Social Media is here and it is not going anywhere. Many brands focus on specific social media sites because of the type of updates they can make or the activity level of their target market. Facebook is no different even with the changes to organic reach, the social media giant is still often the first choice for businesses that are seeking to get started on social media to promote their business and communicate with customers. Rescue a CEO asked some businesses how they use Facebook to help their business.
#1 – Scaling Content
Facebook is a go to tool for scaling content. Gone are the days where Facebook is seen only as a friend updates site. News, entertaining videos, quotes, celebrity gossip and business tips all have their place on Facebook. This makes it a great resource for getting content we create in front of our target audience. When it comes to content, if you build it, they won't come. That is why Facebook is an invaluable tool. We not only publish our latest blog posts to our Facebook page, we also put a few paid dollars behind it. This allows us to drive more traffic to our website and result in more leads when they get there.
Thanks to Nikki Nash, Nikki Nash Enterprises
#2 – Educate Consumers
At EcoloBlue we use Facebook daily as a way to not only inform our Facebook friends about our product to also to educate them about Water. At EcoloBlue we create water from air. We use Facebook to post news articles that bring awareness of issues and facts about water. On our page you will find funny stories including a story about a child concerned about conserving the Earth to news stories about water crisis including areas like Flint, Michigan. You will also get the latest news about EcoloBlue and interesting water facts. Our Facebook page is also a great way for us to speak with existing customers and generate new customers. We also use Facebook Ads, we create ads that bring people to like our Facebook page which also brings awareness of our EcoloBlue products. For EcoloBlue Facebook has become the best way for Facebook users to gain knowledge of our product, generate leads for our product and bring awareness of issues and facts about water.
Thanks to Trena Wilson, EcoloBlue
#3 – Connect with Clients Personally
I use Facebook for my business in a lot of ways, but the most impactful has been using Facebook Live to grow my audience, increase engagement and build my personal brand. Every Friday I host a Facebook Live Business Talk Happy Hour where I take some questions that I've received over the week (or live during the session) and provide answers that will help small business owners. The most exciting part of a Facebook Live session is that it gathers steam AFTER the actual live session. As others share the recorded session, it starts to show up in Newsfeeds which continually expands my reach. Plus – inviting my audience to interact with me on Facebook Live allows them to see how my brain works – how I tackle their issues, how I communicate – in a commitment-free environment. It provides a soft sell as they go through their own process of evaluating my skills and my management style.
Thanks to Sue Laurent, NSMarketing
#4 – Top Marketing Tool
Facebook, next to Instagram, is the top marketing tool for Elsa Fine. It's where we've truly created a lifestyle brand for our customers to see. We can post a multitude of topics, from articles that could be interesting to our clientele, conversation topics, new styles in-store, and events. We support other small businesses through our page, too. It's where we can cast the widest net, since it's so easy to share information and get it in front of new eyes.
Thanks to Jordan Dollard, Elsa Fine
#5 – Driving Traffic
Facebook for Business is our number one driver of traffic and new leads to our website. We’re a ed-tech startup, so our organic interest is low in our infancy. Facebook provides us with a way to introduce ourselves through fun, catchy ads that put our playful tone and style on display. The ads are very low cost-per-lead, directed to a targeted audience using a combination of website custom audiences, lookalike audiences, regular interest targeting, and more. We’ve been extremely happy with our success through this tool and the interest it has helped us build around our free business education platform.
Thanks to Allison Harper, Smartly
#6 – Fostering Online Brand
We use Facebook to foster our online brand & put ourselves out there as Subject Matter Experts in App Development & Inbound Marketing. We connect with our fans and share insights, trends & tips. Its a give & take relationship – we give them valuable content in return for their loyalty to our business. When they learn a thing or two from us, they keep us on their minds whenever they have a relevant discussion. This brings us referrals and word of mouth publicity which is powerful.
Thanks to Sagar Babber, Snyxius
#7 – Demonstrate Expertise
I founded my company, CTR Financial, last year to provide unbiased financial advice to executives and business owners. But without a big name company behind me and as a career changer, I needed to build my brand and demonstrate my knowledge to prospective clients. Facebook has been a great way to do this. Every business day (and I mean every one), I publish a blog post on my website discussing a financial topic.. I then publish this post to Facebook and other social media sites. It's been a great passive way to make friends, family and former colleagues aware of my business and my expertise. The key for me is consistency – not everyone is going to see your posts every day so you need to be posting consistently for folks to see things you've done. I've found good responses from the blog and many prospective clients come in after reading a post. Even the ones I don't get still read which gives me the opportunity to convert later. It's been one of the best things I could have done to start my business.
Thanks to Ryan McGuinness, CTR Financial
#8 – Juggling Requirements
Social media is an essential part of our communications to our clients, networking associates, and those looking to find out more about our business and industry. We use Facebook for a myriad of things including basic business information, customer service, company announcements and brand support. So many people will head straight to Facebook when looking for ways to contact companies or to inquire about issues they have or services they need. It's no longer an option for companies to have – it's a requirement.
Thanks to Mary Manning, Armory5
#9 – Local Engagement
Using Facebook to grow your business is more than just making a few posts or sharing a few articles you have to engage and help people the way we do this is through Facebook groups. Especially local Facebook groups. No matter your niche or vertical there is a FB group that you can participate in to contribute to the discussion, answer questions, and develop a presence to refer people to your business, often times when they are looking for exactly what you offer. FB just also launched a dedicated mobile app to support their groups' communities so now it's easier than ever to manage the groups that you participate in, monitor the conversations, and participate while on the go throughout your day. We have found this tactic to be very effective for our marketplace. We monitor local groups and neighborhoods' groups , and when anyone is asking for a recommendation on a lawn care service, we kindly let them know about the GreenPal community. We track the success and 60% of the time we make a recommendation, they signup for our service This tactic can work for almost any business in any niche.
Thanks to Bryan Clayton, GreenPal
#10 – Continued Work
As a small business, getting engagement, likes and comments might not happen right away. A big downfall for businesses on social is stopping content altogether if they aren't getting results right away. My tip is to keep at it, and keep challenging your content to showcase your products and services. Test what works and what doesn't for better insight in how to market your page. For small businesses already overextended, they might feel pressure to jump on the latest social media trends or platforms. But if you're using Facebook, *continue *to use facebook to outreach to customers or prospects, and focus on what's working, before jumping to Snapchat because it's new or shiny. I would recommend, when the time and money allows investing in a Boosted or Promoted post to see what kind of growth it brings to your business and your business page on Facebook. Many small businesses think or put aside some form of money for marketing in a traditional sense, so why not see what your social media reach is. Facebook Advertising is done directly on Facebook and the guidelines, text restrictions and pricing before your ad
goes live are part of the setup process.
Thanks to Aristotle Eliopoulos, 9thCO
#11 – Building Recognition
I use Facebook for building recognition throughout the local scene of people I'd like to work with. I often write awesome content that I really want these people to see for two reasons. One, the content makes me look like an expert and authority. Two, the content makes it more likely that they'll work with me if I reach out to them directly by email afterwards. I use Facebook to run ads to the content I write, very low cost – around $5/day, and I hyper target around my city along with a lot of narrow interest targeting. From there I retarget people that hit my site with two different ads (again $5/day each), one to work directly with me one on one and the other to get my free video course. The ads driving people into a one on one strategy session generates 3 to 4 calls a week, while the other ad to my free course generates 20 – 30 new regitrations into my video course every week. This allows me to bring pre-qualified prospects into my email sequences every single day for less than $15/day total.
Thanks to Jamil Velji, Easy Automated Sales
#12 – Featured Images
With 95 successful years in business, Paper Mart is the largest discount packaging and party supply company. The company has grown and evolved into a massive e-commerce business and social media has played a huge impact on attracting new customers while keeping the old. On Facebook, we feature imagery of products and provide links back to the website encouraging an easy purchase, run ads that promote sales on the website and hold a number of giveaways to promote product and user engagement. Targeted ads have been a huge plus. If a post featured a Macaron Box, we target and boost the post to bakers, ultimately increasing sales. With over 26,000 products, knowing the each target is key.
Thanks to Christine Kim, Paper Mart
#13 – Easy Dialogue
In my line of work, it is essential to connect with your customer first and keep that dialogue. By having Facebook, I can message a customer on their schedule, and make direct contact, instead of leaving messages on a machine. We are capturing more and more business each day through this tool, but it does mean 24/7 availability to talk issues and answer questions. If you want to win in the art of business, you have to go to any length to do it, even if it means talking to one customer at 2 in the morning, and another at 6!
Thanks to Anthony Curren, Rick Curren Auto Sales
#14 – Using Facebook Store
Facebook has been critical for growing & managing our E-commerce business. This has been done specifically thru the following features: Facebook Store, which features a Buy Now button. Facebook Ads, that are by far our greatest converting ads. And by directly uploading product videos to Facebook, which FB greatly encourages and gives far more of a reach to our audience, without having to pay.
Thanks to Michelle Michalak, Slyde Handboards
#15 – News and Influencer Resource
I use Facebook as a news monitoring feed, to stay up to date on trending topics, breaking news, industry trends, and new interesting ideas. I watch what content is being shared the most, which stories are getting the most traction and what types of companies and brands people follow. I also use it to source new products or brands I might like, as well as potential new tools for business purposes. That’s why I have two Facebook “lives.” One for my persona life, to stay in touch with friends and family near and far, as well as looking for new brands of personal interest; and one for my professional marketing life, monitoring how brands and companies are using sponsored posts and ads, and engaging with customers and prospects.
Thanks to Debbie Williams, SPROUT Content