Are you wasting your marketing dollars on Facebook?

If social media could be considered the latest frontier of business marketing, then Facebook could be considered on the front line of this evolution. Facebook is an incredible tool. It gives you the opportunity to reach an enormous audience, it’s a savvy platform that lets you speak to your potential customers, but also, it gives you the tools to measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Basically, what more could you ask for?

Despite these benefits, Facebook does have its critics. There are many brokerages and trading merchants who feel that marketing their services on Facebook is largely just a waste of time, with little to no turnaround for the amount of time and resources they invested into it.

The truth is, like any marketing effort, Facebook has to be approached smartly. Critical to its success, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to make your posts stand out amongst the avalanche of feeds that are perpetually falling.

Be genuine to your brand, but don’t just promote your product

A customer visiting your Facebook page or looking at your posts has to be able to immediately identify your company. You can do this by ensuring that every posts reflects your industry, your mission and your brand, even if the post is not directly focused on your product.

This helps customers get a clear idea of who you are and what you are all about, without being turned off by aggressive marketing. If you only choose to post promotional material, you may end up alienating your clients with posts that don’t serve their interests. If this wasn’t reason enough, Facebook just announced that they will be penalizing promotional posts, deprioritizing them so people will be less likely to see them.

Post frequently but don’t spam

As an organic post decreases in its engagements, it is often very enticing to post as frequently as possible. Studies have shown however, that the optimal frequency in which to post on Facebook is five times a day.  This frequency seems to strike a balance between ensuring that you are being seen on a feed without running the risk of potentially annoying your fans.

Engage with customer posts and don’t ignore negative feedback

The golden ticket behind all of social media marketing is a company’s willingness to engage with their audience and this is no less so the case on Facebook. It’s the building of an engaging and active community around your brand that will turn your audience into customers.

Make it a priority to respond to comments or questions that people post on your Facebook page, as these are valuable interactions with the potential of developing a sense of loyalty and trust with your clients.

Likewise, if you choose to ignore complaints, you will be doing so at your own risk and peril.  Addressing a complaint gives you a) the chance to defend yourself, b) shows that you do care about your client’s experiences but c) also gives you the chance to make it up to a disgruntled client. All with the benefit of potentially winning over a particularly loyal customer.

 Mix and match and don’t stop experimenting

One type of post will not appeal to all types of clients, while some may enjoy reading interesting or informative articles, others may prefer watching videos or looking at humorous banners. Therefore when it comes to Facebook marketing, best practice involves testing different types of posts and media and then following up by assessing which posts resonated best with your fans.

Of course one mainstay is your Facebook page. Make sure that your cover photo, pinned post and profile information are all coordinated to reflect your brand. After all, these features will form the first impression a visitor will have when checking out your page.