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 – Facebook Ads
Currently my business relies on Facebook for 65% of revenue generation, particularly through Facebook Ads. We have a company page on Facebook with a following of 50,000, we use Facebook posts and Live videos to tap into this potential customer pool as well as advertising to the general Facebook population through Facebook’s advertising platform. We rely on it for elements of customer support too, through the messenger platform, the 1-to-1 experience is very personal and engaging which is great when dealing with potential customers. This is how we drive people to become passionate fans/evangelists of the brand, by interacting via Facebook. Basically, Facebook is essential to my business.
Thanks to Shane Felle, Kaville!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kavillelife/
#2 – Marketing & Promotion
Facebook is an incredibly versatile tool for marketing and promotion. I love the ability to tailor inexpensive post boosts to my exact niche I want to see the boosted post. I make sure to always take advantage easy #hashtags to make sure my posts and images end up in front of customers and vendors who will like and share my content, many of whom have never had exposure to my brand locally. As a photographer it's been one of my least expensive tools for promotion and marketing.
#3 – Provide Education
I love to use our business Facebook pages to provide education regarding dog training and behavior. We have a training tip each Tuesday that can include anything from tricks, answer questions and share articles on topics our audience would find value. In addition to #TrainingTipTuesday we have other posts throughout the week sharing what other students are learning in our private lessons and group classes. This encourages a sense of community. Plus give students an idea of what else they could be working on with their dog(s). Most recently we have been experimenting with some educational Facebook live discussing a seminars nuggets we took away from the talk. Our passion is to education dog lovers on how to even better relationships with their dog(s). A business Facebook page is a great way to
connect in this way.
Thanks to Paula Nowak, Canine Country Academy!
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/CanineCountryAcademy/
#4 – Discuss & Share Content
Like most social media Facebook is built to discuss and share content. As a business, you can’t forget that basic idea of what makes a social media network. That means conversation and engagement should be priority number 1. Try to be a community for your audience. Facebook is a great place to hold related chats or discussions, whether it’s with a different audience or your own customers. You can help drive Facebook engagement by asking people to simply engage in the first place. However, you can’t sit back and wait for your followers to interact. You can’t reach everyone, but there are ways to increase engagement. Consider timing your post and using media rich content. Posts with videos and photos have 3x the interaction rate.
Thanks to Bradley Shaw, SEO Expert Brad Inc.!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seoexpertbrad
#5 – Continuous Opportunity to Engage
Facebook is an ideal venue for my hobby based retail business. Sharing the hobby, knowledgeable tips, conversation and photo sharing, all encourage my audience interested in the building and collecting of Dollhouse Miniatures to visit my Retail website Sales in the hobby world are not always driven by price, or Ad campaigns; but, rather by showing your customer base you are enthusiastic about what they love. Facebook allows me to have a continuous opportunity to engage with regular and potential customers. This forum is my primary lead source for sales. I try very hard to balance obvious sales pitches with general interest, history of the hobby, a little of the bizarre and unusual, and then let my customers guide me into areas they want to discuss.
Thanks to Judy Mizikar, Just Miniature Scale!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustMiniatureScale
#6 – Communication with Vendors
The page was created for only GreenPal vendors to share best practices, ask for advice, sell or buy equipment, to vent frustrations, and let us know what features to build. We have daily questions asked to us about how things work, why some things are done the way they are, and even what others recommend in certain situations. We also handle all of our vendor support on the page and announce new features, bugs on the website, and contests.
Thanks to Gene Caballero / Your Green Pal!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenpallawncare
#7 – Go Live & Communicate with Customers
Facebook is a valuable tool that every business owner should take advantage of. I use Facebook to go live to promote either the latest skin care hack, valuable information regarding the latest skin care ingredients or simply to say hello to my customers. Customers are pleasantly pleased when the owner of a company sends a “shout out” or appears to be “reachable” or in arms reach. I’ve noticed an increase in sales and social media interactions.
Thanks to Zondra Wilson, Blu Skin Care, LLC!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bluskincare
#8 – Build a Regional Community
We use our Facebook account to build a community in our region. By posting relevant news and advice, we provide our community of followers value that will help them and their families in their daily lives. The engagement we get with our posts means that our brand is then displayed to a wider network of different audiences, helping to spread awareness for our services and bring in new customers.
Thanks to Eddie Chu, Owner, Qualicare Family Homecare!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QualicareOttawa
#9 – Share our Story & Show Results
We've developed a high tech invention that allows you to get a 3 hour workout in just 20 minutes. This concept is so new to the market, we need to SHOW our clients exactly what we do and how it looks because explaining it with words just doesn’t do the workout justice. So we use Facebook to share our story and explain how clients can get incredible results and achieve their fitness and health dreams in a fun and exciting way. It’s used both for education purposes and to share our brand above all else.
Thanks to Daniel Nyiri, 4U Fitness!
# 10 – Listen to Users
I see many businesses SELL non stop on Facebook.They forget one of Facebook's greatest attributes. You can LISTEN to your users. Let them tell you what need and want. Then create services that address that need. How? When you post content don't always tell your followers something, ASK them something. What is your biggest obstacle right now? What is gobbling up most of your time now etc. Then LISTEN. Be sure and respond to any comments in a nice friendly way. Responses like Thanks for letting me know, that's a valid point etc. are good. You can answer with a product you offer that will help them, but make sure you offer it in a VERY social manner.
Thanks to Kathy Terrill, I Love To Be Selling!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilovetobeselling
#11 – Mini-Blog
Regionomics is an economics and workforce consulting firm focused on the needs of neighborhoods and communities. I use Facebook as a mini-blog and post thoughts on the general economy, urban development, economic development, and especially the economies of my home city and state (Columbus, Ohio). Doing so allows me to position myself as a trusted expert and engage in conversations with my followers. It is a good way to keep my business at the top of people’s minds so they will think of Regionomics when they have a need that I can help them address. I occasionally use Facebook advertising to promote specific posts. That is an inexpensive way to draw people’s attention to the page and generate page likes. Those in turn may become projects.
Thanks to Bill LaFayette, Ph.D., Regionomics!
#12 – Facebook Group
I have a Facebook page, but since only about 5% of our fans are able to see our posts organically (without paying for Facebook ads/post boosts), we decided to start a Facebook Group. Even though we only have 2% as many people in the FB Group as we do in the FB Page, we are able to reach more people, communicate with them better and also create more diehard fans that are loyal. I am able to communicate with group members with my personal account and message them from my personal account, which makes it more personable (of course). Also, when you post on a Facebook Group, most of the members get a notification and see the post almost immediately with enthusiasm. I created the group to be closed to make it more of an exclusive club and elevate the group.
Thanks to Huseyin The Brain Aksu, Fantasy Couch!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasycouch
#13 – Facebook Ads
Our website has tons of quality content that helps small business owners in all aspects of running their business. Though we mainly get traffic through organic Google searches, using Facebook ads is an additional source of traffic for our content. By targeting Facebook users who have been classified as small business owners, we are able to put our articles in front of a large audience who will most likely be interested in what we have to offer. Plus, using Facebook's remarketing pixel, we are able to narrow down our audience after the original ad to only people who have taken an action and visited our site from Facebook. We can then show additional, similar ads only to users who are most interested in our website. Website traffic is the lifeline of our business, so it's great to have a platform like Facebook where we can reach thousands of small business owners and generate more page views for our articles.
Thanks to Maggie Aland, Fit Small Business!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FitSmallBusiness
#14 – Share Voice, Personality & Words
I have a one-on-one client business, so there is no better social platform to share my voice, personality and words in longer-format posts.
Thanks to Janis Isaman, My Body Couture!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mybodycouture
#15 – Paid Advertising Platform
It’s by far, the most effective and cheapest paid advertising platform out there. By targeting cold prospects who fit critical interests, we’re able to get helpful content out to them. We’ll then leverage remarking to continue to stay in front of them. Overall, we have 3-4 different funnels in place to date which target prospects in various stages of their decision making process, feeding them the right information at the right time.
Thanks to Jeff Gapinski, HUEMOR!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuemorDesigns/
#16 – Giving out Info & Advertising
I like to use Facebook for giving out information and for advertising. Since we are a new company, Facebook gives us the option to advertise our business without breaking the bank. You can literally do ads for $1 a day if you want. I've use the Boost Post option on Facebook as well and it helps a lot. Since there are millions active users on Facebook everyday it's very easy to stretch your budget and reach your customer base.
Thanks to Ebony Stevenson, Events By Ebony!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventsbyebony/