Social media is the biggest platform for everything online. Whether it is news, views, business, or promotions, mediums such as Facebook Advertising give a big outreach to business. It is already putting even the traditional form of media on the back foot. Small as well as large business houses use Facebook for aggressive marketing and advertising.
With millions of users from all over the world Facebook has become a rocket that no business can ignore says Donald Atkinson, CEO of a global company with base in New Zealand. The potential for using Facebook to advertise is immense but the mistake that we do is that we often approach it with an objective of “trying it out”, he adds.
For an established business willing to spend dollars on advertising it may not matter much. However, for small businesses including micro, small and medium enterprises that don’t have a big budget for marketing Facebook is the best medium for delivering budget-friendly advertising campaigns to target audience.
Four indisputable reasons why your business needs to invest in Facebook advertising:
Everyone is on Facebook:
Millions use Facebook for whatever peculiar reasons that may be. One basic idea is to have a public profile and get noted. Many among the millions of users spend ages browsing stuff and chatting to people in their circle. Inadvertently they also tend to click on advertisements, share them, like them and in the process promote them. This vast pool of people could one day become your potential customer.
Highly targeted Advertising:
Targeted advertising is a specialization of Facebook. This offers targeting options that possibly you couldn’t have gauged such as life-event targeting, custom audiences and lookalike audiences. With such plethora of options advertisers get a good option to spend only on relevant audiences so that they can get optimum value from the money they spend on ads.
Cost effective Advertising:
Facebook ads cost a fraction of what other online marketing forums would cost. For a multinational it might not matter if they spend some dollars but for small businesses that won’t have a big budget it matters a lot. Every penny of the ad budget counts. So an effective way to do is to post links on Facebook and reach out to your pool of customers.
Different ROI:
Some businesses do well and some don’t. Success and failure happens in every business. Mostly businesses fail for the fact that the business didn’t have a solid strategy or due to the reason that they approach Facebook Ads with some wrong intentions. What you sell on Facebook greatly determines the success of your campaign and B2C businesses are likely to find more success than B2B in direct selling.
The results of your campaign are quite visible. The metrics such as:
- Impressions: The number of times your ad was shown.
- Reach: The number of users who saw your Ad.
- The number of actions people took, such as clicks, page likes, engagement, comments and shares.
- Cost per Click, Cost per Like and Cost per Conversion.
All these will help you gauge and understand your ad’s performance and measure ROI. This will also help you analyze what you spent and what you get out of it. With this you can optimize your campaign results as well and in the process get better results in terms of marketing.
So, for your business Facebook is the most cost-effective way of targeted and cost-effective marketing and if successfully executed in a professional way it will give your company rich dividends in the long run.
Reach Out to your Specific AudienceWhen you place Facebook ads, let it mention the name of your city. This way, people reading this ad will immediately notice that it is meant for them in the first place. For e.g., if your ad title is “Web Design Services in Melbourne”, then it will have a greater impact on your target audience, who will then realize the Facebook ads are meant for them and that you are based in the same town.
Boost Post OptionWhen you choose to boost your post, you may start as little as $5. Select ‘people you choose through targeting’ and choose your city as well as the age group of your audience. You may choose to boost different kinds of posts. If you are into Facebook marketing, you may promote your blog. If you are a restaurant, then you may promote your new menu or restaurant pictures.
Create an EventAnother way to attract people is through an event. If you are dealer of cars, then have a ‘Weekend Test Drive Extravaganza’ planned on a weekend. Advertise this event and drive traffic to your social media page, as well as your website. If you are a restaurant, you may perhaps arrange for a special ‘Recipe Class with a Celebrity Chef’, and create an event on Facebook.
Offer a DiscountIf you are a restaurant, then you may offer a happy hour discount to boost sales. If you have a clothing store, you may offer a buy 2 get 2 offer. The kind of offer will depend on the type of business.
Value Added Content for Local MarketAlways provide content which caters to the local market. If you are a restaurant, you may write blogs about different cuisines or ‘Special items’ on your menu. If you are a website designer, you may write blogs about ‘Web-design trends & techniques’. Giving value added content will help you gain credibility as an expert in your particular field.
If you are a martial arts expert, you may post a video of everyday self-defence techniques. Likewise, if you are a yoga expert, you may post a yoga routine to start the day. So instead of asking people to buy your services all the time, you can shift gears and provide them what they want, and that is – providing value via blogs or videos.
