Using social media channels as just one more way to reach your target audience through online marketing is a strategy that most companies are now embracing as a necessity rather than a necessary evil. While Twitter seems to have a more disjointed and young-minded stream-of-consciousness to its user feeds and LinkedIn is geared more toward college-educated professionals, Facebook sits somewhere in the middle. The user base on Facebook crosses all ages, professions, geographic locations, and interests, so your marketing campaigns can reach a global audience that has a much broader range of shopping habits and preferences.
Facebook provides options for companies that allow them to create targeted marketing campaigns for those who have a particular demographic they wish to reach.
1. Know what your goals are when you begin launching your Facebook marketing campaigns.
Your Facebook content should be geared toward what you hope to accomplish with your advertising. This can be more leads, higher conversion rates, or more traffic to your primary websites. Regardless of what your goals are, your Facebook content should always include components that facilitate forward motion toward the fulfillment of those goals.
2. Make use of Facebook Insights to learn more about what is making people come to you.
Is it a particular image or video? Certain styles of writing in your content? With Insights, you find out what strategies are moving the most traffic in your direction.
3. Assign roles to your social media marketing teams and make sure they understand their duties and priorities.
While this may not seem important in marketing your website, it is important in establishing the hierarchy for maintenance, monitoring, and content creation for your Facebook pages (and other social media channels). Setting clear guidelines helps you avoid confusion and conflict, which can cripple your advertising efforts.
4. Use Sponsored Stories and Facebook Ads to drive traffic in your direction.
You can sponsor stories on your Facebook page that get much higher visibility, and Facebook Ads can be tailored to get distribution among those users whom you wish to engage, based on their chosen 'likes,' interests, and other personal data (geographic location, marital status, age, etc.).
5. Don't forget mobile users.
It is very important in our current era of Internet-enabled mobile device usage that you know how your Facebook pages appear on mobile devices, and ensure that they are designed to deliver the most impact possible in the smallest space. If a mobile user does not know what your company is all about or how to find your website through your Facebook page, they won't visit it - it's as simple as that.
6. Create content that your target audience will want to see and learn more about.
Many Internet users instantly stray away from anything that resembles a blatant advertising tactic, so mask your calls to action within informational and appealing content, eye-catching (and relevant) videos and images, and other things that deliver value to site visitors.
Once you've attracted online visitors to your Facebook page, the next step is moving them along to your primary website or landing pages. They have already entered your marketing funnel by visiting your Facebook page, so the first part of the battle (and often the hardest) is already won.
Also Check: Social Media for CEOs
