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- Three ways
Thanks to Janice Wald, Mostly Blogging!
#2- Advertising
We use Facebook advertising, and the power of Facebook Custom Audiences is awesome. If you upload your company email list into Facebook and create a Custom Audience you can advertise to the people who have a Facebook account. And, you can create a Lookalike list of people who share the same traits as your list based on over 500 points of data that Facebook stores on each of us. Make sure you use innovative ad creative with bold images and videos to stand out.
Thanks to Jay Berkowitz, Ten Golden Rules!
#3- Creating online surveys
Our market research company utilizes Facebook paid advertisement platform in a unique way. Instead of using Facebook Ads to increase site traffic, grow brand awareness, or sell our services, Drive Research uses the tool to find people to participate in our research studies such as online surveys or focus groups. Facebook Ads allow you to target large demographics or niche audiences based on location, gender, age, purchasing habits, interests, and more. By utilizing this behavioral and interest targeting, our market research company can match nearly any criteria set forth by our clients. For example, an architectural firm is planning on building a high-end apartment complex in Upstate, New York, and wants to measure where there is the most interest, appeal, and likelihood to reside at the property concept. Our market research company will create an online survey and encourage participation by creating a Facebook Ad targeted to residents of the community who are of a certain age and income with plans to rent in the coming years.
Thanks to George Kuhn, Drive Research!
#4- Improve accessibility
Facebook for business has become an essential tool in my kit for real estate success. I am readily accessible and top of mind for clients and potential clients to reach out via messenger or ask a question on a post. Utilizing video and photo home tours takes my clients from the comfort of their living rooms to homes that they may not have the time or ability to see in person. Since many people can not have Facebook on their work computers, I know it is actively used on their cell phones. While a typical consumer gets so many emails now, a direct message to a client with a home that fits their criteria or an article about properties values or a neighborhood they are purchasing in shows that you are keeping THEM top of mind and they are important to you and your business.
Thanks to Karen Szala
#5- A number of ways
I use Facebook for lead generation, visibility and my own research and learning too. There’s so much content on there available for free, and groups and pages are key to business. I always view my page as the brand space and my group as the community space. I can pick who is in my group, so I know they are people I want for my clients. The new “units” function on there allows me to organise my group into workable blocks, meaning it can be used as a small educational platform. I roll out as much content as I can that’s valuable, considering that my content should be educational, inspirational, personal and selling. I go for an 80/20 approach of value content to selling content – but make sure I have calls to action on almost everything. Also, it seems obvious, but having your face on Facebook is a great opportunity – people buy from people, and Facebook allows for you to be a real person for clients to connect with. Plus, you never know who will be your next collaboration, client or mentor!
Thanks to Tessa Hull, No Right Way Ltd!
#6- Build our business
Facebook has had a positive effect on our business so far. It is a fantastic way to interact with customers and a truly amazing way to advertise our services and products. Having a business Facebook page is easy to manage and is a modern way to stay in touch with others while also making new connections with others. There has been an increase in productivity and we feel this is due to people sharing our page with each other. It's not just customers though, other businesses have shown an interest too. People get to know our staff through events and fundraisers. which is a fantastic way to building up our family business.
Thanks to Mike Falahee, Marygrove Awning Co.!
#7- Create personal connections
We primarily write articles about how to fix iPhone problems. Although our troubleshooting guides are thorough, a small percentage of our readers need more help. We created an iPhone help Facebook group to serve as a forum for our readers to come and get direct, one-on-one help from our iPhone experts. The Facebook group has also given us the opportunity to form a more personal connection with our audience. Today, the group has nearly 10,000 members, making it one of the largest iPhone help communities on Facebook!
Thanks to David Payette, Payette Forward, Inc.!
#8- Inform and educate
We use our Facebook to inform and educate our audience on the most recent market trends. Business pages can be a great tool to set yourself as a thought leader. We do this to not only better inform our audience but also have them refer and send their business our way. Without overselling, it makes it easy to build a reactive and engaged audience who want to learn more about your industry.
Thanks to Loren Howard, Prime Plus Mortgages!
#9- Build a sense of community
Facebook is at the heart of my business. I use it to grow my community of supporters by posting engaging organic content like memes and featured member posts (which are paid posts and a revenue generator). To build a stronger sense of community, my groups are separated by locality. This allows my Facebook followers to talk to each other and build real connections. I also use the platform to promote and drive traffic to my business' website by posting links to blog articles and events on my business' Facebook page.
Thanks to Jenna Levine Liu, Sixx Cool Moms!
#10- Several ways
Facebook has become a vital part of our business marketing. We use Facebook in several ways. We have a daily videocast using Facebook Live Lunch with The Lovely Law Firm We talk about non-legal topics. The purpose is to allow our audience to simply get to know, like, and trust us. It is also great for team building as each member gets to know their coworkers. We also post FAQ-style videos on Facebook so that we will appear both to our audience and also if a user searches within Facebook. Finally, we use targeted Facebook ads for different practice areas. Providing a free ebook download that provides value has been great. We follow up with drip email campaigns. Putting all of these together has allowed us to generate cases with great ROI.
Thanks to Justin Lovely, The Lovely Law Firm!
#11- Create a Well Engaged and Hyper-Local Facebook Group
To Link My Digital Publication and Social Media Platform by Creating an interactive Facebook Group, focusing on my hyperlocal readership based in the Hamptons and North Fork of Long Island. Even though our readership and following is based around the world, there is a strong readership presence on the East End of Long Island. Recently, I created a Facebook group that is approaching 1,000 members this week. I encourage my close friends and fellow business owners to add individuals they know to the group that may find it most useful. It is in that group that I encourage small business owners (particularly restaurants, bakeries, farms, and grocery stores) to share their updates and inform the community of their updates. This group has been extraordinarily helpful to many, and it is a great way to share information to a specific group of people rather than publishing to the broad range of readers and followers that perhaps may be specifically interested in the travel component of East End Taste or the publication as a whole. The Facebook group is particularly helpful because I am able to share up to date content there rather than I or one of my writers spending the time writing up an article dedicated to that information. This is important especially now with COVID-19 because the information is ever-changing.
Thanks to Vanessa Gordon, East End Taste Magazine!
#12- Source for recommendations and reviews
We are relatively active, especially with responses to our clients and ensure that we have a post delivered every day or every two days at most. Usually, our posts are informative, asking a question and providing a link to our website, where the bulk of our information and resources are provided. Facebook is but a platform for discussion and communication where we intend to direct our customers to where they need to go within our website
Thanks to Andrew Taylor, Net Lawman!
#13- Humanise our business
I use Facebook partly to put a human face on what we do, and show that we are real people. Of course, I also do a lot of marketing, especially in groups. These two concepts work together. To market in Facebook groups, first you need to get to know the group, offer value, and of course show them something relevant to what they are looking for. Facebook ads are a big source of traffic, and retargeting website visitors is one of my favorite marketing tactics of the last decade.
Thanks to Morgan Taylor, LetMeBank!
#14- As a major part of my marketing strategy
I created a Facebook page as an afterthought, but it's become a major part of my marketing strategy. I use Facebook for my business in two ways. First, I created a group for members of my target audience. I spend a few minutes there every day answering questions and posting useful or inspirational articles, as well as simply checking in and asking them how they're doing. This has been a great way to build rapport, give value to potential clients, and deliver initial offerings that create buy-in. Secondly, I joined a number of other groups with members of my target audience, and I regularly post helpful articles from my blog in those groups. The key here is that the articles are actually helpful–I'm not just being self-promotional, and I'm not telling them to buy anything. Once people find my articles, a certain number of them start following my work and eventually become clients. I've also noticed that this approach has built brand awareness, increasing Google searches for my brand name. Both of these tactics take very little extra time but provide a lot of value.
Thanks to Steve Tippins, Beyond PhD Coaching!
#15-Communicate and drive traffic to my website
Social media, particularly, Facebook has been very helpful when it comes to driving traffic to my website. When I started to frequently share my latest blogs in Facebook, my traffic significantly improved. Aside from this, it also help me communicate with my customers and even with the potential ones by engaging with them through chats and even in comments. I really find Facebook very helpful. It makes market targeting easier as my niche revolves around pets specifically cats. This is an important avenue specially that I am also running an eCommerce business related to cats.
Thanks to Mary Nielsen, FelineLiving.net!
#16-As a landing page, not an active account
At Infinity Dish, we experimented with different social platforms – including Facebook. We quickly discovered that, to reach a sizeable audience, we had to pay for ads. In turn, these ads offered a very low conversion rate (around 1-3%) despite our research showing the average was 9.21%. My understanding is that Facebook could be profitable in the right demographics, but we never had much luck. Now, we use the site as more of a landing page. Should customers wish to be directed via the platform then we have a Page available to follow. We rarely post but have seen the benefits of having our URL/phone number accessible to this consumer base. Several customers we speak to said they ‘got our number off Facebook
Thanks to Laura Fuentes, Infinity Dish!