Facebook has the potential to be a high-impact and low-cost marketing tool for small businesses.  Social media in general provides the opportunity to promote your business in a uniquely cost-effective way.  The question being – how to promote your business on Facebook when looking to drive the best possible ROI?

Formulating a Facebook marketing strategy begins with establishing your objectives.  Facebook can be used to boost brand awareness, reach out to potential customers, advertise products or services and so on.  In all instances, the objectives you set will influence the mechanics of your Facebook strategy.

But what remains consistent in all instances is the importance of building an active and engaged audience of followers. Not to mention, attracting the attention of the Facebook algorithm. 

It’s worth remembering that Facebook has about 2.8 billion active users worldwide.  Making your voice heard above the noise isn’t easy, but is nonetheless possible with the right approach.

For small business owners, most high-impact marketing activities on Facebook are either free of charge or comprehensively affordable.  Whether you handle them in-house or outsource is up to you, but promoting a small business on Facebook can be surprisingly straightforward.

Having this in mind, here’s an overview of 10 essential activities that form the core of successful Facebook campaigns:

1. Create a Page for Your Business

First up, you’ll need to set yourself up with a Business Page to get things up and running.  Doing so is as easy as logging into your Facebook account, clicking “Pages” in the left sidebar, and then selecting “Create New Page.” After which, you’ll be guided through the process of setting off your Business Page, which includes uploading a profile picture, sharing a brief company bio and so on.

2. Optimize Your Profile

All information about your business should be optimized for SEO. This means carefully incorporating relevant keywords into your written copy, in order to make your Business Page easier to find. In addition, you’ll also want to ensure that you include a CTA(Call to Action) button such as “Book Now,” “Shop Now,” or “Sign Up” on your Business Page. All while keeping the whole thing polished and professional, while clearly showcasing the unique personality of your brand.

3. Post Content of Relevance and Value

Nothing will play a bigger role in your Facebook campaign than the posts you publish. The key to quality content lies in ensuring everything you post has both value and relevance. It needs to be relevant to your audience, but it also needs to serve some kind of purpose. It could educate, inform, entertain or inspire – whatever it takes to generate engagement and motivate the user to take action.

4. Post High-Quality Images and Videos

The most engaging and influential content on Facebook is visual content. Irrespective of business size or type, focusing primarily on visual content is therefore the way to go. When posting images and videos, ensure they reflect the personality of your brand and are 100% unique to your business.  Take the opportunity to give your audience a behind-the-scenes peek at who you are and what you do as often as possible.

5. Use the Right Hashtags

Hashtags should only be used when of genuine relevance to the content in question. The overuse of trending hashtags is inadvisable, as competition for the most popular hashtags is practically insurmountable. Stick exclusively with hashtags that will attract users with a genuine interest in your business and your content.  Hashtags should always be used in moderation – never excessively.

6. Engage With Your Followers

This is where all successful social media campaigns begin and end, though is under prioritized by many businesses.  Making things happen on Facebook is as much about engaging and interacting with your followers as it is posting great content. Check out their posts, leave likes, submit comments, respond to comments, share their content and be a permanent part of the conversation.  Embrace the ‘social’ aspect of social media at every available opportunity.

7. Try Facebook Ads

Don’t instinctively write off Facebook Ads as an unnecessary expense. With no minimum spend and countless different types of ads available, there are options to suit all budgets.  What’s great about Facebook Ads is how they enable businesses to target customers with pinpoint precision. You can target leads based on their interests, their age group, their gender, their location and so much more. All making it surprisingly simple to boost your customer base with highly-qualified leads.

8. Use all Facebook Features, Not Just Pages

Branching out into other features on Facebook can also boost the appeal of your campaign.  Facebook Stories can be particularly engaging – the platform’s approximation of Snapchat. This is where short photo and video collections can be viewed a maximum of twice and disappear completely after 24 hours. Live-streaming on Facebook can be fantastic for generating engagement, and is also surprisingly simple.  Just be sure to promote your live streams in advance, so your audience knows when to tune in.

9. Run Contest and Giveaways

Nothing generates interest quite like the prospect of getting something for free.  Precisely why contests and giveaways can be pure gold, as part of a broader Facebook strategy. All you need to do is think of some kind of incentive your audience will be interested in. Make your contests exclusive to your followers, so that those looking to take part will first need to follow you. Host contests and giveaways on a regular basis to keep them coming back for more.

10. Create a Publishing Plan

Publishing randomly on platforms like Facebook is both inefficient and ineffective. It’s far better to plan your activities in advance, creating a content calendar and lining up posts to be published at specific times and dates. Speaking of which, it is essential to ensure you only post during hours of peak audience activity. Study your audience’s social media habits, pinpoint when they’re most active, and schedule all future posts accordingly.

Conclusion

Irrespective of what it is you do, you’ll be competing with thousands of similar brands on Facebook.

Hence, your job is to do whatever it takes to stand out and make your voice heard.  Give your audience something it doesn’t already have, or find ways to do things better than your competitors.

All while making the effort to interact, engage and converse with your audience at every available opportunity.