few other factors to consider that will help you see the benefits of putting your business on Facebook.
What do you need to know?
Facebook is a social media website that allows users to connect with friends, family, and anyone they would like to chat with and share information about their interests through written content, pictures, and videos. Facebook's primary focus is not business users. However, its uninhibited access to so many users makes it an ideal space for advertising.
Facebook allows users to use business pages from their accounts, which helps business owners to establish an effective online presence—complete with market insights, call-to-action buttons and a wide range of marketing tools. As a result, businesses can connect with customers, followers, and fans from all over the world to raise awareness about their brand, improve their image, market their products and services, and communicate their values.
Facebook Ads allow businesses to strategically push their products and services to their ideal potential customers at a price far lower than you are likely to spend on creating and managing traditional media. Made possible with the amount of information that users voluntarily input on the platform, and the data that Facebook collects with the users' permission, of course, you can narrow down the type of audience for your company.
Who is Actually Using it?
While it's not the oldest social media platform on the internet, it's the most widely used, with over a billion active members. Even in Grenada, over 60% of the island's entire population are Facebook users! However, the age of the platform also means that many other new social media sites have had the chance to pop up and divert attention away from the social giant. As a result, the number of users on Facebook has been steadily increasing while the demographics have shifted quite a bit. According to the international news organization qz.com, an increasing number of people over the age of 50 using the platform in recent years. In contrast, the younger generations have more or less remained steady, as many of them turn their attention to other media.
Therefore, if you need to market to an 18-35 age crowd, Facebook may not be the #1 site to place most of your resources. However, it definitely should not be factored out of your final decision. Millennials and boomers alike still use Facebook as the go-to platform for catching up with longtime friends and staying up to date on what other people in their social circles are doing. Therefore (and with the proven effectiveness of Facebook Ads), businesses only need to tweak their advertising strategy to capture the younger generation on Facebook successfully. After all, to ignore Facebook is to discount some form of advertising on the platform to deliberately ignore a potentially significant source of profitable income for your business. In the 35-50 age category, Facebook can be your go-to resource for building your brand awareness and making a sale.
What do you have to lose?
There is a lot to gain from putting your business on Facebook, given the enormous pool of potential customers to market to and the ability to advertise your business cost-effectively. Some of which include:
Targeted Advertising - All you need to do is tell Facebook what kind of clients you are looking for and then sit back and let the platform do the rest of the work. It will pull together information from millions of users according to your specifications and then push your adverts to only that group of people! These are your advert insights that you can use to determine how well your ad placement did based on the age, location, and behaviors of your customers.
Posts: You can schedule posts, pictures, videos, and milestones to engage with your customers. This is an opportunity to display your brand and share your products and services digitally. Your posts are ideal for communicating closures and other general information that you would like your customers to know about your business. Increase the interactivity with polls, Q & As and competitions where customers can win your branded merchandise or inventory.
Stories: Facebook Stories let you share pictures and short videos. Use Stories to share limited-time information, promote an offering, or pull back the curtains on your business.
Inbox: Your inbox collates all your communications in one place. This allows you to see all contacts made through Facebook to your business, from comments to queries and product or service interest.
Use Facebook Live: Communicate your brand value and bring your company directly into your customer's homes with this broadcast-like feature.
Ideal for hosting live sales and offerings, it creates the platform for you to show your customers how your products work live and create urgency and interest in purchasing instantly. In addition, customers can interact with you through chat.
Use of Facebook Places: Use this fantastic feature to steer users in your direction with product discounts and other incredible deals. For example, if. In that case, suppose a user is plugged into Facebook Places and passes near your business's location. They get a notification from Facebook about your business and current deals.
Keep an eye on Your Competitors: This Facebook feature allows your business to stay on top of its game by providing insights about others in your specific niche or market on Facebook with the "pages to watch" feature.
Should Your Business Be on Facebook?
So, what do you think? Is Facebook the social media platform for your business? Given that the platform has, over time, become popular with more mature audiences, do you prefer to explore other social websites? Or will you develop a marketing strategy that takes maximum advantage of the billions of users available on Facebook? Let us know, and we'll discuss it in the comments!
There is, even more you can do to take your Facebook presence up a notch. Look out for our next blog to discover more.
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