In this article, we will provide you with tips and tricks to create an effective marketing strategy for your small business because if you’re serious about growing then you will want to know how to do this right?
What Do You Want To Achieve With Your Business?
Before you even click on Facebook, it is essential that you write down what you want to achieve and where you want to go. Just like a boat needs a pilot to guide the ship to its destination, you need targets and goals in place of where you want your business to go.
You may have goals such as:
- Increase the quality of your sales
- Improve your understanding of your industry
- Lower your lead generation costs
- Increase your Return On Investment (ROI)
The best way to go about achieving your goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T method so that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. For example, one of your Facebook goals may be to “grow your page from 500 to 1000 people in 2 months through the use of video content”.
Have your goals in sight where you can see them every day and as the days go by you will be able to track your progress.
Finding Your Target Audience
After setting your goals, you will want to attract those who are likely to purchase your product.
You may have thousands and thousands of followers, but if none of those followers are remotely interested in your product or service then they may as well not be following you because ultimately, you need sales to survive as a Small Business Owner.
So, how do you pinpoint your target audience?
If you have competitors then visit their page and see what is driving people to their page. Check out their website, their other social media channels and find out what content they’re posting…
Remember back in school where the drama students would congregate in a certain building or the rugby team would always congregate in the gym, well people do the same on Facebook. A great feature of Facebook is that you can join groups where your target audience is at.
Find out the demographics such as age, where they live, likes and dislikes because all this data will make your targeting much more specific and cost you less money and time in the long run!
Alternatively, you can drum up business by offering free eBooks through Facebook Ads in exchange for an email address to build up your mailing list. People will be more than happy to provide you with their email address if you’re providing value and helping them in some way.
What Sort Of Content Do You Want To Put Out?
Now that you know who your audience is and where they all are, you will want to gain their trust, build a loyal following and be the go-to brand for your product or service…
Fortunately for you, Facebook offers multiple different ways to reach your audience on their platform through stories, live video, and image posts. Make the most of it!
Host free webinars, or run contests where your customer has the chance to sample your product for example – this will always be a great way to grow your community. The success of your ad campaign will depend on whether it catches users eye as they scroll through their newsfeed so make an effort with the images/video you are posting and make them stand out.
After imagery, people will then read your headline which should state a benefit to your target customer. The body of your text will be read by those who are intrigued by your image/video and thus will want to find out more about your message. Try to describe what you are offering and how your product/service will improve their lives and if you provide something like a ‘Money Back Guarantee’, then please, please, please, include it.
You may have started your business because you were in the market yourself for the product/service you are now selling. This is great because you were once in your target audiences’ shoes and therefore have an idea of what they may be looking for and the content they may want to see.
57.5% of social media users said posting too many promotions was the most annoying action from brands. Don’t use your Facebook page purely for promotional reasons because as the data shows – it annoys the hell out of people! Instead, in your strategy, try to balance out and favor more towards value-driven content than promotional posts.
The best way to win people’s trust is to provide them with valuable content that benefits them. Would you want to buy from a salesman who constantly asks you to buy his product before you even know anything about the product, or would you be more favored to the salesman who offers you a sample and lets you try the product beforehand?
Test, Test and Test Again!
When you start posting content or running Facebook Ads, you will more than likely see that some receive a much better response than others.
If this is the case, then you will want to find out why and double-down on what is working and removing that which isn’t working to maximize your gains and minimize your losses…
Again, Facebook has provided us with another feature that you can use to do this – A/B testing. Facebook is probably the only advertising platform in the world that gives access to every person that uses their platform with the ability to test almost anything and everything about their ads.
Find out what images work best, what people respond to more positively and most importantly, what is driving your sales!
Why Engaging With Your Audience Is More Important Than Ever
If people are making the effort to read or watch your content and then post a comment asking more about your brand, then the very least you can do is reply with an answer. It’s amazing how many brands just ignore their customers online still when the facts and evidence suggest against this.
People want to know there is a human/s behind the brand they’re talking to and not just a chatbot. You may have a brand yourself that you pick over others because of the customer service and because the people behind the brand are more welcoming and helpful, it’s the same for your target audience…
They want to know what is going on with your brand too, so make sure to post reviews and testimonials of those people that have benefitted from using your brand because it builds credibility and trust.
Growing your audience and brand loyalty doesn’t happen overnight. You have to earn it.
Finally…
We hope that the above information has given you a few pointers that you can implement straight away and provided some value that you can use to improve your own brand.
As a Small Business Owner, you’re probably buried with things to do at this year and that’s ok because all of our clients are in the exact same position as you which is why they’ve mentioned to us how important it is to have a Social Media agency manage their social media channels to help take the load off during this busy period.
Even if you’re handling the workload fine, but just need some guidance with setting up your Facebook Strategy, then you would probably benefit tremendously from a Social Media agency that has a team of experts to help grow your business…
That’s why we’re here, and more than happy to have a quick chat with you about your goals and how we might be able to help.
