When you hear the words “social media” what’s the first social media network that pops into your mind?
The odds are pretty good it’s Facebook.
Even after we as marketers thought that everyone, everywhere had signed up for a Facebook account, the platform still continues to see new users sign up at the rate of a 13% increase year over year.
In fact, there are now around 1.6 Billion (that’s billion… with a “b”) monthly active users.
This is huge!
What this means for your business is that if you haven’t already, now is the time to join the masses and start promoting your business on the biggest social media network in the world.
(*** Also, I’m really excited to announce that I’ve just opened up enrollment for The FB Ads Lab! But enrollment will only be open for a very limited time! Click here or the link below for all the details…) 
Does Facebook Marketing Work For All Businesses?
By far the biggest objection I hear from entrepreneurs and business owners when it comes to the decision to start actively pursuing a Facebook marketing strategy is that it won’t work for their business.
But this simply isn’t the case… at all.
In my experience and research there are almost no exceptions where a business can’t benefit from a Facebook marketing strategy.
Facebook marketing has, and will continue to work for:
- Dentists
- Lawyers
- Bakeries
- Dog Walkers
- Web designers
- Cleaning Services
- Accountants
- Car dealerships
- Airlines
- Restaurants
- Food trucks
- Mobile paper shredding businesses
- Moving companies
I hope you see my point.
Even business-to-business industries can benefit from a Facebook marketing platform to further distribute their content, serve as another contact point for their clients, and establish their authority and expertise online.
Does Facebook Marketing Provide An ROI (return on investment)
Done right, absolutely.
Done wrong, not really.
The way to ensure you’re getting a positive ROI on your efforts is the same with Facebook as it is with all business and marketing strategies.
You need to have a plan. (A great place to start is the Modern Marketing Community. You can click here to visit and join now.)
Play The Long Game
Facebook marketing, just like all other forms of social media marketing needs to be focused on playing the long game.
Social media isn’t the place to actively spam and promote your business with little to no thought about the platforms and its users.
Rather, don’t be afraid to take the time to provide clear and consistent value to the marketplace.
Interact and engage with your current and potential customers and use social media to listen first, and talk second.
Each social media network has its own personality, written, and unwritten rules and codes of conduct, and the better your strategy fits into it, the better your results will be.
How To Maximize Your Facebook Marketing Efforts
The way to get the most out of your Facebook marketing plan is to first recognize the way that most people use the social network, and then creatively and thoughtfully create and curate content that flies below the advertising radar.
What this means is you want your content to appear natural, and not like an ad or promotion. The better you’re able to do this, the more clicks and engagement you’ll get.
Most people use Facebook to stay connected with family and friends, share helpful or entertaining pictures or videos, and generally breeze through the newsfeed pretty quickly.
They’re not there to be bombarded with advertisements.
This means the best way to get positive attention is to consistently post valuable (either educational or entertaining) content to your businesses Facebook page.
I like to recommend a 4-1 ratio of helpful vs promotional content.
So for every single piece of content you post about your business, try to post 4 pieces of non-promotional content, and ideally some from other experts or industry leaders in your field.
They likely have business Facebook pages too that you can check out, and share content from.
Don’t worry about creating content that goes viral and spreads like wildfire, rather, focus on providing genuinely valuable and entertaining content to your target market and they’ll let you know with their actions what they like best and what they want more of.
Over time you’re able to track what content performs best (so you can create more of it) and what performs poorly (so you can stop wasting time and money creating it).
Should You Advertise On Facebook
In short, yes.
Facebook Ads are one of the most robust, targeted, and lowest priced options available to businesses today.
Even a small dollar a day budget can provide increased reach for your brand or message.
If you’re just getting started there’s no easier way than to simply “boost” a post or two for a few dollars to see how it performs.
Over time to you can dive a little deeper into more targeted options but don’t let the advanced techniques stop you from implementing proven and simple starter tactics today.
Facebook Marketing Works
In the end, Facebook marketing just plain old works and should be a key part of your businesses online marketing strategy.
One friendly final reminder… The FB Ads Lab is now open for enrollment but we’re shutting down enrollment soon! Click here or the link below for all the details.
