Why should your enterprise put money into Facebook marketing? For beginners, it’s the world’s biggest social network with a whopping 2 billion users. In the US and Canada alone, 183 million people use Fb daily. To put that in perspective, that is 80 million more people than the 103 million viewers that tuned into the 2018 Super Bowl.
The great news is you do not need a budget of Super Bowl proportions to get into the game. Sharing valuable content that connects with followers and potential prospects is your most vital play.
How to create a Facebook marketing plan in 9 steps
Step 1. Define your audience
How old are they? Where do they live? What type of jobs do they have? What are their challenges and pain points? How and when do they use Fb?
You will also need to get familiar with Facebook demographics. Once you understand who uses the platform and the way that maps back to your target customer, you could check out Facebook Audience Insights. Use the tool to drill down into the nitty-gritty details about potential customers. Discover info on things like age, gender, education, relationship status, location, language, Fb usage, and even past buy activity.
It could be tempting to concentrate on vanity metrics, like simply gathering as many Likes as possible. However, unless these Likes are part of a broader marketing plan, they aren’t going to offer a great return.
Step 2. Set goals
The goals will differ for every business, however, they need to all concentrate on actions which have a real impact on your bottom line—like generating leads, growing conversions on your site, or enhancing customer service. However, these are broad categories of objectives. You will wish to guarantee your goals are much more particular and measurable.
Everything you do on Fb—every post, every comment, every advert—need to work to support your goals. To maintain things on track, it’s a great idea to distill the essence of your technique down right into a Facebook mission statement on your model. This can provide help to to keep up a constant model voice.
Step 3. Consider your content mix
When you have set your objectives, you should create a plan for how to achieve them. A key part of that plan is determining the right content combine. We recommend beginning with either the 80-20 rule or the social media rule of thirds.
When you follow the 80-20 rule, you’ll use 80 % of your Fb posts to inform, educate, and entertain, and the other 20 % to promote your brand. Keep in mind that utilizing Facebook marketing for business is all about building relationships, and self-promotion isn’t a good way to do that. However, when you provide enough worth, your audience will be open to learning about your services and products in that 20% of posts which are more sales-focused.
The social media rule of thirds also prescribes a great mix of valuable content vs. promotional posts. That’s, one-third of your content need to share ideas and stories, one-third need to involve personal interactions with your fans, and the remaining third can promote your business.
Either way, the goal is to offer more value than promotional material to maintain fans engaged. Fb’s algorithm will always penalize brands that push sales too hard.
Fb desires its users’ news feeds to be filled with content they wish to Like and share. As a marketer, you need to want that too. All these Likes and shares help extend your reach and put your brand in front of new eyeballs.
The final part of your plan is to determine when and how usually to publish. Although the algorithm means posts do not appear in chronological order, you have the best chance of creating it to the top of the pile when you publish when your audience is most active on the network.
It will take some trial and error to pin down for your particular business (utilizing engagement data gleaned from Page Insights). However, the analysis generally exhibits that the best time to post is Thursday or Friday from 1 to 3 p.m., so that’s a great place to begin. Because it’s vital to put up persistently, create a content calendar to assist steadiness your mix of content types and maintain your posting schedule on track.
Step 4. Create a Fb Business Page
When you have your audience, goals, and content strategy nailed down, it’s time to create a Facebook Page.
As Fb puts it, your enterprise’s profile is “a cornerstone of [your] online identity.” It’s where you post content and interact with fans. It does not cost anything to set up a Fb Page or publish content, which is good when you are working with a limited budget.
How large could a Fb Page following get? Coca-Cola has one of the highest brand follower counts, at present sitting at more than 105 million.
However, you don’t need millions of fans to make a Fb Page worthwhile. Neon Retro Arcade in Pasadena, California, has about 25,800 fans. And the promotions they run on their Page have been successful enough that they have stopped advertising in their local newspaper.
Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your Facebook Page. In that tutorial, you will also discover tips about how to optimize your Page to better connect with your fans and develop your brand.
Keep the following Facebook marketing greatest practices in mind to maximize the effectiveness of your Fb Page:
- Select a search-friendly Page name: Generally, this will be your brand name.
- Set a custom or “vanity” URL for your Page that is consistent with your handle on other social networks.
- Take advantage of your Page’s About section: Provide key details about your business, and let fans know how to get in touch with you.
- Since your cover and profile photos are the visual first impression for your Page, be sure they accurately represent your brand and encourage potential followers to engage.
- Add a call-to-action button, which offers a simple method for potential customers to get in touch with you, or even begin shopping for your products. Set one up following Facebook’s detailed instructions.