24 Jun How to win at Facebook marketing (and not spend a cent)

For the last instalment in our social media month journey, it’s time to look at the biggest one of all: Facebook. Take a journey with me, if you will, through some of the ways to organically up your business’ Facebook game…

It’s a pretty common message that the ONLY way to win at marketing for Facebook is to pay through the nose. Now, admittedly, those fancy algorithms stack the deck pretty hard in favour of Facebook and big businesses with big chequebooks, BUT, there are ways to win. Always.

We little guys have to stick together!!

Before we get into the how, let’s have a look at some of the why’s to get your thinking juices flowing. Perhaps there are some angles in here you haven’t considered to now…

Stats and Ideas: the ‘why’ for Facebook Marketing

• Users 65 years and older are the fastest-growing group on Facebook. This demographic has grown 40% over the last 2 years, when compared to Millennials and Gen Xers whose presence either shrank or saw minimal change

• 74% of Facebook users are high-income earners. This was a surprising stat to me. What should you take from it? Maybe nothing… Maybe up your prices (and if you’re receiving objections around price, dig deep and see if that’s the real story)

• 2.45 BILLION people use Facebook every month. For better or worse, this is where your audience is. Meet them there…

• 88% of users are there to stay in touch with family. OK, on the face of it, this must seem like bad news to us marketers, but really, this is an opportunity to use softer approaches to sales and marketing. They maybe didn’t start by looking for you, but if you suddenly pop up in the feed in a subtle, non-salesy way it might well be the start of a beautiful conversation…

• Videos are on the rise. Across the board, videos receive far more interactions and likes than text posts. A quick circle back to the algorithm discussion: FB algorithm’s job is to find ‘relevant content’. It measures this based on ‘interactions and likes’. SO, it doesn’t take a genius to see the connection here… Videos = increased chance of interactions and likes. Interactions and likes = increased chance of organic promotion via FB algorithm.

So then, where to from here? How do we take all these stats in and turn them into a really effective organic Facebook marketing strategy? Let’s think on it…

1. Videos

   Based on the above, the number one strategy has to be based around video. With 8 billion views, of ads, posts, lives and stories every day, that’s a fairly powerful place to start. Nothing stops a scroll faster than something that’s personal and calls out to its audience’s deepest needs, wants and desires, so give some thought to how you might do that. Also, 85% of videos are watched with the sound off, so consider how you can use that to your advantage!

2. Community

   Treat the Facebook space like your own little community. Join groups that are either relevant to your industry, or may have your ideal audience lurking around… Genuinely showing up and offering useful ideas is always a plus here. It’s a strong way of marketing without marketing. On that front, too, a tiny tip: Most groups don’t allow for business pages to join so you’ll be interacting as ‘you’… make sure your personal profile shows clear links to your business as well in case group members want to do a little stalkbooking…

   Another option is to start your own Facebook group. Not only is the interaction far more personal and authentic, your group posts are way more likely to be seen than posts from your business page. Groups are an opportunity to provide value to your audience and really show up as an expert in your field. The toughest bit? Finding a good name!! I’m partial to mine, but what’s even better is devising a group name based on terms you KNOW your audience will be searching for anyway. Some examples?

   • Love Cats … by the Precious Animal Channel

   • Juggling Motherhood and Business Building … by Social Strategy Mum

   • The Baby Sleep Movement … by Katie Forsythe/The Baby Sleep Company

   • SEO Tips, Tricks & Tools … by the Portable Entrepreneur

   See how all these examples have popular keywords within them that information seekers (and cat lovers) would find useful! It’s an incredibly sneaky backdoor into the hearts and minds of potential customers!!

3. Use Facebook’s scheduling tools

   The final tip for today is simply to use the tools Facebook has on offer – it’s a mutual back-scratching situation. If you’re a busy business owner looking to get ahead while wasting the least amount of time, it’s tempting to use a scheduling app to take care of the job. They’re so great and easy to use and can really save you a heap of time, as well as offer huge insight into which posts are gaining you the most traction.

   The downside?

   Facebook prioritises posts scheduled through their own tools. Stands to reason, given they’ve invested the resources to create it in the first place. The process just takes a little longer to schedule posts to individual platforms. I guess the take away here is to consider whether reach or efficiency is the most important thing!

So there you have it then, some easy, FREE strategies to nail Facebook marketing without spending a cent. Budget is always an issue for us small business types, so before you go parting with your hard-earned business dollars on Facebook ads, have a think and see if there might be other ways that not only boost your profile, but also give you options for a more genuine relationship with your followers.

Have any other ideas on how to pump up organic reach for small businesses?! I’d love to hear all about them! Hit me up for a chat or join all the fun over in my group to tell us all about it…