Facebook for Marketing
Facebook provides a number of interesting marketing opportunities.
- Profile Page
- Groups
- Pages
- Events
- Social Adverts
Profile Page
Your profile page should be your starting point. It’s your landing page, so set one up but keep in mind the reason why you are there. You should shout about your passion for your subject (or product), but create the background story of why you are there and why you are doing what you are doing. New users will often return to your profile page to find out more about you.
Create a Group
Facebook has millions of members and it is possible, free and simple to set up a group where like minded individuals might meet and discuss their common interests or experiences. Like most social media opportunities, don’t assume that if you create something, they will come; it needs time and effort spent in cultivating conversations. After all it’s about being “social”.
Your group will allow you to start building your brand, and give your customers an opportunity to interact. As your group grows, it’s possible to email your group members to announce new products or events.
Create a page
Pages on Facebook are similar to groups, but a bit more flexible. They provide a way to add personal “content” (photos, video, discussions etc) and provide a space where users can interact and become your “fans”. Again, don’t assume it’s a quick and easy thing to achieve success. It takes time and effort. Adding a Facebook page is an important part of your company profile.
Events
If you are involved in events, creating an events page on Facebook is very easy and free. It gives you a page where you can add event information, create guest lists and build your event community.
Social Adverts
Facebook allows you to create, using a self serve system, targeted ads. You can pay for these on a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per 1000 views) basis and it offers very powerful targeting capabilities: for example, you can limit who sees your ad by age, sex, location, keywords, education level, workplaces, political views, and relationship status. Users who click, are passed through to the web page you define.
Setting up a Social Ad is very quick and provides real time feedback on the size of your target audience plus the suggested bid values to achieve impressions. You can set campaign caps to ensure you don’t go over budget.
