Most business owners are well aware of the ability to advertise on Facebook, but not all of them realize the potential power that this opportunity holds. With billions of active users every month, the marketing stage is wide open—all you need to do is find the right audience. But that's not always as easy as it sounds. Lucky for you, we've got some tips to help you learn how to market your business on Facebook.
2. How To Market Your Business
On Facebook
Most business owners are well aware of the
ability to advertise on Facebook, but not all of
them realize the potential power that this
opportunity holds. With billions of active users
every month, the marketing stage is wide open
—all you need to do is find the right audience.
But with so many people, how exactly do you do
that? If you’re wondering how to market your
business on Facebook, you’re not alone.
In this post, we’ll go over some of the best
methods for leveraging Facebook advertising to
get actual results. That’s right—not just “Likes,”
but real, money-making results.
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4. 1. Setting Up a Business
Page
Before we get into the details of how to setup and optimize your paid campaigns, you first
need to make sure that your business is well-represented on Facebook. If you haven’t
already, set up a business page with your current contact information and a high-resolution
image of your logo. If you have a physical store location, you should add your address so that
local users can find you.
In order to look professional, you should also have an on-brand cover photo. You can also
encourage customers to give you a rating, which will increase your reputability. Be sure that
you update the page regularly with content that your followers and other members of your
target audience will find enjoyable. Remember, it’s important to give people a reason to click
that “like” button. If all you do is post boring promos for your own products, there’s not much
reason for people to connect with you.
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5. 1. Setting Up a Business
Page
Additionally, you can register your business’ Facebook page so that it has a blue or grey check
mark beneath your profile photo. This lets users know that it’s your official page. Note,
however, that not all businesses will be eligible for this. Check the terms on Facebook to
learn more.
Once you’ve completed your business page set up and started posting content and gaining
new followers, it’s time to begin your paid advertising campaigns.
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6. 2. Identifying & Targeting
Your Audience
How to market your business on Facebook has a lot to do with advertising to the right
people. There are billions of potential customers on Facebook, but not every single one of
them will be interested in what you’re selling. But don’t let that overwhelm you! The beauty
of the Facebook advertising platform is that it has incredibly detailed targeting features that
allow you to narrow down your audience to a very specific group of people.
Before you hop into Facebook’s Audience tool, you have to figure out who your target
audience is. The best way to do this is to create a buyer persona. Essentially, a fictional profile
based on actual data from market research from your customer base. This includes buying
behaviors, demographics, pain points, goals, and more. Once you gain a comprehensive
understanding of the type of people who are already buying your products, it will be far
easier to find new consumers.
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7. 2. Identifying & Targeting
Your Audience
You can now use the information you’ve
collected and input it into Facebook’s
audience tool. For example, let’s say you
own a car cover company. After taking a
look at the data from your existing
customers, you notice that most of them
are men between the ages of 35 and 60
who recently purchased a car from luxury
brands like Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus.
You can use Facebook’s unique targeting
features to reach people who meet those
exact specifications:
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8. 2. Identifying & Targeting
Your Audience
Another cool targeting feature on
Facebook is its Lookalike option. This
allows you to import a list of current
customers, and Facebook will use their
information to find new consumers who
are most likely to be interested in your
product or service.
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9. 3. Retargeting to Existing
Leads
In addition to targeting new consumers on
Facebook, you can also create retargeting
campaigns. Retargeting campaigns allow
you to advertise to people who have
already shown interest in your product or
service but haven’t made a purchase yet.
For example, say someone browses through
your product catalog, adds a few items to
their cart, and then leaves it there without
checking out. You could launch a
retargeting ad to remind them to return to
your site. Because these consumers need a
little extra push, it’s best to add a sense of
urgency to your ad by using phrases like
“Last chance!” or “Ends today!” You could
even offer a special discount code as added
incentive. 9
10. 4. Setting Up Your
Campaigns
When you create a campaign on Facebook, you will first have to pick a campaign objective.
Facebook uses the objective you select to choose how to distribute your ads. There are several
options for you to choose from:
Awareness
• Brand Awareness - Increase awareness for your brand by reaching people who are more likely
to be interested in it.
• Reach - Show your ad to the maximum number of people. Local awareness targeting is now
part of reach.
Consideration
• Traffic - Send more people to a destination on or off Facebook. Now you can drive traffic by
adding an offer to your campaign.
• Engagement - Get more post engagements, Page likes, event responses or offer claims.
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11. 4. Setting Up Your
Campaigns
• App Installs - Get more people to install your app. Now includes the former mobile app installs
and desktop app installs objectives.
• Video Views - Get more people to view your video content.
• Lead Generation - Drive more sales leads, such as email addresses, from people interested in
your brand or business.
Conversion
• Conversions - Drive valuable actions on your website or app. Now you can drive conversions
by adding an offer to your campaign.
• Product Catalogue Sales - Create ads that automatically show products from your product
catalog based on your target audience.
• Store Visits - Get more people nearby to visit your brick-and-mortar locations.
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12. 3. Retargeting to Existing
Leads
For example, if your main objective is to build a following for your brand, then you would
want to select the Awareness > Brand Awareness objective. This way, Facebook will optimize
your ad to be delivered to as many interested people as possible.
Most businesses want to set up campaigns that are designed to make sales. If this is true for
you, then you would want to select one of the conversion categories. If you’re trying to
increase sales at a physical store, you’d want to select the “Store Visits” category. If you want
to run automated retargeting ads based on specific products that people have viewed, select
the “Product Catalog Sales” option. And finally, if you want to create your own ads
(retargeting or otherwise), you should select the “Conversions” campaign option.
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13. 3. Retargeting to Existing
Leads
Once you’ve created a campaign, you’ll need to create an ad set. Let’s say you choose the
conversions objective for your campaign. Now, you’ll need to tell Facebook what you
consider to be a conversion by selecting a conversion event. For example, if you select “Add to
Cart,” Facebook will optimize your ads for the most add to carts. If you select “Purchase,”
Facebook will optimize your ads for the most purchases.
After you’ve selected your conversion event, you’ll select the audience that you created,
choose your ad placement options, set your budget, and your conversion window. After
you’ve completed the ad set, it’s time to start importing your creatives.
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14. 5. Designing Your Creatives
When designing your creatives, it’s important to keep in mind that people scroll through a lot
of content every day. In order for your campaigns to be successful, you will have to create
captivating ads that stand apart from all the other ads and posts that are clogging up each
user’s newsfeed. You can achieve this both through colorful, original images and well-written
ad copy that matches your brand essence.
Because the newsfeed background is white, images without color tend to get lost in the
shuffle. Instead, try using bright colors that capture the eye. It’s also important that you don’t
just upload a stock photo. Stock photos are more recognizable than you’d think, and they
don’t do much to show off the value of your brand. Instead, create original graphics and be
sure to include an image or other representation of your product. This is especially important
if you’re showing your ads to new consumers who have never heard of your brand before.
Make it clear what your product is and why they need it. If they have to guess, well, they won’t
—they’ll just keep scrolling.
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15. 5. Designing Your Creatives
You should also include some type of messaging on your actual ad image. However, because
Facebook restricts the amount of text overlay you can use, be wise about what you choose to
write. Facebook got rid of their mandatory requirement for ads to have less than 20 percent
text. However, even though you can now use as much text as you want, ads with more text
will have poorer deliverability.
And finally, don’t make the rookie mistake of neglecting your ad copy. Once you’ve got a
consumer’s attention, your ad copy will be the deciding factor in whether or not they click on
your ad. You should include product highlights, any special offer you choose to include, and a
brief description of your product. Just be sure to make it interesting. And remember, adding a
sense of urgency can help motivate people to make a purchase right then and there.
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17. Final Takeaways
Marketing on Facebook can be an awesome way to boost revenue and build a following for
your brand. After reading these tips, you should have a better understanding of how to
market your business on Facebook. So, are you ready? It’s time to start building your own
campaigns and creatives! Use the information outlined in this post to help guide you, and feel
free to reach out to our team if you have any questions along the way.
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18. SevenAtoms is a San Francisco based inbound marketing company that helps
businesses market their products and services online to achieve tangible,
bottom-line results. We have a passion for inbound marketing and love helping
our clients grow their brand and create sustainable lead generation sources.
Our expertise extends to SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing, and
we are especially adept at integrating these channels so that they work
together to drive maximum performance.
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