Facebook is a powerful tool. With over 2.23 billion monthly active users worldwide, Facebook has the power to reach an extremely wide audience if used correctly. The best part is that it’s free to set up a business page and start promoting your brand straight away. The only part you need to pay for is Facebook advertising (which we’ll cover shortly) but overall it is free to get started.

So how can you utilise Facebook to make it a powerful marketing tool for your business and to aid in the growth and brand awareness of your brand?

Integrate Facebook buttons onto your company website

If you have a business website as well as a Facebook page, now is the time to make them work for each other. Visitors can simply connect to Facebook with a click of a button on your website which will enable them to keep in contact with you wherever they are. If they land on your website first, it will direct them to your Facebook page where they will get more of a personal touch or information and vice versa, if they land on your Facebook page first, they can be directed to your website where they will see more of your products and company information.

Get engaging!

Once people land on your Facebook Page, you need to be with engaging with them straight away. Create posts that will entice people to comment or share with their friends. By understanding your audience, it will enable you to write content that is tailored to them, helping them to like your posts.

Engagement is your number one goal when it comes to Facebook, or any other social media channel. You need to ensure that you create eye-catching and attractive posts that will get your audience engaging with you and each other.

If you’re stuck for ideas about what to post, you could use photos or quotes, facts about you or the industry, questions or polls or even link to outside articles that reiterate your message. All posts should have the key goal in mind: engagement.

Build Trust

Your Facebook Page needs to be a place where people can feel that ‘know’ your brand. It’s a place that as engagement increases and more people comment, like or share your posts, trust is formed and from there you need to build upon that to increase loyalty. Your customers will only buy from you if they trust you. They need to feel important and that you care about their needs. Business is built on trust, whether you’re out on the high street or on an online store, a person will not purchase from somewhere they don’t trust. Therefore, build upon relationships, engage and show industry knowledge, show authority and expertise, be transparent and allow your followers (your potential customers) to see through what your business is about and stands for.

Showcase your brand/products

Your Facebook Page is another storefront for your business, therefore, you need to showcase what you have to offer. Use images that are attractive, photograph your products in a way that make your followers want to click on them to see more. Show off where you can, in a professional way, and allow people to see everything that you offer.

Posts or images can link to your website, or they can link to a Facebook store, or simply just an image to promote a product. Make your posts varied and exciting, try not to stick to the same thing all the time but mix content up and appeal to the audience that you are targeting. Don’t forget to keep branding consistent when you create your content.

Be responsive

This goes without saying – good customer service is vital for any business success. More and more people are messaging or contacting businesses through Facebook pages or social media channels rather than the conventional telephone or email approach nowadays which means that you need to be on the ball with your responses. People want instant and it’s too easy for someone to go elsewhere if they don’t get a response straight away.

Engagement may come through comments on your posts, Messenger emails or through shared posts – be sure to stay on top of your notifications in order to catch everything that is being directed at you.

Be a resource

Using a Facebook Page doesn’t mean promoting your own content 100% of the time. It’s often good to promote local events or industry knowledge to allow your readers to know that you care about what they are seeing and what they might want to read. Sharing local events can mean exposure for you as a business and will help local people discover you while at the same time you’re doing good for your community.

Industry knowledge is also a good way of keeping people up to date with latest trends or information that they may not necessarily hear about otherwise. It’s ok for people to click through to other websites – it’s your Page where they first saw the information, which they will remember.

Partner with other small businesses

Sometimes it can be good to work together in partnership with another small business to help each other with brand awareness. Allowing others’ to share your content gives your brand exposure to their customer base, and vise versa. You could do Facebook Live together to show partnership. You could do a giveaway or competition for both sets of audiences. Working together does not mean taking business away from you, it’s about creating bigger exposure for both parties.

Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising can be a daunting thought to many and the ££ signs may float in front of your eyes. However, it doesn’t have to be a costly experience if you’re on a tight budget or you’re a small business who is just exploring the Facebook Ad option. Working with a company who is experienced in setting up your campaigns will give you the better hand as they will know how to target your audience and create appealing adverts that speak directly to your customers. However if you want to venture it alone, there are tutorials that can get you started. Start off with a small budget, you can start with as little as £1 if you really want to! And build your adverts to target specific audiences and demographics, depending on what you business is about. Create images or artwork that is eye-catching and don’t use text on your images – the text can be added into the wording above the advert – your advert may not be approved if you use text on the image itself. Facebook advertising is an amazing tool that when used correctly can boost your brand awareness and reach directly to the audience that you are trying to reach which will boost your page following and hopefully in turn, boost business sales.

In all that you do on your Facebook Page, ensure that you show personality and a human side for your audience to engage with. Be the voice of your business and get personal with people. You’ll see results when you focus your efforts into your Facebook Page and you start to love and understand your followers.

Are you ready to start building your business with your Facebook Page? If so, we’d love to help. If you’re new to social media marketing or have had a Facebook Page for a long time with no success, get in touch to see how we can help you make an impact and see business growth.

Are you a women in business? If so, join our Facebook Group and be supported by like-minded women who are looking to grow their business online and receive regular motivational and inspirational encouragement.