If you are like many businesses, you had good intentions when you started marketing on Facebook. Then, you got busy with life and the day-to-day operation of your business, and you pushed marketing on Facebook to the back of your agenda. If this scenario sounds familiar, then you are giving up one of the best marketing tools in your arsenal. While there are many problems with using Facebook to market your business, here are four ways to solve some of the most difficult ones:

Employ Social Listening

Way too many companies try to use Facebook to connect with their customers without spending time listening to those customers. Facebook provides you with a forum where it is easy to listen to your customers. Therefore, use it to engage with real people. Assuming that you are doing a great job in other areas of your business, thanking people for their business on Facebook is a great way to build up customer’s loyalty. Just make sure you are taking the time to respond professionally to each comment be it positive or negatively. If you do not have the time, then some businesses will do this for you.

Post Engaging Content

One of the most significant challenges of using Facebook as a marketing tool is writing engaging Facebook posts. According to Word Counter, Facebook posts with 40 characters or less generated the highest engagement at 86 percent, although they only accounted for 5 percent of all retail brand wall posts. Which means you’re probably going to want to also use plenty of pictures, infographics, videos, and other type of content when strategizing.

Know Your Objectives

Another major problem that business people face when marketing on Facebook is not setting clear objectives. Therefore, they do not know if there marketing is being effective or not. Instead of making a guest, create marketing goals that are specific, measurable, relevant, attainable and timely. Then, work towards meeting those metrics on a daily basis.

Reach Your Targeted Audience

Facebook provides you with a wonderful opportunity to find out who your target audience really is, and why they believe in your product. You would not be the first company to discover that your target audience is not the people that you think. Facebook makes it easy to create lists based on people’s behaviors and interests along with allowing you to create lookalike audiences based on who is currently following your Facebook feed. According to Entrepreneur, you’re going to want to avoid targeting too broadly, boosting posts, copying ads, or make the ad solely about you or your product.

There are many different reasons that your company needs to be on Facebook. Start using the site at least once a day and your company will grow tremendously.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

Social platforms provide advantages for marketers in comparison to traditional internet advertising, in that you can reach people with particular backgrounds and interests. You can also reach people who are highly engaged in the content they are viewing. There are many social platforms that you can advertise on, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Here are some of the best:

Facebook

Facebook provides a means for businesses to create ads that display in either a user’s news feed or in other locations of the site. According to experts, “68 percent of US adults use Facebook, compared to just 28 percent for Instagram, which is the second most used social network by adults in the US. 96 percent of social marketers say the ROI for Facebook is greater than other social platforms.” So it’s definitely a great platform to reach potential consumers.

Additionally, Facebook’s ads are not only very targeted, but affordable, too. For example, starting at $5 you can boost your company’s posts to a far greater audience than what would generally see them. It is also effortless to create and manage the ads, which are typically approved quickly. Sometimes in a matter of seconds.

On the downside, advertising on the platform is highly competitive. So, to succeed you really need to know what grabs people’s attention on the site. You also need a clearly defined business goal that the ads will drive.

Instagram

Instagram is an excellent platform for businesses looking to connect with a younger and more dynamic user base, who are also more likely to engage branded posts than on other social platforms. Ads display directly in people’s feeds.

Regarding strengths, you can perform very detailed targeting on Instagram. You can target by interests, demographics, behaviors, and locations, and you can choose from 11 different campaign goals. It is also a very visual platform, so you can really show off your products and services. At the same time, you do not have to spend a lot of money creating your ads, as people actually expect to see visuals created by ordinary people.

Instagram, though, does have its drawbacks. Its audience is far smaller than Facebook, and if you want to reach older people, it is probably not your best choice. It is also not the best platform for wordy types of ads.

Twitter

Twitter offers a social platform that reaches hundreds of millions of active users every month, with ads displaying in people’s feeds, searches, timelines and even profiles. Like with most other social platforms, you can target your Twitters ads to a particular audience based on interests. There are also many different types of ads you can choose from.

However, Twitter ads are far from perfect. Their analytics are not as in-depth as other social platforms, and Twitter ads can be more easily missed because of the very nature of the platform. Tweets tend to go by very quickly, and Twitter users tend to spend only short amounts of time there.

Snapchat

Snapchat lets businesses display short video ads on their messaging platform, which like Instagram, is very popular with young people. The advantage of Snapchat ads is that they command greater attention than ads on other social platforms. Sometimes significantly more attention. Also, unlike on some other platforms, their video ads have the sound turned on by default.

The disadvantage of Snapchat ads is that they are short by their very nature. So you must be able to get out your message quickly. Also, users can skip the commercials, which leads to shorter viewing times than video ads on other platforms. Finally, ads display at the end of user videos, which is perhaps not the greatest way to engage users.

So, which social platform should you advertise on? The choice is really dependent on your audience and goals, and the type of ads you will produce. For more information on the kind of content to include in your social media posts, check out our other articles!

Understanding Algorithms for Executive Social Media and Organizations

What Not to Say on Social Media

It seems the rules of the game continue to change. Social Media is a marketing medium nearly every business sees as valuable but it is becoming more difficult to reach the target audience.

Most social media users heard about Facebook’s plans to limit our exposure to business content last week and we’ve heard from customers that the number of ads filling their feed this past week is out of control. Advertisers are trying to double down and reach as many people as they can, while they can, before the rules change.

One Facebook Business page went so far as to tell Followers how to continue to see their content; a big No-No for Facebook.

Our approach to social media continues to hold constant.

Our approach to social media continues to hold constant. Share engaging content on a consistent basis. Once, twice, three times a week. Share promotional content one time for every five to six interest-based posts. Boost, or promote posts, based on your budget. Select your best and most engaging posts to promote. Pin your “sales” post to the top of your page.

Marketing is more than social media. Marketing is all of the ways your engage with customers and potential customers. It is a strategic function helping you grow your business and monitor your competitors.

Share promotional content one time for every five to six interest-based posts.

On that note, Facebook also provided some insight into changes in their algorithm. Use the following terms with caution, as used excessively will trigger the Facebook machine to squash the content. Avoid using them in blog post titles, headings and URLs. Keep in mind it will always matter how a word or phrase are used but it is an algorithm and machine screening, not a person.

free
freebie
giveaway
win
enter
contest
nothing for you
come and get it
zip
zilch
nada
take it home for nothing
good grab
snatch it up
grab it now
f-r-e-e
i’m doing the happy dance
rock bottom
as good as it gets
make your wallet happy
don’t wait on this one
shut the door this is awesome
for diddly-squat!
this one’s been slashed in half
getting this now
supporting my Starbucks habit by keeping more of what I earn
this one is a scorcher
make every penny count
this one is for penny pinchers
qpon
like us / this
comment
share
sign up
tag / a friend
know someone who (wants/needs/loves/crushes/etc)
bet this is you??
you thoughts?
what do you think?
is this you?
who has this?
put this on your wall so you don’t forget this.
pin for later
bookmark for later
this is going on my wall so I don’t forget it.
buy
discount
coupon
sell
sale
% off
marked down
get it
grab it
don’t lose this
snag it
score this
gift idea
pick it up
hurry over
run, you’ll love it
this one goes in the bag/buggy
fill your bag
my house needs this
bo go
bo-go
lowest i’ve seen
one-fourth taken off the total
huge drop
¼ you get to keep in your pocket
it’s like they are handing them out
they killed it by 5

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clicking on the link gives us some pennies and helps keep the coffee pot filled
this was on behalf of
brought to you by
in partnership with
they are giving us perk for spreading the word
we are working with
in collaboration with
teaming up
note:  your participation helps keep our page afloat
they are supporting my xyz habit (coffee, shoes, vacation, etc)
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identifying religious or health terms:
ex: bulimia
protestant
fibromyalgia
islamic
anxiety
weight loss

ADD

Remember to always phrase content in the positive.  Instead of weight loss, use healthy bodies, instead of Protestant say Biblical faith, etc.

And since this blog post used all the no-no words, no one will likely see this!! So please share as appropriate to colleagues.