Pro Tips on Facebook Marketing

Thinking of how to improve marketing strategies on Facebook? Ever wonder what tactics are being used by professionals? There’s no need to worry because this article will show some examples of the hottest Facebook marketing tips and tactics today:

  • Consider using ActionSprout. If marketers think that Facebook pages are the real battlegrounds on Facebook, think again. Users typically interact with the page updates appearing in their news feeds apart from visiting the actual Facebook pages.

ActionSprout is a good additional custom tab on Facebook pages. While most Facebook pages require users to visit their pages before doing any actions, ActionSprout works differently by letting marketers create action options directly on the news feed. Once users have already clicked the action of their choice in the news feed update, they will be automatically redirected to another page in order to continue the completion of the action.

  • Boost announcements for new products. Boosted posts for a newly launched product can increase the demand as well as the fans that like the page. It is ideal for small scale business even though it is not recommended by some Facebook marketing experts. Do not hesitate to test this kind of technique. After all, refusal of recommendation doesn’t mean that this is ineffective and will not work.

  • Make use of website custom audiences. While Facebook ads are used to target a specific audience, running a Facebook ad through the use of “Power Editor” can target all the visitors of a Facebook page (website custom audiences). In order to increase leads and potential customers, Facebook ads should be creative.

  • Increase PR Efforts. Facebook is not only used for marketing campaigns, it can also support the brand’s publicity efforts. A lot of journalists rely on Facebook to look for stories. With the help of the said social media platform, sharing stories is now easy. As a result, there will be faster information delivery to the public especially if there are emerging issues and breaking news regarding new developments, etc.

  • Use Facebook’s audience insights. Better return of investments can be generated if a business knows how to target a particular type of audience for advertising and optimize content strategies after understanding the audience insights.

This will let the marketers see what’s engaging for audience and what type of post does this audience like. By investing time to understand their insights, fans will become more receptive on posted contents.

  • Do split testing on Facebook ads. Finding the right keywords to use is crucial for Facebook advertising. To prevent wasting money, it is recommended to do a split advertising test first.

Allocate portions of advertising budget on running a variety of ads one at a time. Then, study the comparisons to assess which particular advertisement works best. Only split testing can answer what particular benefit can a marketer get if he targets a narrow or wider audience.

Before anything else, it is important to plan ahead. This can give marketers enough time to develop Facebook marketing campaigns and incorporate these tips and tactics afterwards.

Companies Must Use Video in Social Media

Why Companies Should Include Videos in their Social Media Strategy

Social media marketing is any initiative done on social media to gain customer attention and website traffic. It is what a lot of marketers and companies are doing today to communicate to customers and increase sales. According to Hubpost, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media was important to their business; 80% of these said that their social media efforts improved traffic to their websites. Using social media then can be rewarding for many companies. It is not only a great avenue for companies to reach more customers, but it also makes their products more accessible and visible. Marketing content in social media can take the form of shorts posts, photos and videos.

Videos are strongly becoming popular in social media. More people are now either making their own videos or sharing them on social media platforms. Facebook Co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, says that most Facebook content are content that are shared by people to friends. In the near future (if not now), people will be sharing videos. Zuckerberg also announced last year that Facebook will be focusing on video marketing in 2015. Twitter is also moving towards video marketing. In 2014, it introduced Promoted Video. This helps marketers upload and distribute native videos on Twitter. This means that, instead of just sharing video links, people are now be able to embed and view videos on Twitter. This is good news for marketers who want to make video part of their social media strategy.

Numerous articles and studies online have shown the benefits of using videos to market products to consumers. Adding video content on social media can bring:

  • Increased brand awareness. Social media is valuable to companies since it makes products more visible and accessible to customers. People like to share, re-post or re-tweet interesting and novel content. Add video content and people will able to see and connect to your product or brand in an effective and more powerful way. A study shows that 41% internet users are more likely to share and repost videos. This gives companies more opportunities to reach more audiences and customers.

  • Improved customer interaction. Social media enables companies to connect to people. When companies build a “following” they interact with potential, new and existing customers. With every interaction, there is a chance to convert and make a sale. Videos enhance that interaction by giving customers a more complete picture of what your company or product is like.

  • Better brand or company image. Social media humanizes companies and brands. It is “a place where brands act like people do.” When customers see this human side, they are more likely to trust a company or brand and buy a product or service. Videos can add another dimension to this since it makes use of facial expression, body language and music to connect to people. Videos can be used to show a typical day at work or a company’s commitment to a cause.

With these benefits and more, video marketing can improve and enhance social media marketing.

All About Ads: Facebook Ads 101

Facebook marketing has revolutionized the way digital marketing is done, in many ways possible. What used to be just banner ads on the internet can now be done in many forms, especially in this vast social media platform. Here are some of the types of Facebook ads you need to know:

Creating a public page

You can always start with the conventional type of Facebook Marketing, which is setting up a public page for free. All you need to do is to maintain posts and update the page regularly. It comes with all the necessary tools and self-service interface that is easy to use, even for beginners. This is cost-effective, and very easy to manage.

Sponsored Ads: Domain Ads

Domain ads are the most common type of paid ads that you would often see, and when you click, would take you to an external site. These ads are normally done to increase site traffic and improve customer interaction. Domain ads can also illustrate social context like for instance, a certain friend “likes this page/site.” For this to take place, Facebook should be able to go with the target URL of your domain ad with a relevant Facebook public page.

Event Ads

Event ads are very helpful if you need total exposure for the publicity of your events. It is also shown on the right hand side of the desktop, with a maximum of 90 character description.

Mobile app ad

As the name suggests, this kind of ad only shows up when a user is on mobile view. Once the ad is clicked, the ad directly leads the user to AppStore or Google Play to install the mobile app. The effectiveness of the ad is measure by the number of downloads, while being integrated with Facebook.

Page post ads

The easiest and widely used type of ad is the page post ad, in which your Facebook page can be posted as ‘sponsored’ or ‘promoted’. Once the user clicks on the link, Facebook will direct it to the public page.

Offer ads

Offer ads are useful and enticing, especially when written well. The key to a successful offer ad is to include the important details, the number of people who previously accepted the offer and the expiration date. The photo should also speak a lot, because it’s what the users would notice at first glance.

Sponsored Stories

Besides the usual ads, sponsored stories can also be purchased through Facebook Marketing. These are frequently the most interactive type of ads. They are, in reality, support and endorsement made by the user’s friends, and thus tend to get higher click-through and rates of engagement.

Once a person likes a certain page, it becomes an ad that appears onto other user’s new feed. This is more effective in some cases because the credibility of a recommendation from friends is likely to be higher.

There are certain types of stories ad. Some include page or place ad, which was mentioned earlier, the app story, game played or even event RSVP sponsored story. All of which work similarly, by showing who among your friends list are using the same app or going to the same event.

Beat Your Competitors with Facebook Marketing: Tips and Tricks

In a very competitive platform such as Facebook, many businesses and brand end up doing creative things just to win over their target market share. This vast social media site is all about competition, and to win over others, here are some this to consider in Facebook marketing:

Description, Thumbnail and Headline

If you’re going to use sponsored ads, maximize your chance to promote your brand. This can be done through many ways. First, you need to give your viewers an idea, in a concise way, through the Meta description. This is the short description that would appear next to your ad. Also, choosing the right thumbnail on your post is highly essential. When Facebook users browse through the site, they barely even notice the ads, unless the photo is highly striking, and would eventually catch their interest. More importantly, the ad title should be short, yet, appealing. You can try mixing up teaser style that would spark curiosity, or a full headline that would compel the reader to click.

Checking out other pages

To succeed in Facebook marketing, you need to follow other pages. This might seem like an odd tip, but by following and getting a benchmark from other similar pages, you can have an idea on the trends customer feedback and insights from their end. Moreover, you can also check the average likes and number of followers they have. This can be a good start on assessing your room for improvement.

Try not to post anything during the peak hours. Yes, you might be thinking that the most strategic time to post is when a lot of people are online. However, it is also during these times that the people’s new feed gets bombarded with stories, posts and links. By posting during non-peak hours, the tendency is that people would be seeing your post upon checking their feeds. This can be before 8am or after 6pm.

Creativity is key

Be creative on your posts. Again, following the trend is an important aspect in this part. Most people nowadays, share and repost photos that are exceptionally funny, motivating and provides insights. These photos come in forms of doodle photos, captioned photos or simply text photos. The trick here is to incorporate your brand well to the gist of every post.

Post questions

If you want to improve on your customer interaction, you need to ask some pools or survey to your followers. This is an easy way to increase likes, and improve engagement and also to hear out their ideas. It is ideal to ask questions that are open-ended, and are likely to stir up meaningful conversations among users. This might even invite more people to join the discussion, and like your page.

Digital Customer Care

Show that you care. Facebook is a very good platform to show how much you value customer insights, so you need to take advantage of this opportunity. Customers are more likely to trust a brand that could be easily reached through social media. You can do this by replying to comments, and showing that you immediately address issues and concerns raised by page followers.