facebook plan for small business

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Facebook for Small Business 101

When you create a business page, you can find new customers, incentivize your contacts, and make the most of the platform.

Small business owners must constantly seek out new marketing opportunities that allow them to build their strategies without going over budget. Those with limited budgets may feel like they’ll never be able to compete with big retailers. However, social media marketing with Facebook makes it easy to grow your business and reach new customers without spending a fortune.

Facebook for business allows you to tap into different markets by creating engaging and informative content that grows your customer base and brings traffic back to your website. It’s also a cost-effective way to advertise, with many advertising options available. For example, you can use Facebook to increase the reach of your posts or create lead generation ads to grow your sales opportunities.

Promoting your business on Facebook doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Creating a business Facebook page can help you learn more about your target audience to build effective strategies that increase leads and sales.

How to promote your business on Facebook

Facebook business pages can improve every aspect of your business. Social media marketing is effective for reaching new people and generating sales, but it can also help you improve your customer service response time. Advertising your business on Facebook requires you to consistently create quality content. Once you know the types of content your audience responds to, you can market on social media effectively to reach more people.

Here are a few steps to help you use Facebook for business:

1. Create a business profile

To create a new page, start here . Follow each prompt and fill in as much information about your business as possible. The more you provide, the better it is for both Facebook users and the Facebook algorithm. You never know what someone may be searching for, such as your business’s phone number, hours of operation, or other details.

Your profile picture and cover photo are important visual aspects of your Facebook business page, so take some extra time to make them stand out. (And be sure to use more than just your logo.) You can even use a video as the cover image to make the page feel more interactive.

Once you’ve finished the initial setup, your page will be created. To complete your small business’s Facebook profile, however, there are other features you can add:

Page Info: Find the “Settings” tab and click on “Page Info.” In addition to some of the information you’ve already supplied, you’ll see a lot of empty boxes. This is where you can include your website, privacy policy, hours, price range, and other important details users need.

Short Description: This is where you tell your audience about your company. Since you can only use up to 255 characters, think critically about what info and keywords to include. ( Keywords are words or phrases commonly searched on the internet.) A mission statement can work here, but because this is social media, try to make this section fun and easy to understand.

Username: Right now the URL of your page has your business’s name and a jumble of random characters. To clean it up, create a username for your profile. Not only does a username make it easier for people to discover your business on Facebook, it also changes your page’s URL to facebook.com/yourusername.

Button: As you’re editing your profile, you may notice a long, blue bar to “+ Add a Button.” This is your call to action (CTA). When you start creating one, you’ll be asked what actions you want your customers to take: book an appointment, contact your business, etc. Under each category is a number of prompts you can select from to add a CTA button to your business page.

Templates: Most Facebook business pages follow the standard template that the social media platform provides. But if you want to structure your profile differently, you can select a different template, rearrange the tabs, and make the page’s structure your own.

Your last step is to go through all of the settings, info, and other nooks and crannies of your business profile and make sure everything is correct. You don’t want to mistakenly restrict customers from being able to message you or accidentally make your content only visible to certain people.

2. Gain followers

Now that your Facebook profile is finished, the next stage is to gain followers. To alert your existing customers that you’re now active on Facebook, you can add an announcement in an email newsletter or even put a sign in your store.

Some small businesses use Facebook-exclusive discounts to further entice customers to follow the page. People like deals, so these offers are a nice perk for your followers.

The hard part is building your audience beyond your existing customers in order to attract new business. This is where your content and keywords come in to play. Here's some advice on how to advertise on Facebook successfully.

3. Create eye-catching content

Another critical component of Facebook 101 is high-quality content. Creating engaging posts is the key to demonstrating that you’re committed to consistently providing your followers with new content to consume.

Posting content, however, needs to be strategic. People have a lot of other things vying for their attention (and clicks). If your content doesn’t stand out in users’ feeds, it’s not going to add any value to the social media experience you create.

Your strategy needs to include what you’ll be posting as well as when:

What: This is the harder dimension of your content strategies. Your audience can eventually grow tired of an endless stream of how-to guides and lists. To keep things fresh, you need to adopt a diverse posting strategy with different types of content . Sometimes the least common types of content can actually be the most interesting because people aren’t exposed to them as often.

There are many types of social media content you can use to engage your audience, including:

• Photos : Photos are always a good option because they’re engaging and give your customers something that captures their attention when scrolling their feeds.
• Videos : Videos are arguably more engaging than photos because many people prefer to watch something rather than read it.
• Polls : Polls help you engage your customers while learning more about them.
• Event invites : Event invites allow you to engage customers by inviting them to events like virtual grand openings or the celebration of a new product launch.
• Text-only posts : Text-only posts are the least engaging type of post on social media, but they can be a great way to inform customers about company news and updates.
• Live streams : Live streams tap into your followers’ fear of missing out (FOMO), allowing you to reach more people in a short amount of time. They’re ideal for announcements when you have news to share or want to showcase your products.
• Linked content : Linked content from your blog can increase web traffic by showing followers previews of what they’ll read about.
• Facebook Stories : Facebook Stories also tap into FOMO because they’re only available for a short amount of time. They’re great for videos and photos when you have news to share.

Experiment to find what works best with your audience. You can run tests to assess how different types of posts perform.

When: Timing is important on Facebook because people browse it intermittently. Share your content during time slots when your target audience is most active so that more viewers see the post and hopefully engage with it.

Running ads on Facebook is a cost-effective method for increasing your reach and generating leads and sales. Ads on Facebook are available in various formats, including lead generation, photo and video, and interactive ads. You can let Facebook help you choose the right ad for you based on your goals and budget.

When developing Facebook ads for business, don’t try to reach as many people as possible. Instead, use the information you know about your audience to narrow your focus and reach users who are most likely to make a purchase. You can also run A/B tests from the Business Manager to determine which design elements and advertising copy perform best.

5. Host giveaways

Hosting giveaways is an easy way to increase engagement on your page while generating leads and growing your audience. The items you choose to give away should relate to your business offerings. For example, if you sell products online, you might choose to give away a free product.

Facebook has rules for how you can run contests and host giveaways. For instance, you can't ask participants to share your giveaway on their personal timelines as a way to enter. Therefore, you should familiarize yourself with the guidelines to prevent strikes against your business page.

6. Evaluate the competition

If your competitors are on Facebook, take a look at their pages. If you’re not sure what content to post or how to structure your page, gaining some insight from other pages is a great way to get inspired.

Your customers may also follow your competitors, so knowing what types of social media content they’re posting (and when) can help you adjust your own strategies accordingly. If a competitor’s feed does inspire you, be sure to make anything you post uniquely your own.

7. Review data

Your activity on Facebook creates data, like how many people interacted with your latest post or checked your page in a day. This data holds vital information about their social media browsing behaviors, such as when they’re active, what types of content they like best, and what offers are most relevant to them.

You should also keep an eye on the data that your Facebook page produces. Not only will it help you learn how to use the platform more effectively, but it can also provide insights into how to run a better business.

Tips for promoting your business on Facebook

When promoting your business on Facebook, try to devise a plan that's effective at increasing your reach and engagement. Using poor-quality photos and posting at the wrong times could hinder your efforts. Instead, try some of these tips:

• Know your audience : Use Facebook Insights to learn more about your audience and the types of posts they engage with most. You can also run A/B tests with advertisements to determine what types of content perform best.
• Post at the right time : Post at times when your followers are sure to be online. For example, you may not want to post at 9 am on a Monday when most of your audience will be at work. Instead, you may choose to publish during their lunch breaks when they're more likely to scroll through social media feeds.
• Stay on brand : Every post must be consistent in tone, messaging, and visuals. Your posts should assure customers they're in the right place if they ever choose to visit your business profile instead of reading your posts from their feeds.
• Plan posts in advance : Using a content calendar can help you plan posts in advance, so you don't have to worry about posting daily. Instead, you can create all your monthly posts over the course of a few days to free up your time.
• Use CTA buttons : CTAs can encourage your followers off social media and onto your website, where they can convert into paying customers.
• Ensure photos and videos are high-quality : Customers expect high-quality imagery on your social media posts. As such, make sure all images and videos are high-quality and look good.
• Test different ads : Testing different ads can help you determine what types of content your customers enjoy. You can perform A/B testing on every ad campaign, and Facebook will pick a winner based on engagement metrics.

Benefits of posting on Facebook

Facebook is just one of many social media platforms where your audience spends their time online, so you might wonder why you should focus more of your time and energy on Facebook. There are approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users on the Facebook platform . Even if you don't need to reach every single one, you still have the opportunity to engage with thousands of users.

Additional benefits of posting on Facebook include:

• Easily engage with your audience . Facebook allows you to engage with your audience in real-time. As soon as someone posts a comment on your page, you can respond to them, making customers feel like you care about their opinions.
• Increase your reach . Facebook makes it easy to increase your reach and engage with new customers with organic posts and advertising.
• Drive traffic to your business . Using various organic and advertising strategies, e-commerce and local businesses can use Facebook to drive traffic to their businesses.
• Build loyalty . When customers feel like you're making an effort to show a more personal side of the business, you can increase loyalty..
• Quickly respond to reviews, comments, and concerns . Customers expect a quick response when they send your business a direct message on Facebook. Facebook allows you to take a personal approach to every customer inquiry to improve their experience with your business.
• Lower marketing costs . Organic social media marketing costs you nothing but your time. Additionally, Facebook advertising is cost-effective, and you can get results with as little as $1 per day.

Start posting on Facebook with Mailchimp

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, giving you the opportunity to reach customers where they spend hours of their time. Of course, when promoting your business on social media, you must consistently develop engaging, informative content.

With our social media management tools, you can determine the best times to publish content, schedule your posts in advance, and run effective, targeted ads. A social media calendar makes it easy for you to plan your entire social media strategy in one easy-to-use dashboard. Get started today to enhance your Facebook marketing.

Related Topics

• Social Media Marketing
• Instagram Advertising
• Facebook Advertising
• Social Media Content Creation
• Create an Ad
• Schedule Social Media Posts

Facebook for Business: Everything You Need to Know

Table of contents.

Every small business can benefit from a Facebook presence. With more than 2.91 billion monthly users , Meta – the Facebook company’s new name – gives small businesses many ways to promote their services, increase customer support, and boost sales and recognition through their Facebook platform.

Using Facebook for your small business may seem challenging because the platform’s rules and algorithms change frequently. However, with the right strategies, Facebook is one of the best ways to use social media for business .

One of Facebook’s biggest strengths is allowing you to target a specific audience through paid campaigns and advertisements. The platform maintains a significant amount of information about its users, which can be advantageous when targeting ads. In addition, creating a Facebook Business Page can be an effective small business marketing tool.

Here’s a look at the various ways to use Facebook to benefit your business and maximize your efforts.

Facebook’s business offerings used to be grouped under the Facebook for Business umbrella. Now, these business tools are called Meta for Business , reflecting the company’s new branding.

What is a Facebook Business Page?

A Facebook Business Page is like a free business website companies can build on to expand their internet presence. Like a personal Facebook profile, your Facebook Business Page includes functionality for sending and receiving messages, posting updates, getting notifications and interacting with other users’ content through liking, sharing and commenting.

Of course, given how many companies have a Facebook presence, you’ll need your Page to stand out from the crowd to draw significant attention to your business. If you’re questioning whether the work that goes into distinguishing your company on Facebook is worth it, the many benefits of Facebook Business Pages may convince you to invest the time.

A Facebook Business Page is a free resource that helps you to connect with customers and grow your online audience. Like email retargeting , Facebook allows you to reach a captive audience.

Benefits of a Facebook Business Page

If you create a Facebook Page for your company, you can use it to do the following:

1. List basic contact information.

If people wonder when your phone line or storefront is open, they may visit your Facebook Page to find out. They’ll also want to know your address if you’re a storefront or your support-line email if you offer services remotely. A Facebook Business Page is a one-stop shop for listing all of this information.

2. Engage new and longtime customers.

Not even your most loyal customers see what happens inside your business on a day-to-day basis – that is, unless you regularly share elucidating social media content with them. A Facebook Page is a great place to post shots from inside your storefront or behind the scenes with your support team. You can also boost customer engagement by updating followers on new products and discounts.

3. Know your audience.

When you have a Facebook Business Page, you’ll have access to audience insights and demographics. You can use the data provided to inform a robust demographic marketing strategy and better target your campaigns.

4. Lessen marketing costs.

Starting a Facebook Business Page is free, and many additional Facebook marketing and analytics features are either free or inexpensive. Integrating a Facebook Business Page into your marketing plan is a budget-savvy way to reach more people – potentially an audience of billions – with less money.

5. Boost web traffic.

By linking to your company’s website on your Facebook Business Page, you’ll drive more traffic to your website. The more people you get to your website, the better the chances of people reading in-depth descriptions of your products and services. Better yet, if you sell products online , people who jump from your Facebook Business Page to your website might even buy something.

6. Improve SEO.

Facebook Business Pages are good for more than just your social media presence; they’re also a boon to your rankings in search engine queries.

When your company website is Google mobile-friendly , you’ll do better in search engine rankings, because Google prioritizes mobile page load speed as a key metric.

How to create a Facebook Business Page

Now that you know some of the benefits of having a Facebook Page for your business, it’s time to start creating one. Follow these steps to set up your Page:

1. Create your Facebook Business Page.

The first step in creating a Facebook Business Page is to ensure you’re setting up the right type of account. Remember that you are creating a Facebook Page, not a Facebook profile.

A profile is a personal Facebook account designed to share personal information and photos with friends and family. Pages are public profiles that let businesses and public figures connect with fans and customers. Users just have to “like” a Page to start seeing updates from the Page on their News Feed.

Go to Meta’s Set Up a Facebook Page weblink to get started.

2. Answer questions.

To create a Facebook Business Page , you must already have a personal profile and follow the on-screen instructions. When creating a Page, the company will ask for some information, such as a category to describe your Page and your business’s name, address and phone number. It’s crucial to include as much information as possible so that customers can easily recognize your Page and find information about your business.

3. Add profile and cover photos.

You have the option to upload profile and cover photos to your Facebook Business Page. It’s good practice to do so, as attractive graphics and a visual brand lead to better engagement rates with your content.

4. Fill in the appropriate Page sections.

You can add many sections to a Facebook Page, but not every section will be a good fit for your business. Here are some sections you should consider adding:

• Home: This section is where all your updates and posts live. It’s also the first section users see when they visit your Page.
• About: The About section is one of the most essential parts of your Facebook Page. Fill it out with your address, business details, contact information, hours and website URL. Many people go online to find specific information about a business; don’t let your potential customers down by keeping this page blank.
• Community: The Community section is where posts, photos and videos from customers show up. Customers can also check out your store here. This is an excellent place for your audience to interact and learn more about your company.
• Events: You can create event pages and promote upcoming events in this section. Once you create an event on Facebook, you can invite people and share specific information about it all in one place.
• Info and ads: This section is designed to add transparency to your Page. It shows your followers any Facebook ads you’re currently running.
• Offers: You can post discounts or deals in this section. This is an easy way to encourage people to come to your Facebook Page. Ask customers to like your Page and find a deal on it.
• Posts: This section shows all your posts, including timeline photos and updates.
• Reviews: Under the Reviews tab, customers can write a review and indicate if they would recommend your business. Ratings show up at the top of your Page. Although you can hide the Reviews tab, you may not want to, as it provides valuable feedback to you and potential clients. Reviews help verify your business and make it easy for customers to recommend your products or services.
• Services: You can showcase your services in this section. You can also add information about your specialties – including photos, descriptions and pricing.
• Photos: The Photos tab features the images you’ve posted on your timeline.
• Shop: You can add your inventory to this section so users can buy your products directly from Facebook. Sales are sent to your bank account, and it’s an easy way to start dabbling in e-commerce .

One little-known Facebook benefit is that it has been shown to boost employee productivity. A 10-minute Facebook break at work can make workers happier, healthier and more productive.

What are Facebook ads and boosted posts?

If you’re having problems reaching users organically, try paid advertising options like boosted posts or Facebook ads . Boosted posts are posts you place on your Facebook Page; you pay a fee to “boost” the post to a target audience. On the other hand, Facebook ads offer more functionality and placement choices.

Boosted posts and Facebook ads make it easy to target a specific audience. Target people who like your Page or segment by location, age, gender and interests. Because the platform collects user data, it can target your advertisement to those most likely to be interested in your product or service.

Should you use boosted posts or Facebook ads?

Boosted posts and Facebook ads can both be valuable elements of your marketing strategy.

Here are some benefits of boosted posts:

• Simple tactic: Boosted posts are the simplest way to advertise on Facebook. You choose your target audience, set a budget and determine your campaign’s length. When the post is approved, your target audience will see the post in their News Feed during the campaign.
• Online advertisement: While they have fewer customization options, boosted posts are still considered ads and will be listed as ads on your billing statement.
• Brand awareness: Boosted posts are an excellent way to build a brand , foster brand awareness, and gain comments and shares.

These are key features of traditional Facebook ads:

• Customization options: You have more customization options with Facebook ads.
• Support tools: You’ll create Facebook ads in the comprehensive Ads Manager platform.
• Creative sharing: You have options like sharing the ad to Instagram, Instagram Stories and Messenger, and choosing placement locations, such as on the side of the News Feed.
• Higher control: You create and manage the ad, and select objectives like tracking conversions and lead generation . You also receive deeper targeting capabilities.

Tips for placing Facebook ads

Since boosted posts are straightforward with fewer options, we’ll focus on maximizing your Facebook ads’ effectiveness. However, many of these tips also apply to boosted posts.

1. Set goals for ads.

Ads are most effective when they have a clear objective. A clear objective will also help you track your ad’s progress and can help you assess if your marketing strategy needs tweaking. For example, some organizations want to use ads to get people’s attention, while others want people to engage with content or links.

Facebook defines two common ad types – dynamic and lead – to help businesses accomplish their goals. Dynamic ads promote relevant items from your product catalog and retarget them to people who have shown interest in your site. Lead ads give viewers an easy way to get the information they’re seeking.

2. Select your audience and choose the location.

To target the correct audience , you need to define the ads’ reach. Facebook allows you to adjust your audience using the following criteria: location, demographics, interests, behavior and connections.

Location can help you with a local marketing strategy , narrowing down people in your general area who may find your products or services more relevant than someone in a different state or country. Demographics allows you to choose the age range, gender and job title of your target audience.

Use the interests, behavior and connections criteria to narrow your audience even further.

Facebook is the most useful platform for reaching an older demographic .

3. Set your budget.

As mentioned earlier, Ads Manager is Facebook’s ad management tool. It allows you to purchase ads for Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network , which shows Facebook ads in other publishers’ apps.

Buying an ad requires you to create one and then submit it to Facebook’s ad auction. The ad auction allows you to set the parameters used to deliver your ad – including your budget. You’ll need to determine how much money you want to spend daily and over time.

Facebook’s ad auction requires you to set a “ bid ,” which is the maximum amount of money you are willing to pay when someone sees or engages with your ad.

4. Create compelling ad copy.

In marketing, everything ultimately comes back to how good your copy is, and Facebook ads are no different. Regardless of what type of ad you choose to run, the copy you write must speak directly to your ideal customer and make them want to listen to you. To do this effectively, you have to know precisely who you are targeting and what you want them to do.

Here are the primary written components of your ad:

• Headline: Start with the headline. Don’t fill it with a boring list of features or blatant marketing jargon. Instead, make it conversational and engaging. When developing your ad, the field listed as the headline is essentially the first sentence above the image; it needs to be as good as the first line in your favorite novel if you want people to keep reading instead of scrolling past.
• Description: Use the description field to combat any anticipated objections. This text will be prominently displayed beneath the image and is easily visible without the viewer clicking to read more. If viewers learn that your offer is completely free or has a money-back guarantee as they are scrolling, you may get them to stop and reconsider.

Keep in mind that the copy you write will likely need to be changed for different audience segments even if the offer is the same. Additionally, it’s essential to try out different combinations and test them to determine the most effective.

Prioritize simplicity in online ads . Simple ads are more effective at capturing attention than complex ones.

5. Use images and video.

You need eye candy if you want people to pay attention to your copy. This can be a carefully curated image that visually articulates your offer or brand, or it can be a video that people will want to watch.

If you use stock images, use high-quality images relevant to the advertising copy. Facebook has several image and text rules about image types and the ratio of words allowed on ad images.

It can often be more effective to opt for video for your Facebook ads. People love to watch videos online, and editing video is easier than ever thanks to the growing field of user-friendly video-editing apps.

When using videos and images in your ads, be sure to avoid copyright infringement , or the creator could hold you liable. Find a free-use image or get the content creator’s permission first.

6. Create Messenger ads.

Messenger ads are still in the Wild West marketing phase, making it the ideal time to jump on the bandwagon. The wonderful thing about Messenger ads is they are delivered directly to customers’ Messenger app, along with messages from their friends, co-workers, and family. It’s an intimate space that still feels very personal, primarily because few businesses use this platform.

It is essential to keep this feeling of intimacy at the forefront of your mind when creating ad experiences for Messenger. To do this effectively, you’ll want to utilize a chatbot service to build full campaigns. This process allows you to ask your subscribers a question or offer them something of value. You can then create an automated experience that moves them further along the sales funnel in a way that feels less like a sales pitch and more like a friend offering advice.

7. Learn the fundamentals of Facebook advertising.

Facebook ad-targeting specificity has come a long way in the last few years. Early on, there were a few hit-or-miss approaches to creating Facebook ads. Now, the platform allows you to choose the type of ad campaign you want to run, detailed objectives and custom audiences.

You can also run multiple versions of the same ads to determine which is more effective and limit the amount you spend by carefully allocating your budget by day and ad.

If this all sounds complex, that’s because it is. It’s crucial to take your time and learn the fundamentals of setting up your campaign properly. Stunning copy and attention-grabbing graphics are no longer enough.

It’s good to understand how Facebook ads work, but if you don’t have the time to stay on top of them and their updates, seek help from a marketer who is skilled with them.

Some useful tips for hiring a marketing company are to seek references, consider industry expertise and ask for work samples.

How to use Workplace

Workplace has been on the market for a few years and has seen rapid adoption by organizations of all sizes worldwide. According to Meta, more than 30,000 companies use Workplace as their internal team collaboration tool.

Think of Workplace as a supercharged company intranet. It’s designed to look and feel similar to Facebook, making it straightforward for employees to use. The familiar central News Feed is the tool’s primary hub.

These are some of Workplace’s most helpful functions:

• One-on-one video calls or instant messages via the system’s Work Chat
• Project- or department-based groups to centralize communication and facilitate collaboration
• Business application integrations – such as Microsoft Office and Dropbox – that allow users to share presentations, files, and images within Workplace, and make live edits to documents
• External team collaboration, which is great for organizations that partner with outside companies on deliverables
• Livestreaming video capabilities, which are helpful to companies with remote or traveling teams, as you can easily share meetings and announcements with employees at the click of a button
• Video conferencing platforms and collaboration tools (for example, integrating with BlueJeans lets users join meetings from a phone, laptop or tablet while they’re on the move)

Getting started with Workplace

Follow these steps to get started with Workplace:

• Activate and set up your profile. Activate your profile through email or an access code. If you receive an email to join Workplace, click the link and follow the instructions to set up your profile. If your employer gave you an access code, go to Workplace.com and create your account using the code.
• Download the Workplace and Workplace Chat apps. These apps allow you to stay in contact with your teams and be notified of any important updates. Download these apps on iOS and Android devices.
• Join and create groups. Workplace groups foster communication between work teams. When creating a group, you should determine the purpose and privacy setting.
• Communicate through chat . If you want to communicate with someone faster and in real time, the Chat feature will be more beneficial than posting to the group.
• Manage your notifications. You can change your notification settings to ensure you’re getting the ones you need most while muting the ones you may not need to see.

Best practices

After setting up your business’s Facebook Page and working with the company’s other business tools, it’s time to create content and engage with your followers.

Here are some tips on using Meta’s business tools to market your products and services most effectively.

1. Respond to messages.

With Messenger, it’s quick and easy to reply to customers’ messages. Your inbox is located at the top of your Page when you’re signed in as an administrator.

Messenger is a tool and customers expect you to use it. In fact, the company tracks your Pages’ response rates and times so customers know how quickly they can expect an answer. Messenger is attractive to customers because they expect a fast response, and many people are more comfortable with live chatting than calling.

Facebook recently announced an effort to merge the messaging tools on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. This move emphasizes the importance of using Messenger and these other tools to communicate with customers and answer questions from your followers.

2. Use analytics to determine the success of your campaigns.

Facebook Audience Network is a free analytics tool. It shows data on actions taken, Page views, the number of people you’ve reached and the number of post engagements. This information can help you measure the effectiveness of your social campaigns so you can decide how to improve your posts.

3. Use publishing tools and schedule future posts.

Use Facebook publishing tools to schedule posts to go live in the future. You can also create videos, advertise your business, promote an event, make an offer, write a note and post job applications on your Facebook Page.

It’s crucial to post regularly – at least twice a week. If you find that you’re spending too much time on Facebook each day, try a third-party social media management tool – such as Hootsuite or Buffer. While creating and scheduling multiple posts takes time upfront, it saves you time in the long run.

4. Know your target audience.

Facebook has excellent targeting tools. When promoting a post, you can target specific demographics, locations and interest groups. To have successful ads, you need to know your target audience and use Facebook’s targeting tools to reach those potential customers.

5. Be personable, not just promotional.

Even though you’ve created a Facebook Page to connect with customers and ultimately make sales, your audience doesn’t want to see advertisements. Try to create personable and engaging Facebook posts.

6. Offer giveaways and contests.

It’s challenging to drive organic traffic on Facebook, but regularly running giveaways and contests help. Before you create a contest or giveaway, make sure you understand and follow the company’s rules, or you could get in legal trouble.

There are laws and guidelines to follow when holding social media contests and sweepstakes. Check with the social media platform you’re using for specific rules.

7. Create and advertise events.

You can create events as a business on Facebook. Invite anyone to these events, and pay extra to promote them to a targeted audience. Events can be a fun way to engage your audience and turn them into customers.

8. Share relevant content from other sources.

It can be time-consuming to create and share only original content. Curating content from other sources can save time and effort. Networking with other sources can benefit you in other ways, and they may share your content in return.

9. Converse with your audience.

Don’t publish a post and then not open Facebook for a week. Create and share posts to engage with your audience. Respond to comments, questions and concerns. If you’re having conversations with your followers, they’re more likely to become your customers.

The News Feed algorithm prioritizes personal connections and engagement. In short, your posts won’t be seen unless they generate a conversation.

If you’re looking to track all engagement you have with your customers, consider buying CRM software for your business.

10. Highlight business milestones.

Highlight company milestones and celebrate anniversaries on Facebook. These posts usually engage your audience and will make you seem more personable. If you’re offering special promotions for milestones or anniversaries, promote them on your Page as well.

11. Use Facebook ads.

The best way to reach your desired audience is to run Facebook ads. While these ads cost money, they’re effective because you can choose your target audience based on demographics, behaviors or contact information. Set a daily or overall budget for ads, select the amount of time an ad runs and pick your desired audience. The platform tracks the interactions on each promotion you run, helping you develop highly successful campaigns in the future.

12. Create and post videos.

If you’re scrolling through your Facebook timeline, you might notice a lot of videos. That’s because videos do great on the platform. One way to create videos is through Video ads, which allows you to broadcast to a large audience for free. With Video ads, you can have real-time conversations with followers and give them an inside look at your business.

Sean Peek, Saige Driver, Stella Morrison and Charell Star contributed to the writing and research in this article.

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Expert tips on using Facebook for your small business

Written by by Jenn Chen

Published on  July 30, 2020

Reading time  6 minutes

As an owner or employee of a small business, we know your time is limited. Marketing isn’t your only hat and if you’re confused on where to start for Facebook, we’re here to help. Over 90 million small businesses use Facebook and its related products.

From setting up a Page to the promotion, here are some expert tips on how to get the most out of your Facebook Page as a small business.

Facebook Page setup for small businesses

Facebook offers a wide range of products so it can be understandably daunting to figure out what works best for you. If you’re starting fresh on a Facebook Page or it’s been a while since you performed a Facebook audit , these tips are for you. Not every feature is meant for every type of business, but it’s especially important for small businesses is making sure everything is up to date.

Choose the right category & template

You can change your categories, subcategories and templates anytime so don’t sweat if you don’t pick the right one at the beginning. However, refining to the right selection is specifically important for small businesses because categories are key for discovery, and templates unlock important features like shops and reviews.

Customize your tabs

When you go through the Page templates, you’ll be able to see which tabs are available to you. After applying the template, you’ll then be able to hide and add select tabs, as well as rearrange their order. So, for example, if you think you’ll be investing in a video marketing strategy , then you should move the Videos tab up further in the lineup.

Customize CTA button & link a catalog

If you’re a service or product-based business, then taking the time to set up your call-to-action button and linking your product catalog is important. These features allow your customers to book directly or purchase from your Page without ever leaving the site.

PRUDY Braiding Studio lists its services and has a CTA button for booking appointments. When a customer is interested in a service, they can click it to learn more and then use the button to book their appointment. This flow provides a seamless experience for customers.

At the time of this writing, Facebook Shops is rolling out to all businesses as a way for them to promote new products.

Tip: A bonus for setting up these features is that they also become available to you if you have a linked Instagram account. Set this up once for two networks.

Set up Messenger & more

The above are just the basics for setting up a Facebook Page for a small business. There are far more tips you can explore, including using Facebook Business Manager to manage multiple permissions and learning about the verification process to further establish your brand credibility.

Facebook Page promotion & execution

Once your Facebook Page is set up to your liking, it’s time for promotions and posts to begin. Explore a variety of post ideas to bring in more engagement and consider using a content calendar to plan out your work. Having this is in place helps you understand what’s missing and how to space out your posts.

Run occasional discounts or flash sales

No one likes to miss out on deals. The Sprout Social Index™ 2023 indicates that 46% of consumers follow brands on social to have access to exclusive deals or promotions. Why not give them what they want?

To enhance your social promotions, use Facebook’s ad offer feature so you can track how many are actually taking advantage of the sale.

Cross-promote your content

As a small business, you need to be savvy about how you use your content. One platform’s content could be reused on another if the audience and goals fit. A small tweak in caption is less time consuming than creating fresh content.

Even better, if you use Instagram Stories frequently, you can link your Facebook Stories to them so every time you publish Stories on Instagram, you also publish the same content to Facebook.

Set up expectations for social customer service

The Sprout Social Index™, Edition XVII: Accelerate found that 47% of consumers think strong customer service makes a brand best in class on social. If you’re going to use Facebook as a platform for social customer service , you’ll need to set up those expectations beforehand with clear information for your customers. Don’t wait for someone to message and then wonder what the next step is going to be or when they’ll hear back.

As mentioned earlier, Messenger has multiple ways for you to manage this expectation, including your own availability for responding to messages. Your away message here should include your hours and helpful links if you have those available.

Schedule posts

Once you have the content and calendar all ready to go, it’s time to schedule all those posts. Facebook has a robust native scheduler or you can use software like Sprout to help manage posts across multiple platforms.

The Sprout schedule not only shows drafts and scheduled posts but the ViralPost feature will automatically schedule based on your brand’s highest engagement times. You may not need a scheduling tool if you’re just starting your social presence, but over time you’ll likely find saving the time and effort for other parts of your social strategy to be an advantage.

Learn more about Facebook for small business

Facebook isn’t a set-up-and-done kind of social media platform. It’s constantly evolving in features, ads and newsfeed algorithms . Your campaign strategy from last year might not work as well this year if you repeat it without consideration of new social trends and features. Because of this constant evolution, it’s important to continue learning and exploring new strategies.

Custom audiences for ads

One of the strongest ways to advertise on Facebook is to use the custom audience feature. You can retarget those who have visited your website, engaged with your ads and most recently, taken certain shopping actions . Custom audiences take advantage of sources that you already have in place, like a newsletter list, and advertises to them. These people are likely more receptive to the ads because they’ve willingly followed or interacted with you already.

Review analytics

Without analytics, you can easily find yourself floundering in the midst of all your content efforts. How do you know if a post was successful if you don’t look at how it performed? Facebook’s native Insights tab gives you a plethora of information from engagement to clicks to Page actions.

However, with business growing, you might find yourself with a need to present analytics graphics to investors or management. Analytics tools like Sprout help you easily understand what’s going on with your Page and will generate presentation-ready graphics for you with the click of a button.

Keep up on new features

As mentioned before, Facebook is not a static platform. New features are constantly added and the advantage of being a small business is that you can easily test these out without a complex and time-consuming chain of approvals and inputs.

For example, your business might benefit from adding a Shop feature, allowing you to tag products on a post and for consumers to purchase from it. A larger business may have difficulty linking a huge catalog but a small business with a focused offering could do it easily.

COVID–19 grants

With the COVID–19 pandemic severely impacting small business operations, Facebook announced a $100 million cash grant for small businesses and an additional $100 million to Black-owned small businesses, creators and nonprofits. Take a moment to see if you qualify for the program.

Take Facebook for Business courses

It’s to Facebook’s advantage for business owners to get the most out of their platform. Because of this, the company created an entire resource library for businesses . The resources range from new features relevant to businesses to singular courses to helpful case studies for inspiration. Exploring resources like this and reading about new Facebook strategies puts you ahead of the curve and at a competitive advantage to other small businesses.

Facebook doesn’t have to be a daunting platform for small businesses. Once you break it down into steps, a Facebook marketing strategy is easy to learn and execute. Small businesses need to pay attention to details like the CTA button and set up Messenger to take full advantage of what the platform offers. With the right approach and upkeep on new features, you’re well on your way to being a pro at Facebook. For the latest data on how marketers and consumers are using social media, explore the Sprout Social Index™: Social Media Trends for 2022 & Beyond .

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Facebook Marketing in 2023: A VERY Complete Guide

Potential customers are already looking for businesses like yours on Facebook. A smart Facebook marketing strategy is the only way to connect with them.

Facebook Marketing Strategy Guide

Here’s a status update for you: Facebook marketing is still a necessity in 2023.

With a staggering 2.93 billion daily active users, Facebook still stands tall (on a foundation of all those Minions memes your uncle posted) as the world’s most dominant social media platform.

For 54.9% of Facebook users , the platform serves as their primary hub for researching brands. In fact, a remarkable 66% of all Facebook users routinely explore local business Pages at least once each week .

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

What is Facebook marketing?

Facebook marketing is the strategic promotion of a business or brand using the Facebook platform.

Facebook marketing can enhance brand recognition, expand your online audience, capture potential leads, and boost sales of products or services.

Facebook marketing tactics for business can include:

• Organic text, photo, or video content
• Paid, or “boosted,” text, photo, or video content
• Facebook Stories and Reels
• Facebook ads
• Facebook Groups
• Contests and giveaways
• Facebook Messenger chatbots or auto-responders
• Influencer marketing campaigns
• Facebook Shops
• Facebook Live video streams

The deal won’t get any sweeter. Get an annual Hootsuite plan 60% off and save up to $1,793 now.

How to set up Facebook for business

There are plenty of advanced techniques and paid services you can incorporate into your Facebook business strategy, but before you get there, you need to have a Facebook Page for your brand.

Then, if you really want to take things to the next level from there, you can get your account verified and set up your Meta ad account… but let’s take this one step at a time.

Set up a Facebook Page for your business

1. Make sure you have a personal Facebook profile before you begin. Then, click on the Pages icon (flag) on the left-hand side of the site and click Create New Page.

2. Add your Page name and select the appropriate business category

3. Fill in your business bio information and click Create.

4. From here, you can fill in more details like contact and location; add profile and cover images; and edit the action button.

5. Invite your friends to follow your page, and click Next and then Done to publish your Page for all the world to see.

Find a more detailed breakdown of the Facebook Business Page creation process here.

Verify your Facebook Page for business

This is totally optional, but having a blue “verified badge” on your Facebook Business Page may be beneficial for your marketing strategy. Having a verified badge indicates that Facebook has confirmed that, yep, this page is the official, authentic Page representing your brand.

Seeing a verified badge can put customers and fans at ease; it exudes trust and authority (and helps stop imitators and scammers in their tracks)..

Before you apply for verification, make sure your Facebook Page meets all the requirements for a badge. Your Page must be…

• Authentic: Represent a real business.
• Unique: Make sure your business only has one Page operating because only one Business Page per brand may be verified (with the exception of language-specific versions).
• Complete: Fill out your About section and upload a Page photo. (Hot tip: You also should have at least one post on your Facebook Business Page before you apply for verification.)
• Notable: This one’s pretty subjective and tough to fulfill, but Meta basically needs to deem you… relevant! Is your business well-known? Does your brand have an existing reputation? If you’re a start-up with no other online presence or a long-running business that’s operated under the radar, you might have trouble convincing Meta that you need a verification badge.

All set? Just fill out this Verify Your Page form and then sit around with your fingers crossed, hoping the Meta overlords approve your request.

Dig deeper into the logistics of getting your business verified on Facebook here.

Start an ad account

While you can absolutely build a thriving Facebook presence with organic content alone , if you’re planning on spending a few bucks to boost posts or activate campaigns, you’ll need an ad account for your Facebook Page, too. Here’s how to set that up.

1. Go to Business Settings

2. Choose Accounts from the left-hand menu. Click Ad Accounts.

3. Click the Add dropdown menu (it’s blue), and pick “Create a new ad account.”

4. Follow the prompts from there!

You’ve also got the option to add an existing ad account or request access to an ad account. Once that’s good to go, check out this list of 22 inspiring Facebook ad examples for ideas for your own winning campaign.

Types of Facebook posts to use for marketing

While Facebook posts of yore used to be limited to a single, verb-oriented status update (remember those heady, “Trevor is….” days?), there are tons of different formats to experiment with for your Facebook business marketing.

Text posts still get a surprisingly high amount of engagement: 0.11%, according to this We Are Social study. (That may not seem very exciting, but the average engagement with any kind of Facebook Page post is a mere 0.07%.)

One theory: With everyone’s newsfeed so full of images and videos, text might be one way to actually stand out from the crowd. Keep it short and snappy for maximum impact. (A little humor doesn’t hurt, either.)

Photos are the most engaging type of post for Facebook Pages, so get snap happy, people.

A photo post can be any type of image: a picture, an infographic, or a piece of artwork. You can add multiple images to any photo post—up to 10, in fact. (If you want to group photos in a larger collection, consider making a Facebook album.)

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

Some ways businesses can share images include…

• Show off images of your latest product or collection
• Share process photos
• Give followers a peek behind the scenes
• Share a compelling infographic about the impact of your service
• Spark inspiration with lifestyle shots

Limited photography budget? Check out these free stock photo sites .

Videos are the bloodlife of social media in 2023, as TikTok has taught us. There are more than three billion internet users who consume video online daily—and yet video posts only make up 17.4% of all posts on Facebook Pages.

There’s no end to ideas for Facebook Page videos. Consider sharing:

• Interviews with experts
• Factory tours
• Product demos
• Explainer videos
• Event coverage
• Day-in-the-life videos

Give ‘em something to chew on, why don’t you?

Wondering what successful social media videos have in common? Check our tips for creating viral social videos .

When you post a link on Facebook, a preview image is auto-generated, so you’re going to get a real visual pop on your Page.

It’s also a great way to funnel your followers to what you really want them to do, whether that’s purchase a product, check out your blog post, visit your website, learn more about your improv show, watch your latest YouTube video, or participate in a survey.

While your presence on Instagram might be focused on building community and sharing content and information in-platform, Facebook is a helpful tool for directing your audience off of Facebook to where you actually want them to be.

Throw your weight behind a good cause with a fundraiser post . Maybe there’s a cause that aligns well with your organization; maybe you’ve got a formal partnership with a great local charity. Either way, Facebook Pages feature an option to post fundraisers.

It’s a way to share your values with your followers, build some goodwill vibes, and, of course, help generate cash for those in need.

Messenger prompt

Similar to the Fundraiser post option, the Messenger option allows you to add a “Send message” action button to your post. If you’re looking to spark direct engagement in private convos with your followers, this is a unique, intimate way to go.

But be warned: you’d better be fast to respond if you go this route. Social media users expect extremely quick responses for customer service chat .

You may want to consider setting up a customer service chatbot to help manage the influx of messages that might come after a post like this.

Find more Messenger marketing strategies here.

Live-stream

Whether you’re sharing breaking news, broadcasting a live performance, hosting an interactive Q&A, or producing a panel discussion, social media live streams are a powerful way to capture audience attention and drive engagement.

For instance: this authentic, intimate, in-real-time makeup tutorial got 2,500 views. Bonus: Facebook Live videos live on your Page once the broadcast is over, so you can keep collecting those eyeballs even once the director has yelled “cut.”

Here’s everything you need to know about going Live on Facebook.

Invite your followers to turn off their computers and join you in the real world… or turn on their computers, um, even harder to attend an online event you’re hosting.

Facebook Events are another form of post you can make with your Facebook Business Page as part of your marketing strategy to turn passive scrollers into active participants.

Just like Instagram Stories , Facebook Stories are fleeting images or videos designed to disappear after 24 hours.

After viewing a business’ Story, 58% of people say they’ve browsed a brand’s website , 50% say they’ve visited a website to buy a product or service, and 31% headed to a store to scope things out.

So while they may vaporize after a day, Facebook Stories may have a place in your social media strategy . (Plus, you can save them as highlights or turn them into Reels, so nothing ever has to be truly lost.)

Stories can be found above Facebook’s news feed, both on desktop and in the app. They can also be posted and watched on the Messenger app.

Learn more about Facebook Stories here.

Short-form video is unavoidable at this point. First came TikTok . Then came Instagram Reels . It was inevitable Facebook would get into the game too. (Don’t get us started on YouTube Shorts .)

Facebook Reels are short-form videos (under 30 seconds) enhanced with tools like music, audio clips, and effects. They’re often used by content creators and influencers… but they could also be a lot of fun for your Facebook marketing strategy.

Take advantage of the quick-and-dirty editing tools to make fun, fast content. The secret to Reels, ultimately, is not to overthink it. Quickly stitch together a few videos from an event, share the visual vibe of your product photoshoot, or lovingly prank a co-worker and set the humiliation to a trending song.

Read more about tips for making Facebook Reels that attract attention and engagement here .

How to create a Facebook marketing strategy in 7 easy steps

1. define your audience.

Before you do anything, you must first define who your ideal potential customer is and what they want on Facebook. Then, create a marketing and content strategy around that.

Every article about social media marketing says this.

…Because it’s true.

At minimum, you need to define your target audience by answering the following:

• What age range do they fall in?
• Where do they live?
• What types of jobs or job responsibilities do they have? (Most relevant for B2B brands.)
• What problem do they have with [your industry/product]? (And how are you the solution?)
• How and when do they use Facebook? (At work, home, doom scrolling before bed?)

Not sure where to start? If you already have followers on your Facebook Page, check out Audience Insights inside Meta Business Suite to see the demographics of your existing audience.

Does your data line up with the customers you want to attract? Perfect, keep up the good work. Not so much? Adjust your content strategy accordingly and watch your Insights to see what works for shifting your audience to the one you want.

This data is also valuable for ad targeting if you want to explore Facebook advertising.

Ready to dig deep? Here’s how to get all the nerdy info you want from Facebook Audience Insights .

2. Define your goals

Why do you want followers? What do you want them to do? For most companies, the answer is, “Buy something.”

But it’s not always about money. Other common goals for a Facebook Page are to:

• Build brand awareness
• Improve customer service
• Maintain a consistent brand image across social media
• Bring in traffic to a physical location

Your Facebook marketing goals will depend on your overall marketing strategy. (Need a refresh? We’ve got a free marketing plan template for ya.)

If you’re up for more no-BS advice, check out this post about setting social media goals and how to measure them.

3. Plan your content strategy

No need to overcomplicate this. Your content strategy is:

• What you’ll post
• When you’ll post it

What to post

Will you share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your process? Will you post exclusive discounts? Will you stick to business or include some fun and games?

Let your imagination run wild with ideas— Ha! Just kidding. You’re gonna post what your audience wants, right? From all that research you did in step 1, right?

Creativity is encouraged, though. Blend what you know about your target audience with what you think will perform well. (Psst—we’ve researched all the best social media trends , so you don’t have to.)

Think of your Facebook content strategy like buckets. Each bucket is a topic.

For example:

• Industry news
• Company news
• Tuesday Tips, where you share a short tutorial for your software
• Reviews/testimonials
• New products and promotions

You get the idea. And you know what makes everything, including creativity, more fun? Rules!

A few classic social media content strategy rules to consider:

• The rule of thirds : One-third of your content is your ideas/stories, one-third is direct interaction with your audience, and the last third is promotional content.
• The 80/20 rule: 80% of your content should inform, entertain, and educate, and the remaining 20% can be promotional.

When to post it

Once you’ve decided what to post, deciding when to post it is the last puzzle piece.

As mentioned earlier, Facebook Audience Insights can help here, although our research has found the best time to post on Facebook is between 8 a.m. and noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Though, of course, that’s a massive generalization. Like everything else in your strategy, experiment! Try different times and see when you get the most engagement.

It’s easy to stay on track with Hootsuite Planner . Everyone on your team can see upcoming posts, collaborate on drafts, and identify any gaps before you reach an oh-crap-I-need-a-post-right-now content emergency. (Hootsuite’s new OwlyWriter AI composer tool can even help you find the right words.)

The best part? Hootsuite’s powerful analytics will tell you when the best times to post are, based on your personalized data.

4. Optimize your Page

Whether you’ve just set up your Facebook business Page or have had one for a while, make sure you have:

• A profile photo—your logo works great—and a cover photo . (Check our social media image size guide for current specs.)
• A call to action button, such as Book Now.
• Contact information, including URL, phone number, and email address.
• A detailed About section.
• A pinned post with your latest promotion, offer, or FAQ.
• A custom Page URL. (For example: www.facebook.com/hootsuite )
• An accurate business category. (Ours is “Internet company.”)

If you have a physical business location, also ensure you’ve added a street address.

If you’re an ecommerce business, use Commerce Manager to display your products in the new Facebook Shop tab. Not sure how? Here’s how to set up a Facebook Shop .

5. Try other Facebook tools

1. create a facebook group.

Groups require a lot of moderation and attention to be successful, but they can earn powerful results.

More than 1.8 billion people say they use Facebook Groups every month. These opt-in communities offer businesses a great way to bypass the merciless Facebook news feed algorithm and connect with audiences where they are actually likely to see and interact with branded posts.

Learn more about creating a winning Facebook Group for your Business here.

2. Drive engagement with Hootsuite Inbox

Hootsuite Inbox allows you to respond to DMs and comments from all your social platforms in one place. Besides replying faster, it also enables your entire team to manage communications without duplicating work or missing anything.

See how much time you’ll save:

3. Try Facebook Marketplace for local sales

While you may think of Facebook Marketplace as simply the modern-day alternative to Craigslist, it’s actually a powerful business sales channel, too.

In 2022, Facebook Marketplace ads reached 562.1 million people . While most sellers are people cleaning out their basements, business listings are welcome , including in lucrative categories like car and real estate sales (where regional laws permit).

It’s free to create listings, making it a must-try for local businesses. If you sell nationally, consider promoting your shop website, too.

6. Install Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel)

Meta Pixel is a small piece of code installed on your website to allow tracking, testing, targeting, and analytics for Facebook and Instagram ads. You only have to set it up once per website. (And wait, you’ve already linked your Instagram account to your Facebook page , right?)

To install Meta Pixel:

1. Log in to Facebook Events Manager . In the left menu, click Connect data sources.

2. Choose Web as the data source and click Connect.

3. Name it and enter your website URL. Depending what your website runs on, there may be a one-click integration available. If not, follow the prompts to install the code manually .

4. Select Conversions API and Meta Pixel or Meta Pixel Only as your setup option and follow the prompts.

If that’s not enough guidance, we’ve got a more robust set of instructions for installing Meta Pixel here.

7. Try Facebook advertising

Facebook ads can skyrocket traffic and sales, but launching a campaign can be overwhelming.

You’re also probably wondering how much Facebook ads cost . (Spoiler: It varies. You’re welcome.)

Facebook ads reach the largest potential audience of any social platform, up to 2.96 billion people as of 2022. Put another way, that’s 36.9% of Earth’s entire population over age 13.

So if you want to begin social media advertising, Facebook is the best place to start for most businesses. There’s a lot to learn, but our step-by-step guide to creating your first Facebook ad campaign makes it easier.

But… are you actually ready?

When to start using Facebook ads

The day after creating your shiny new business Page isn’t the best time to try out Facebook ads. But, letting someone else arbitrarily tell you when you’re ready isn’t the answer, either. (He he he.)

Yep, as with most marketing things, there isn’t one correct answer or KPI that can tell you when to start experimenting with ads.

We’d argue you should have these things first:

• A complete Page (don’t forget to add that profile pic!)
• At least 100 Page Likes (followers)
• Meta Pixel set up
• At least 20 Page posts (ideally more)
• Multiple creative assets for each ad
• An A/B testing strategy

You also should make sure advertising on Facebook aligns with your Facebook marketing goals . Are you interested in extending your reach? Are you digital-advertising curious? Do you want to find new customers? Do you want access to in-depth insights about those customers?

If the answer’s yes to any of these, you’re ready to dive in. But do you want to do this the easy way…. or the hard way?

The easy way: Boost a post

“Boosting” a post is Facebook lingo for taking a regular Page post and turning it into an ad.

Boosting is the gateway ad those senior content marketers warned you about. Side effects of success include conversions, audience growth, and a newfound appreciation for digital advertising.

When you should consider it: If you’re completely new to Facebook advertising and want to test the waters. Boosted posts are relatively cheap since you specify your budget upfront. (But remember: Cheap isn’t effective if the ad isn’t accurately targeted.)

Ready to hit turbo mode? Here’s how to boost a Facebook post the right way.

The advanced method : Create your first Facebook ad campaign

Ad groups, creative options, launch dates, awareness ads, conversion ads, multiple formats, copy options… A full Facebook ad campaign is a lot of work.

But we’re here to tell you: it’s worth it. The combination of organic and paid Facebook content is the secret sauce to achieving all your social media ✨ dreams . ✨

When you should consider it: You want to build focused momentum for a product launch, event, or other promotion.

Paid campaigns can work with budgets of all sizes, but spend time honing your targeting skills first. Experimenting with boosted posts can help dial this in.

You know when you see an ad and think Wow, I’m the target market? Like when an ad for a Millennial-pink saucepan starring Carly Rae Jepsen drops in your Instagram feed? That’s how you want your ad’s viewers to feel: “This is for me.”

You can absolutely be successful at DIY-ing your Facebook ads, although plan to do a ton of research along the way. We have a few resources for you to start with:

• How to Advertise on Facebook: A Complete Guide
• Every Type of Facebook Ad You Should Be Using to Grow Your Business
• All the Facebook Ad Sizes You Need to Know in 2022
• 22 Facebook Ad Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign

Consider hiring an agency or freelance consultant to help plan your first campaign. You’ll learn a lot and optimize your chances of success.

How much does it cost to market on Facebook?

The boring answer is: it depends.

To be clear, many aspects of Facebook marketing are free. You can create and post content all day long without spending a penny. All it might cost you to achieve successful reach and engagement is your time.

But there are absolutely ways to financially invest in your Facebook business marketing strategy, too, by paying to boost your content or creating an ad campaign. You set your own budget for this, so you could have a $5 ad campaign… or you could have a $50,000 ad campaign. It all depends on what type of ads you use and how far you want to reach. We get into all of the ad-price benchmarks here , but the TLDR is that your mileage may vary.

If you’re considering a collaboration with an influencer or creator, you might also want to budget for that too. But again, the amount you’d spend on that will vary wildly, depending on what you’re asking for, and who you’re working with.

Facebook marketing examples for inspiration

Eyewear company TIJN uses the power of humor when it creates Reels. I get a good look at these sweet hot-pink frames and have a laugh that someone has made a sponge into a puppet: win-win! Reels are the perfect medium for this sort of content: lo-fi and friendly, it’s the sort of video your friend might send you… which creates all sorts of feel-good warm fuzzies.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/3255206307950663

Momofuku must’ve spent a fortune on Meta ads because I see this noodle promo six times a day… and dammit, it’s working. I’m not sure if they just literally put my name into the targeting section, but obviously someone put some serious thought into making sure this ad campaign reached only the laziest, carb-obsessiest foodies.

Society6 shares a seasonally appropriate print as a photo in this post but also prompts followers to share their Earth Day celebration plans: a great recipe for engagement.

Starbucks keeps it short and sweet with a text-based post. The sentiment is relatable and personal and taps into the nation’s obsession with pumpkin-spice season. The 95-character post generated 16,000 likes plus thousands of shares and comments.

Ikea prompts engagement here by asking followers to weigh in on which photo they like best. (For the record? I’m team B.) Just because photos are static doesn’t mean the post can’t be dynamic and interactive.

Swimwear brand Left on Friday uses Facebook Stories to showcase casual, intimate behind-the-scenes moments at a photo shoot. It’s how everyday people use this feature—your brand can too!

Facebook can be a great place to share links to your content, whether that’s a blog post or an in-depth YouTube video like Fable Home has done here.

6 Facebook marketing tools

1. Hootsuite

With Hootsuite, you can manage all of your Facebook marketing activities from one place. We hate marketing cliches, but it really is your, excuse us, one-stop shop for all things Facebook marketing.

Use Hootsuite to:

• Schedule all of your Facebook posts in advance
• Identify the best times to post (when your unique audience is active online and most likely to engage with your content)
• Review your performance and easily generate comprehensive reports
• Answer comments and private messages
• Boost posts
• Easily track what people are saying about you online
• Manage your Facebook Pages alongside all your other social profiles on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

2 . Facebook Ads Library

Sometimes a little inspiration is all you need. Facebook Ads Library is a searchable database of all the ads currently running on Facebook.

You can filter by location, type of ad, and keywords.

Get ideas for your next campaign, identify trending phrases or graphics, and check up on what your competitors are doing.

3 . Reputology

Reviews are one of the most important aspects of your Facebook Business Page (and elsewhere). Reputology tracks incoming reviews and allows you to respond inside Hootsuite.

User-generated content is awesome for 2 reasons:

• People are 2.4 times more likely to view it
• You don’t have to create it

Chute simplifies the often-daunting task of finding relevant content based on topic, location, or more. Save what you find into an organized content library you can access from Hootsuite Composer.

It also makes it easy to properly obtain usage rights and permission for legal compliance.

For brands with a Facebook Shop, the Magento integration is a super helpful tool in your toolkit. Easily upload your e-store products to Facebook and use Facebook dynamic ads to scale your ad creation and show relevant products. You can also schedule automated updates of your product catalog and set up multiple feeds for different stores and currencies.

Manage your Facebook presence alongside your other social media channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule posts, share video, engage your audience, and measure the impact of your efforts. Try it free today.

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Grow your Facebook presence faster with Hootsuite . Schedule all your social posts and track their performance in one dashboard.

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Stacey McLachlan is an award-winning writer and editor from Vancouver with more than a decade of experience working for print and digital publications.

She is editor-at-large for Western Living and Vancouver Magazine, author of the National Magazine Award-nominated 'City Informer' column, and a regular contributor to Dwell. Her previous work covers a wide range of topics, from SEO-focused thought-leadership to profiles of mushroom foragers, but her specialties include design, people, social media strategy, and humor.

You can usually find her at the beach, or cleaning sand out of her bag.

As an ex-agency strategist turned freelance WFH fashion icon, Michelle is passionate about putting the sass in SaaS content. She's known for quickly understanding and distilling complicated technical topics into conversational copy that gets results. She has written for Fortune 500 companies and startups, and her clients have earned features in Forbes, Strategy Magazine and Entrepreneur.

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12 Essential Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

With billions of monthly active users, Facebook is the place to be for small businesses . Curating a social media presence is a crucial strategy for connecting with your local community, especially if you don’t have a physical location. So whether you're setting up a Facebook page for the first time or getting ready to revamp one, here are some actionable tips for finding, building, and keeping your Facebook fans.

1. Get a Cover Photo and Call-to-Action Button

The cover photo and call-to-action button are now basic must-haves for a Facebook page. The cover photo is part of a user’s first impression of a page, so it’s an opportunity for you to take advantage of the space to complement your profile picture. Keep it simple, though—avoid too much text and cluttered visuals.

Below your cover photo is a place to add a custom button that customers can use to perform a specific action. You can configure this to give customers a quick way to contact you, see your services, or book a time. These clicks also get tracked through the Facebook Insights tab , so it’s a great way to track interest over time.

A little confused with the above? The cover photo is the large banner photo that appears on top of your profile, above your profile picture. The profile picture is the avatar that represents your business, which is usually done with a logo. Find more introductory tips on setting up a Page on Facebook’s Help Center .

2. Always Post with a Photo

Visual content consistently trumps text posts, especially when it comes to Facebook engagement, so make it a personal rule to always post content with a photo or video. Not only does the social network's algorithm boost visual Facebook posts on the news feed, but they can signal you’re putting in the effort to promote your brand. This will help you come off as professional and ready to do business.

Visual content comes in many forms, so it’s great to vary the types of content throughout the year. Try these ideas:

• Photographs of your products
• Infographics and charts of industry stats
• Stylized graphics of customer reviews
• Branded illustrations for product announcements and giveaways

There are several tools you can use to create high-quality visuals. Services like Unsplash and Freepik offer free stock photos and illustrations, while others like Canva let you quickly get going with free design templates with pixel-perfect dimensions. If you have a bigger budget, you could purchase a social media content design kit from Etsy or Creative Market or hire a professional photographer to provide you with a visual library.

Spending effort on good visual content also gives you material for Instagram posts and stories, plus fills out the “Photos” and “Videos” tabs on your page.

3. Post Frequently

There’s no need to post every day, but posting on a regular schedule helps you stay top of mind with your existing fans, consistently reach new people, and establish your business as a reliable and experienced brand. If it’s hard to always find time to post, try using a content calendar to plan out your content strategy in advance and use Facebook’s scheduling tool to have posts published automatically at a pre-scheduled time. You can use the Facebook Insights tool to see what times your audience is on Facebook as well as additional metrics on the types of posts that are performing best.

4. Run Facebook Ads to Quickly Reach an Audience

Facebook advertising is an affordable and powerful tool to reach new customers. The best ads are engaging, clear, and properly targeted, but for optimal results, don’t run ads just because you feel you have to.

Decide on a particular theme or angle you want to address for your new ad campaign. A good campaign might tie into the upcoming holiday season , promote a new product, or celebrate a new location. Your ideal ad checklist should include: 

• A clear call to action: a statement that instructs the viewer to do something specific, like “book an appointment today” or “see our holiday specials”
• Effective images: photos or graphics that are high-resolution and match your message
• A relevant message with proper targeting: the message should appeal to a defined group of people, and configured so it’s shown to those people only

At first, your ad campaign strategy might be not much more than an educated guess, but that's a-ok! Experimentation and optimization are all part of the social media marketing process.

As an added bonus, advertising expenses are eligible tax-deductible business expenses that can be claimed on your tax return.

5. Narrow Down Your Targeted Audience

For small businesses in particular, using a broad audience for your Facebook ads will likely make you reach too many people who aren’t relevant to your business. For example, while it might seem okay for a local landscaping business to set an audience of people in their city, they’ll probably spend their ad dollars reaching people who don’t even have lawns. 

Instead, they could further refine their audience by checking the “Recently Moved” filter under the Demographics target category and “Do It Yourself (DIY)” under the Interests category—both good characteristics of a homeowner. The ad will now only be shown to people who have an interest in fixing up their properties, and hence, may need landscaping.

This is an example of a tightly-defined audience which makes it more likely you’ll reach the right customers and ensure your message resonates with them. 

You can set a target audience with dozens of Facebook’s filters in the Ads Manager, from age to device type to specific interests. As you tweak your settings in the campaign manager, watch the audience definition meter change and aim for a “defined” or more specific audience rating. When you get more advanced, you can configure custom audiences based on your own customer lists or website visitors.

6. Go Live to Engage in Real Time

With Facebook Live, you can broadcast live video right from your phone. Live video has its advantages over traditional video because it tends to be more unscripted and authentic, and you can engage directly with your audience, giving viewers a personal experience. While going live takes a significant time investment, it's precisely that commitment that can quickly set you apart in crowded industries. 

Try going live to:

• Answer questions about a topic. For example, here at Hourly , we could go live to chat about workers’ comp insurance
• Share a project, like a completed art commission
• Showcase a live event, like the farmers’ market you’re selling at
• Do a product demo
• Run a trivia contest or game

You can go live spontaneously, or promote a time where you’ll be online to engage with your audience. Experiment with different times, discussion topics, and guest speakers to see what resonates best with your audience. As a bonus, since your streams are automatically recorded, you can download and reuse your content for shorter Facebook video posts.

7. Link to and from Your Page

Tightly integrate your page with everything else in your digital marketing strategy . For example, add your Facebook page link to your Google Business listing , website landing page , business cards, or your other social media platforms. If you have a local business, put up a Facebook sticker on your storefront or place a sign prompting for reviews with a scannable QR code near the register.

You can do the same on your Facebook page, under the Page Info setting . Add your store address, phone number, and website. These links increase your SEO, which helps you rank higher in search results.

8. Use Facebook Messenger for Direct Customer Communication

Opening up your inbox for Facebook users to directly message you can be a great tool for engaging with potential customers that are already interested in your small business. You can access your messages from the Inbox tab of the Facebook Business Suite on a desktop computer. You can also set up automated responses to answer common questions or let people know you're away.

On the Messenger app, you can use Business Inbox to switch to your business profile and manage chats from your phone.

9. Consider Partnership Opportunities

If you have a larger budget, it might make sense to leverage fans of existing businesses. If you have a consumer-oriented product or service, you could look to local influencers or reviewers. For a cost, they can promote your brand to their audience, letting you access an engaged group with similar interests.

As with any promotional campaign, decide on your goal. If you want to boost sales, you could provide a special discount code for their followers to use. If you want to grow brand awareness, you could sponsor a Facebook contest that requires likes or comments, but do note Facebook’s promotion guidelines before you start .

10. Collect Customer Reviews

Collecting positive reviews builds your business’s social reputation and helps potential customers make an informed purchasing decision. Whenever a customer has a good experience with your business, send an email or text or just prompt them in person to leave a review on your page.

Facebook's ratings and reviews feature is enabled by default, but check to see if the tab is enabled on your page .

11. Prompt Discussions in Facebook Groups

If it makes sense for your business, you might find success with creating and moderating a Facebook group . Facebook groups are organized spaces where members can start discussions. You can invite your top fans and have more insightful conversations. For example, a realtor might create a group for local residents to discuss real estate, or a bakery might have a group to collect suggestions for seasonal cookies. This strategy will require a significant time investment, but can position you as a leader in your space.

Another option is to join existing groups such as your local small business networking group, but take note of any group rules on advertising or self-promotion.

12. Reuse and Recycle

Whenever you spend effort creating new content, look for opportunities to reuse it in new ways across your social media platforms. For example, you can split your livestream recording into digestible video content for YouTube, highlight your favorite reviews in a series of LinkedIn posts, or reshare insightful discussions from a group. It's an effective way to repeat your message and add consistency to your content marketing strategy.

Is Facebook the Right Place to Be?

Before you invest time into your Facebook marketing, make sure you’ll be reaching the right audience. Go to where your market is, don’t make them work to find you. If your target market is a younger demographic, for example, it might make more sense to market on Instagram or TikTok. No matter where your audience is though, it’s good to establish your Facebook presence—you wouldn’t want a competitor to claim your page URL.

The best Facebook pages are built over time. While these tips will help you start off strong, don’t be afraid to experiment with different ways to engage your community on Facebook.

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7 ways to use Facebook for small businesses and creators

Nicola Wynn

January 27, 2022

Discover how to use Facebook for small businesses and creators. Learn optimal page setup, content calendars, and strategies to grow your business.

Using Facebook strategically can expand your business to new heights

Facebook offers creators and small business owners a world of possibilities for marketing and building an audience. Here are seven Facebook best practices to help you reach your goals:

• Optimize your Facebook business page
• Grow your audience (the organic way)
• Create a plan for posting content consistently
• Use a scheduling tool to save time
• Engage with your audience to build connections and offer customer support
• Share videos and host Facebook Lives
• Consider investing in Facebook ads

If you want to build brand awareness and grow your business, head to Facebook. All you need is a solid page, a thoughtful game plan, and your marvelous, creative self.

Facebook. Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no getting around the fact that this platform can be a powerful tool for small business owners and creators.

On Facebook, you can share information about your business, promote your products and services, and most importantly, connect with your audience in a place where they already hang out.

As of 2021, Facebook has an estimated 1.93 billion daily active users and 2.89 billion monthly active users. With those kinds of numbers, it’s safe to assume that your target customers spend at least some time on Facebook. Why not meet them where they are?

In this guide, we’ll look at how to use Facebook for small businesses and online creators. We’ll cover page setup, content calendars, ads, and everything in between so you can create a strategic Facebook game plan that serves you. Let’s get started.

#1: Optimize your Facebook business page

The first step to using Facebook for your small business is creating an optimized Facebook business page.

Think of your business page as your virtual storefront. It should draw people in, make them feel welcome, and offer helpful information about your brand.

If you already have a personal Facebook page, you can create a business page by clicking the “Pages” tab in the left-hand sidebar. (If you don’t see it straight away, click the “See more” dropdown arrow.)

You’ll be taken to a screen where you can manage all your existing pages and create new ones. Click the blue “Create new page” button to get started.

Next, you’ll fill out basic information about your business. Add your business name, category, and bio.

Click “Create Page” to save your work, and you’ll be taken to a new screen to add additional details.

Scroll through the options in the left-hand sidebar to add your profile picture, cover photo, contact information, phone number, location, and hours. You can also add an action button, which we’ll talk about more in just a minute.

Click “Save”, and your page is ready to go.

If you need to update this information in the future or refresh an existing page, click the three dots next to the “Promote” and “Manage” buttons.

Select “Edit Page” to make changes.

Now let’s look at some tips to make your page stand out from the crowd:

Use a strong cover photo

Your cover image is prime real estate on your business Facebook page. Use this space to tell potential customers more about your work and products.

Launching a new online course ? Let your followers know with an eye-catching banner advertisement.

Offering a free lead magnet for new email subscribers? Show a preview of what’s inside to build excitement.

You can also include your mission statement, tagline, or an explanation of what makes your company unique.

Podia creator Natalie Sisson is an expert at using cover photos strategically . She uses this area to draw attention to new products while still staying on-brand with her messaging.

This cover image will likely be one of the first areas a potential customer notices on your page, so use it to your advantage.

Include keywords in your bio

Your bio is more than just a description of your business; it’s a way for your page to be found in Facebook search results.

It’s best to avoid cutesy language or euphemisms here. Stick to keywords that people are likely to search related to your business or products.

This makes it easier for new customers to know exactly what your business is about, and it helps Facebook understand when it should display your page in search.

Stick with consistent branding

Consistent colors, fonts, and messaging can showcase your personality and make your business look more professional. When choosing profile pictures, cover images, and post graphics, make sure your visuals look cohesive.

The Facebook page for Podia creator Oh Joy! demonstrates this perfectly. The colors, tone, and branding all align to give new visitors a sense of what the brand is all about .

Unsure of how to create these visuals?

You can grab free-use stock images on sites like Unsplash and Pexels , and you can create custom graphics with free tools like Canva .

Pay particular attention to your action button

Your action button is a blue button displayed prominently at the top of your page. You can customize it to meet a specific business goal.

Encourage visitors to check out your website, send you a message, join your email list, and more using this handy tool.

Update your username

When a new page is created, the default URL is a random string of numbers and letters. You can change this to reflect your business name, which makes it easier for customers to find you.

And, if we’re being honest, it just looks better.

To change yours, click on your account profile circle in the upper right corner. Click “Settings & privacy” in the dropdown menu and then choose “Settings”.

In the “Business Name” section, update your username. What you type here will be displayed in your Facebook page URL.

Now you’ll have a page address that looks great and is easy to remember.

Use “Features” to highlight your products and services

Facebook’s “Feature” tool is a great way to call attention to your best offerings. To use this, start by making a graphic for each product or service you’d like to highlight.

Size your images for Facebook stories, 1080px by 1920px. If you’re creating graphics in Canva , you can use the “Story ad” size template. There are tons of free designs you can use to spark your creativity.

Then, head to your page and select “Edit Featured” in the left-hand sidebar. Click “Add New” to upload photos and create a featured collection.

I arranged my featured images into three categories: online courses, digital downloads, and services. You can organize yours however it makes sense for your business.

Now that your page is optimized and ready to go, it’s time to get your first followers.

#2: Grow your audience

Building your audience is a crucial step on your Facebook journey. Here’s how to get more eyes on your page so you’re not posting into the void.

Leverage your existing connections: To start, ask your existing network to join your page using the “Invite to follow” button.

Click on the three dots underneath your business description. In the dropdown menu, go all the way to the bottom to find the invitation option.

You’ll get a pop-up dialog box explaining how to invite friends from your personal page to like your business page.

Feel free to cast a wide net here. You never know which of your friends might be looking for the exact thing you offer.

Promote your page on your other social media channels: If you already have a following on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, let your audience know that you’ve created a Facebook page too.

When you promote your page, emphasize the value people will get by following.

Will you share exclusive tips and advice to help them reach their goals? Will they be the first to know about deals? Will there be opportunities to connect with others who share their interests?

Highlighting these attributes will make people more likely to join and engage with your content.

Invite your email list: Likewise, you can invite your email subscribers to join your Facebook page. You can even include a link to your profile in your welcome email to encourage new subscribers to follow along.

Tookapic does a great job of reminding followers to follow their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts in their newsletter .

By the way, if you need an easy place to manage your email list and sell your awesome products, Podia can help. Start your free 14-day trial now.

Collaborate with bigger brands and influencers in your niche: By working with other creators in your niche, you get access to a larger audience.

Here are some ways you can work with influencers and other businesses to grow your Facebook presence:

Interview them and share the final product on both of your pages.

Write a guest blog post for their website and include links to your Facebook page in the content or author box.

Collaborate on a Facebook Live event so their audience can get to know you.

Host a giveaway or contest: A giveaway or contest is an easy way to grow your page fast. Tell your social media and email followers that they could win a prize if they follow your Facebook page within a certain timeframe.

The prize should be relevant to your industry. You could even give away one of your best-selling digital downloads or a free coaching session as a reward. Once the deadline passes, randomly draw a name from the pool of new followers to receive the prize.

Be active on the platform: According to Facebook , one of the best ways to grow your following is to simply use the platform. Participate in groups about your niche topic, answer messages quickly, post consistently, and offer helpful advice to followers when needed.

To summarize, here are ways to grow your audience on Facebook:

Ask your existing connections and in-person network.

Promote your page on your other social media platforms.

Invite your email list and include a link in newsletters.

Collaborate with bigger brands and influencers.

Host a free giveaway or contest.

Actively engage with followers on the platform.

The strategies above will serve as a launchpad for growing your audience, but it’s important to note that, for most brands and creators, building a significant presence online takes time.

If your follower count is growing slower than you hoped, remember that a smaller number of engaged followers is more valuable than a large number of lukewarm ones.

Especially as you’re starting out, try to focus less on numbers and more on providing consistent value.

Speaking of value, it’s time to fill your page with some fabulous content.

#3: Plan your Facebook content

Your posts are the meat and potatoes of your Facebook content marketing efforts. They’re how you connect with your audience, promote new products, and encourage discussion.

The nice thing about Facebook is that you don’t have to post a zillion times per day. In fact, a Hubspot study of over 13,500 respondents found that, for most small businesses, you’ll get the best engagement rates when you post once per day or less.

Wondering what type of content to share on your news feed? Here are some fun ideas:

Inspirational stories or quotes

Quick tips relevant to your niche

Tutorials that can benefit new and existing customers

Questions or polls

Behind the scenes content

Articles you read and enjoyed

New blog posts

Business news and updates

New digital products you’re launching

Sales and promotions

Laura Roeder, the founder of MeetEdgar , recommends posting 30% promotion and 70% educational content when using social media to sell digital products .

To stay organized, we recommend creating a content calendar or schedule for more consistency. No need to wing it when you can plan it, am I right?

Let’s pretend that you sell online courses about personal finance. Here’s a sample schedule you could follow:

Monday: Share tips and advice related to your niche. These could be bite-sized lessons about saving money or investing.

Tuesday: Show your audience how to do something. You could demonstrate how to make a budget or use your favorite personal finance app.

Wednesday: Promote your products. Tell your audience about your courses or highlight a free lead magnet they can snag if they join your email newsletter .

Thursday: Take your followers behind the scenes in your business. Show them what your workspace looks like, visit your favorite coffee shop, or share your schedule for the day. You can also show new products you’re working on and ask for feedback.

Friday: Use this as a fun day to ask your audience questions, share funny memes that are relevant to personal finance, or post interesting articles.

By systematically planning your content, you give your brand a cohesive feel and simplify your planning process.

Now, if all this posting feels overwhelming, don’t worry. Here’s how you can manage your Facebook content calendar without being chained to your computer for hours a day.

#4: Use scheduling tools to save time

Social media scheduling tools are a must for busy creators. They allow you to post on a consistent schedule, even when life is anything but predictable.

When you schedule posts, you can use a time-saving strategy called “batching”.

Batching means that, instead of coming up with one Facebook post and graphic every day, you create several days of content in one sitting.

Then, you can upload everything to your scheduling tool and space the posts out so they’re shared consistently over time.

Here are some scheduling tools that can save you hours:

SmarterQueue

Sprout Social

Using a scheduling tool ensures that your social media presence stays consistent without becoming a huge time sink. The result can be significantly more engagement and conversions.

I saw this first hand when I started using a scheduling tool for my blog’s Facebook page. Before, I shared blog posts a few times a month whenever I remembered. To say there was no system or consistency would be an understatement.

But then I started using a Facebook scheduling tool to post something new every day. I shared a mixture of my own blog posts, news articles, entertaining stories, and promotions for my digital products.

Not only did traffic to my blog and shop increase, but friends and followers even reached out to tell me that they enjoyed seeing what I was up to.

The moral of the story? Consistent posting can improve visibility and brand awareness, which can translate into more connections, clicks, and sales.

#5: Engage with your audience

In addition to sharing your work with the world, use your Facebook page to meet and mingle with prospective customers.

When people ask questions, send messages, or leave comments, try your best to respond quickly. This gives potential clients a great first experience with your brand and can indicate to the Facebook algorithm that people like the content you share.

On a similar note, the messaging features on your Facebook page are an excellent way to provide quick customer support to your clients.

90% of consumers believe that customer service is important when choosing which brand to buy from. A supportive Facebook presence can differentiate you from your competitors.

Facebook also offers some advanced communication tools, like automated replies and chat responders.

To set these up, click the “Manage” button under your business description. In the left-hand sidebar, scroll down until you see “Business Apps”.

Select “Inbox”, and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can configure your automated responses and the chat plugin.

This is also where you can check all your inbox messages and messenger notifications in one place.

Up next, we’ll cover how videos and Facebook Live streams can work in your favor.

#6: Use videos and Facebook Live

Beef up your Facebook digital marketing efforts with videos and Facebook Lives. In a Wyzowl study of video marketers , 86% said that video increased their website traffic, and 78% said videos helped increase sales.

English tutor and Podia creator Tiffani of Speak English with Tiffani uses Facebook videos to share valuable mini-lessons that her followers adore.

These videos generate lots of comments, likes, and, most importantly, shares. When your followers share your content, your page will likely grow organically.

No need to reinvent the wheel here. Repurposing video content from other channels is a great way to get clips for your Facebook page.

Facebook Live is another way to incorporate videos into your business marketing strategy. Live videos are a way for you and your audience to communicate in real-time.

According to Facebook, Live videos get six times more interaction than regular videos.

Here are some topics you could talk about in your Live:

Product release or sale announcements

High-value training sessions or tutorials

“Ask me anything” sessions

Interviews with experts in your field

Discussions about industry updates

Simply put, videos and Lives can be a powerful addition to your small business’s Facebook content plan.

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#7: Consider investing in Facebook ads

Last but not least, let’s talk about Facebook advertising . All social media platforms are becoming more “pay to play” nowadays, and Facebook is no different.

Facebook ads are a good choice for some small businesses because they tend to be more affordable than other social ads, and they offer super-specific targeting.

While you certainly don’t need to use Facebook ads if you don’t want to, it’s worth discussing some implementation tips should you decide to go this route.

Tip #1: Always run ads with a specific goal in mind. First, get crystal clear about what you want to achieve with your ad. Your end goal will impact what you promote, the language you use, and who you target.

The Facebook sales funnel consists of three phases: awareness, consideration, and decision.

Think about where your ideal customers are in this process, and target your campaigns based on their needs.

This ad by WordStream , for example, is intended to build brand awareness by providing a valuable free download for customers in the early stages of the buying cycle.

This Allbirds ad, on the other hand, is targeted towards Facebook users who are ready to make a purchase.

Before doing anything else, think about what you want your ad to accomplish for your business.

Tip #2: Create visual ad elements. You only have a split second to make an impression. Stick to clear, bright, uncluttered designs with easy-to-read fonts to ensure your message gets across.

In your copy, don’t just describe your product. Talk about how it can make life better for your target customer by solving a problem.

Look at this ad from ConversionMinded , for example. Their Facebook ad copy speaks to common entrepreneur pain points, and the graphic shows me exactly what I’m getting if I click.

Tip #3: Choose the right audience. Not every ad is suitable for every person. Think about who you’re trying to reach with each individual ad you run.

Facebook lets you get very detailed when selecting your target audience. You can specify your ideal viewers’ location, interests, demographics, and even recent life events. Try to get as specific as possible when you’re setting these parameters.

For example, if you sell an online course about interior decorating, you could target people who like home improvement and people who have recently moved.

The more detailed you can be in your ad targeting, the more likely you are to reach your ideal customers.

Bottom line: whether you’re launching your first business or you’ve been at it for years, a thoughtful Facebook strategy can get your creations in front of more eyes while building meaningful connections.

Post consistently, stay true to your voice, and have fun out there. As always, we’re rooting for you.

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About the author

Nicola is a content marketer for Podia , an all-in-one platform where online courses, digital downloads, and communities scale with their creators. She lives for lizards, loves to travel, and can often be found cooking up new recipes in the kitchen.