Facebook has been around for some time now, and to say that for every business to be truly successful needs a Facebook presence is a blatant understatement. However, Facebook is not the same as it was a decade ago. Since the social media giant entered the marketing space to the recently held F8 conference, it has evolved tremendously. Today, Facebook hosts 360-degree videos, chatbots to sell products, and is the news destination for two-thirds of the population. After the F8 and the revelations by Mark Zuckerberg, there are even better thing ahead in the future.
Currently, the number of daily active users on Facebook is 1.15 billion people i.e. five times the population of the US and 15 % of the world population. Every second, five new profiles are created on Facebook.
It is not the number alone that is astounding; the average time spent by a user on Facebook is 20 minutes a day. Considering the attention span of an average human – 8 seconds –, this is a great amount of time.
Facebook is the internet for many users; having said that, your business should reap the full benefits of Facebook. Forty-two per cent of businesses say that Facebook is essential for their business.
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Comparing marketing on different social media platforms
Marketing on Facebook
With 1.86 billion monthly users, Facebook is ahead of the pack in terms of potential customers for any business. The platform allows you to target the audience based on their interest. You can advertise your product or service directly to the specific groups related to your business.
A business can also choose demographics such as age, location, special interests, and household size. Facebook also allows a business to target specific niche such as the owners of parrots, dog lovers, etc.
Facebook offers versatility like no other platform. Whereas some platforms allow only images or have a limitation on characters, Facebook continues to be the best option as it is impartial to all type of content.
Facebook allows the business to incorporate direct contact details and call to action, making it easier for potential customers to get in touch with the business. If you thought this is great, wait till you hear this.
In the F8, Facebook revealed that buyers can now purchase items directly from the Facebook platform and sellers can ship products anywhere in the continental US. If you are product based business, this is great news and an opportunity to boost sales like never before.
Facebook analytics is the big plus for any business allowing you to track conversions, touchpoints, and engagement.
Marketing on Twitter
Twitter has a monthly user count of 313 million. While Facebook is great for advertisements, Twitter offers direct communication with the brand. Using the platform, customers can reach the brand directly with a tweet.
This can help businesses build a relationship with the customers and recognise the level of customer satisfaction with their product or services through direct feedback. To utilise the platform to the max, businesses must respond to consumer questions, feedback, and concerns.
Marketing on Instagram
Instagram is rapidly climbing the charts in popularity with 600 million monthly users. This is the prime destination to market your business. Facebook being the parent company, you can expect the same benefits in terms of targeting as with Facebook.
Unlike other platforms, where users are hesitant about sharing the post, Instagram users are 58 times more likely to share your post.
Advertising on Instagram is another lucrative option for a business. Images make more of a lasting impression than text alone.
Marketing on LinkedIn
LinkedIn might not be quite comparable to Facebook in terms of users. However, the platform is unparalleled if your business is involved in B2B sales. The 106 million monthly users that LinkedIn hosts are all associated with some or the other business. You will find everyone from the CEO to the executive level employee on the platform.
How do you use Facebook marketing to boost sales?
The first step for any business looking to benefit from Facebook is to build a fan base. Publicise the page and add the social media icon to your website’s blog.
After you have a significant following, it is important that you start posting updates and photos that demonstrate your product or services.
Apart from your product, post about activities and interests of consumers that relates to your business. This will encourage clicks, ‘likes’, shares, and comment. The more people engage with your business the more you will appear on others timeline. You should also post graphics of the occasional holidays.
Try to give back to the people through posts that add value to their life. People come here to have fun and communicate with friends and family. You would want your brand to blend into that picture. Do not be solely about selling your product; this could influence badly on your business.
Tool to market your Business: Facebook advertising
Advertising on Facebook is becoming quite popular among businesses. It pinpoints the exact demographics to advertise the product using the social graph and activities of the users, making Facebook one of the most effective destinations for advertising. A large number of businesses rely on Facebook for most of their leads.
By utilising Facebook, you do not waste your marketing budget on people who are not interested in your product and service, helping to deliver the advertisement to the right audience.
Correlation between Facebook and SEO
We all know the importance of SEO for a business, but did you know social media and SEO goes hand in hand. They are two peas in a pod. However, there are only a few marketers that utilise social media to assist their SEO efforts.
That is because they do not know how to integrate their Facebook marketing strategy and search engine optimisation.
In the digital marketing community, everyone knows that a strong social media presence boosts organic traffic for a website. however, no one knows the exact weight search engines give to social media.
Nevertheless, if you engage with customers on Facebook, the indirect benefits will be immense.
As Facebook is the giant among all social media, integrating it with your SEO efforts will provide scalable growth for your business.
Here are some ways you can use Facebook to enhance SEO
Leverage Facebook spending
Facebook advertising should not be thought of as a means of only selling products. Sure, you can accomplish that, but it is also a medium to communicate with the potential customers directly. Through the platform, you can establish an emotional connection with the audience.
As Facebook is such a popular website, advertising on the site will provide you with plenty of exposure. This can have an indirect impact on your organic search and do wonders for the website.
Link building
Social media does not provide dofollow links; however, the indirect effect of posting content on social media with the link to your site is common knowledge. When you post content leading back to your website, this content gets shared among people, on forums, blogs, articles, and other places on the web. Thus, generating tons of do follow backlinks that you could never achieve with traditional link building techniques.
All this sharing of your content will create traffic to your website, which in turn will allow you to secure more followers and more followers mean more shares the next time you post content. This way your business will scale rapidly.
Exposure
Facebook is visited by millions of people every day, advertising on the platform will provide your brand exposure that cannot be achieved with any other medium.
This will make your brand identifiable at a fraction of cost than television advertising. As your brands become popular, people will search for it more, and Google will become aware of your brand and presence. Once Google starts viewing you as a reputed, authoritative, and popular brand, it will reward you by providing a ranking boost.
Rank the Facebook profile on Google
Have you searched for a brand on Google? Ever notice how the Facebook profile ranks below the home page. People often visit the social media profile when they search for a brand. Ranking your Facebook profile on the search engine will help you get more followers. You can do this by updating the Facebook profile and providing a link to your website.
Conclusion
Facebook, with 1.86 billion monthly users and 1.15 billion daily users is a desirable destination for any business looking to market their product and services. The platform allows you to target your audience based on the preferred demographics for your product.
You can precisely target an audience who are most likely to buy your product or are interested in the product, which reduces ad spend and helps you make the most of your marketing budget. If you are not taking advantage of Facebook to boost your sales, what are you waiting for?
Authors Bio:
Harsh Cliff at Seoz – a leading SEO Brisbane Agency.
