Advertising on Facebook for your business is a surprisingly controversial topic. There are many business owners that feel that advertising on Facebook is like tossing your money out on the interstate while other business owners feel it’s well worth paying a little cash for a piece of the Facebook advertising pie.
So, when you ask “Is it worth it?”, the typical response is, “it depends”.
In all honesty, Facebook can provide a fantastic amount of exposure for very little money. The key is knowing how to use Facebook appropriately for your business. If they use it at all, most business owners simply post to their page. Some occasionally boost a post here and there while others actually advertise on Facebook.
But, there is a distinct difference between the three: posting, boosting a post, and advertising. Some users mistakenly think that boosting posts on Facebook counts as advertising. While you are putting your content in front of people that don’t know you which is technically advertising, many people feel that this is just a donation to Zuckerberg’s pocket.
Why Your Business Needs a Facebook Presence
In 2021, for most businesses, there is simply no way around having a presence on social media. In fact, it’s nothing short of an imperative for your business to be on at least one social channel, and since Facebook has billions of users on a global level, why not start there? Facebook is easy to use, and if you do it right, your posts won’t get lost in an algorithm within seconds, like they tend to do on platforms like Twitter and Snapchat.
Facebook is a versatile platform, so it’s important to think about what you want to accomplish with it early. For some businesses, they want to merely have a presence while others want more interactivity with their customers. You can even set up a small store Your strategy will obviously dictate how you move forward and everything you do on Facebook needs to be in line with that strategy.
By now, we’ve all heard that if Facebook was a country, it’d be one of the largest countries on the planet. This means that whatever business you are in, your customers are present on this massive social media platform, and your job as a business owner is to put your business in front of your potential customers.
Facebook advertising is simple enough (in theory) that businesses ranging from local coffee shops to major corporations utilize it to reach the people that purchase from them. Not only is it a breeze for marketing teams to set up and monitor, but you also have access to analytics that you can use to make the necessary changes to your ads and audiences.
In short, you want your company to get in front of potential clients. Facebook offers various ways to make this happen.
Using Facebook for Your Business
Setting up a business page on Facebook is relatively simple, but gathering a following takes a bit of work. Straight out of the gate, Facebook will give you the option to promote your page. Take them up on it because even businesses with small budgets can gain a substantial following in a short period of time.
You will be able to choose the interests of your potential audience, and as soon as the likes come in, you can begin interacting with them. Post frequent, high-quality content that means something to you and your audience. Be transparent about your company and the way it works, and you’ll most likely see your following not only grow but evolve into paying customers, many of them long-term.
Posting on Facebook
When it comes to posting on Facebook, there’s definitely a sweet spot. You don’t want to bombard your audience with stories, images, and facts about your company and products, no matter how amazing those things might be. Instead, choose content that they can interact with and take something away from, such as knowledge or a new emotion that helps them connect to your product.
Ask your audience for likes and shares, and give them the opportunity to communicate with you via open-ended questions. One women’s clothing store even had fantastic success by posting 4 dresses they were thinking about selling. They asked their followers to rate which dress they thought the store should sell which ended up being a pre-ordering/pre-sales process.
Try and respond to your audience as much as possible. Remember, the more they interact, the more they’ll see what you’re posting. The Facebook algorithm is based heavily on interaction.
Boosting Your Post
If you’ve created a quality informational post that you know your audience will want to see; it’s time to boost it. Boosting is a fairly straightforward and simple process.
Facebook will give you the option to boost any eligible post at the bottom right corner of that post. When you click the boost button, they’ll ask you how much you want to spend and who you want to target. Feel free to tailor your audience here, but make sure it includes those that like your page already.
Once you’ve set up your budget and your prospective audience, click through to boost! Facebook will review each post before approval, so do make sure that you’re adhering to their terms of service.
Pros and Cons of Boosting and Facebook Advertising
Like anything else, there are some pros and cons to boosting a Facebook post or page. The pros include
- Inexpensive advertising
- A wide reach
- Targeted audiences and keywords
- Plenty of analytics
- A super-easy platform to utilize
The cons are minimal, but they include 24 hour approval times and a lower reach if you don’t spend the right amount of target too narrow for an audience.
Facebook advertising as a whole has plenty of perks, and those include the ability to cross-post and advertise on Instagram, implement a great ad campaign for a relatively small budget, run A/B tests on your ads to see which ones perform better and reach the people in your targeted audience in a variety of well-placed ads. When it comes to the cons of Facebook advertising, they include a limited audience when branding towards younger generations (think Gen Z), and lack of leads if campaigns aren’t worded correctly. Quality copy is imperative to a great Facebook post boost.
Hiring a Professional Social Media Marketing Team
Naturally, we’re biased, but we feel that it’s always a good idea to hire a professional social media marketing team to help your business avoid years of wasted time and money. If you don’t hire them to do the actual social media marketing, it’s a good idea to at least hire one for consulting or training.
A reputable company (like Make It Loud) that is well versed in marketing on Facebook will be able to assist you in every endeavor you have in mind for your business on the popular social channel.
Work with a team that knows the Facebook Ad platform inside and out, because they’ll hold the knowledge necessary to ensure that your posts reach your intended audience instead of falling on deaf ears. You need a team that takes a platform designed to connect with friends and turn it into a lead generation machine. Make It Loud has been in the business of creating ad campaigns for social channels for more than 15 years.
Call us today to get started!
