Social media marketing is a broad category under the big umbrella of digital marketing. It of course encompasses many social networks, like Facebook, Instragram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc. And there are so many ways—paid and organic—to build your following, brand awareness and authority, leads, and sales.
If, like so many, your brand has a Facebook business page where you regularly or occasionally make some posts (hopefully a mix of valuable information and, to a much lesser extent, self-promotional content) but don’t do much else, you’re missing out on all sorts of ways to market yourself.
So, here are some ideas for marketing your brand on Facebook. We’ve included a variety of tactics and activities you can try for free or little cost, so any brand will find social media marketing strategies that can be easily implemented. Experiment and remember to measure the results, and you’re sure to hit upon some winning efforts. Once you decide which are the most worthwhile, tweak your approach based on what you learn, and you’ll see increasing success.
Social Media Marketing Activities to Try on Facebook
- Grow your audience with Page Like ads. Having lots of page likes on your Facebook business page isn’t the end-all of social media marketing—and it’s really only valuable if the likes are from people who care about what you do—but it’s a great form of social proof. There are so many ways to target people, and you can experiment even spending just a dollar or two per day.
- Offer discounts or small give-aways. Create occasional posts with some urgency by announcing short-lived specials to your Facebook audience. Offering half off on a certain item for the day, for example, can get people into your store on a slow day or to make an impulse purchase on your website. You can try things like giving a secret code word people have to say when they pay to make your followers feel more like they’re getting benefits from connecting with your brand and paying attention to your posts.
- Shine a spotlight on your company culture. There are a number of ways to do so, and it’s great for building relationships+ and trust with consumers, and for attracting new talent to your organization. Read more in our post on showing off your company culture on social media.
- Highlight your happy customers. Invite your followers to share pictures of themselves using your products or services. Ask them to create quick video testimonial or record themselves talking about why they love your brand. Share customer reviews in posts. There are plenty of approaches to showing how you delight your users, and this is always one of the most compelling, believable types of endorsements.
- Boost engagement and collect useful data with Facebook’s polling feature. Creating polls is quick and easy on Facebook. Ask your audience about things they like and don’t like relevant to your industry to gain insights into your target market. People love chiming in with their opinions, and they also like being quizzed; using polls to see what your followers believe about issues pertinent to your field are a great way to increase engagement.
- Use Facebook’s live streaming video capabilities. Go live to give behind-the-scenes tours at your office or facility, to broadcast events, to show customers enjoying your products or services, to introduce employees, or to otherwise give your audience a unique glimpse into your brand and what makes it special.
- Interact directly with your audience. Too many brands overlook the “social” in social media, but the ability to have conversations with followers is a great opportunity to build relationships and trust, and to convert followers into fans. Ask your audience questions in your posts (which is a good way to boost engagement), and when they answer, respond to start discussions. Use Facebook Messenger for customer service (assuming you can respond promptly). Invite your followers to caption photos or share stories. There are endless ways to foster direct interaction, and doing so is a basic, effective way to use Facebook for social media marketing.
