I’ll cut right to the chase…

If you’re looking for some simple, straightforward Facebook marketing tips that’ll help you reach your target audience and grow your business, this post is for you.

Sound good?

Let’s dive in.

1. Use a Business Page (NOT a Personal Profile)

Many business owners make the mistake of using their personal profiles to represent their businesses on Facebook. This may seem like a minor thing, but it can have significant consequences for your business.

First, it violates Facebook’s terms. Second, it makes it difficult for customers and clients to find you and connect with you. Finally, to be blunt, it gives the impression that you’re not professional or serious about your business.

So, if you’re using your personal profile to market your business on Facebook, stop it. Create a separate page for your business instead. It’s easy to do and it’ll make a world of difference for your brand.

2. Don’t Be Generic — Create High-Quality, Engaging Content

In order for your Facebook marketing efforts to be successful, you need to post content that’s interesting, informative and relevant to your target audience.

Think about the kinds of things that your ideal customer or client would want to see on your page. Then, create content accordingly.

Not sure what kind of content to post on your Facebook page? Here are a few ideas:

• Industry news. Share news stories or blog posts that are relevant to your industry. This will help you position yourself as a thought leader in your field.
• Tips and advice. Offer tips and advice related to your product or service. For example, if you’re an email marketer, you could share power words readers could use in subject lines to increase opens and clicks.
• Photos and videos. Visual content is extremely popular on Facebook. Post photos and videos that showcase your products or services in action.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. There are endless possibilities when it comes to the types of content you can post on your Facebook page, so get creative.

And speaking of creativity…

3. Get Creative With Your Content

One way to stand out from the competition on Facebook is to think outside the box and get creative with your content. There are countless ways to do this, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Host a contest. A great way to increase engagement on your page is to host a contest. This could be something as simple as giving away a free product or service. Just be sure to promote your contest heavily and make it easy for people to enter.
• Behind-the-scenes content. Give your Facebook fans a behind-the-scenes look at your business. This could include photos or videos of your team at work, your manufacturing process or even your office space.
• Create a series. A series is a great way to keep people coming back for more. For example, you could create a weekly Q&A series where you answer questions from your fans. Or you could create a monthly product spotlight series where you showcase different products or services from your business.

For more creative ideas, check out this post from Sprout Social.

One more content-related tip…

4. Create Value, Not Filler

It sounds plainly obvious, but…

You should focus on creating valuable content on Facebook. If you can consistently create content that provides value to your readers (whether that’s entertaining them or teaching them something new), you’ll differentiate yourself from most of your competitors (who blindly and exclusively create lightweight filler).

Some “filler” content is fine, but people prefer value-added content (especially on social media, where there’s an endless stream of content to consume).

So, before you post something, ask yourself this question:

Is this interesting, informative, or helpful to my audience?

If it’s none of those things, you may want to reconsider posting it.

A great way to ensure your content is interesting, informative or helpful (aka “valuable”) is to target a specific niche audience. By catering your content to a specific group of people, you can be hyper-focused on making sure you’re creating content that’s relevant and interesting to them.

This will help to increase the chances that they will share it with their friends and followers, which will ultimately help to grow your brand.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Advertise

Advertising on Facebook can help your business reach a larger audience. You can create Facebook Ads that target specific demographics, interests and even locations.

When creating your ads, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Keep your ads relevant. No one likes clickbait, so make sure your ads are relevant to the products or services you’re selling.
• Don’t be too salesy. Yes, you want your ads to generate leads and sales, but if you’re too salesy, people will tune you out and keep scrolling through their Facebook feed. Instead, focus on creating ads that are helpful, informative, and almost “blend in” with everything.
• Test, test, test. Always be testing different versions of your ad (e.g., different headlines, images, CTAs, etc.). This will help you to determine what works best so that you can get the most bang for your buck.

Also, make sure to take advantage of the Meta Pixel (formerly known as the Facebook Pixel). It’s a piece of code that you can place on your website to track conversions, remarket to people who have visited your site, create “lookalike” audiences and more.

Without it, you’re basically wasting your money running ads.

If none of the above makes sense, here’s a detailed guide that’ll show you the ins and outs of setting up the Meta Pixel and using it.

6. Use Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights is a powerful tool that provides insights into your page performance. With it, you can see how your posts are performing, how many people are reached, discover which posts resonate with your audience and more.

To access it, simply go to your page and click on the “Insights” tab. From there, you can see all sorts of data about your page’s performance.

The “Posts” tab is especially powerful. You can see things like reach, engagement, and shares for each post. Use this data to find posts that have resonated with your audience in the past so you can duplicate them in the future.

In short, Facebook Insights is a great, built-in, free tool that’ll help you map out your Facebook content strategy. If you’re not using it, you should (immediately)!

7. Go Live

Facebook Live is a great way to connect with your audience in a more personal way. You can use it to give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at your business, host interviews, do Q&A sessions and more.

It’s a great way to boost engagement on your Facebook page too. When people see that you’re “live”, they’re more likely to comment and engage with you.

True, Facebook Live can be a little scary if you’re not used to being on video. So, keep these tips in mind:

• Keep it short and sweet. People have short attention spans, so try to keep your videos under 15 minutes.
• Be prepared. Have a plan for what you’re going to say before you go live. This will help to ensure that your video is focused and on point. Being prepared will also calm your fears (at least a little bit)!
• Engage with your viewers. Take the time to answer questions and interact with people who are watching your video. This will help create a connection with your audience.
• Practice speaking on video. Create a free Zoom account, go to your personal meeting room, launch a new meeting, and start talking. The more you practice talking on video, the more comfortable you’ll begin to feel on camera.

For more video tips, be sure to read this guide of mine. It was written with Zoom in mind, but everything’s applicable to Facebook Live too!

8. Utilize Facebook Groups

Facebook groups are a great way to connect with like-minded people and build relationships. You can join relevant groups or create your own group for your business.

When joining a group, be sure to participate in the discussion and add value wherever you can. This will help you to build credibility and trust within the group, which could lead to more business leads down the road.

When you create a group, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Be active. If you’re not actively participating in the group, it’s not going to be successful. In fact, it’ll eventually become Facebook’s version of a ghost town with tumbleweeds blowing across the screen.
• Encourage discussion. Ask questions, start polls, and encourage people to interact with each other in the group. Your goal should be to get people talking and interacting with each other.
• Provide value. Share helpful resources, tips, and advice that members can use in their lives or businesses.
• Moderate comments. Remove spammy or inappropriate comments. Promote positive interactions among members. And don’t be afraid to ban members who refuse to abide by your group’s rules.

To that last point, it helps to create a process for you or your team to follow when responding to comments. This will help ensure that all comments are responded to in a timely manner.

9. Use Facebook Messenger (Yes, Really)

Facebook Messenger is a messaging app that’s known for letting you chat with your friends and family, but businesses big and small use it too.

In fact, many businesses use Facebook Messenger to send automated messages (known as “bots” or “chatbots”) to answer common questions, provide customer support, and even promote their products or services.

Hey Jasper, what are some best practices for using chatbots?

Here are some best practices to keep in mind if you decide to dip your toes into the chatbot waters:

• Brevity is key. People don’t want to read a novel when they’re messaging you. They want their question answered quickly and efficiently.
• Maintain the brand. Take the time to ensure your chatbot sounds like you and your brand. It should mirror your general tone, whether that’s “professional”, “casual”, “funny” or something else.
• Make sure people know it’s a bot. Don’t try to trick people into believing they’re interacting with a human. One, it’s dishonest and, two, it’s going to be obvious to most people. So, don’t try to hide. Be upfront with it.

To learn more about them, check out Hootsuite’s in-depth guide on using chatbots for business. In addition to best practices, it offers a handful of tool recommendations too.

10. Use “Reactions” to Your Advantage

Facebook’s (relatively) new “Reactions” feature allows users to “like”, “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad'” or “angry” a post.

It may not seem like a big deal, but knowing how people are feeling about the content you post enables you to adjust your Facebook marketing strategy (as needed).

Which posts are receiving the most positive reactions? Which are receiving negative reactions?

It sounds overly simplistic (because it is overly simplistic), but:

• Create more content that’s similar to what’s receiving positive reactions and
• Create less content that’s similar to what’s receiving negative reactions.

Wash, rinse and repeat.

11. Don’t Go Stale

The final Facebook marketing tip is a simple one:

Keep your page updated regularly.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to post every single day, but you should try to post at least once a week. If weekly is too often, post whenever you have something new or interesting to share.

The important thing is to not let your page go stale.

If people see that you haven’t updated in months (or even years), they’ll assume that you’re no longer active and they’ll stop following you.

Which of These Facebook Marketing Tips is Your Favorite?

Facebook marketing can be an extremely powerful tool for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been using the platform for a while, the tips above can help you reach your goals.

But, which tip is your favorite?

And do you have more tips that belong on this list?

Let me know in the comments below!

But before you go…

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A business that gives you the life you’ve only dreamed of?

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