Relationship status: It’s complicated.

Facebook is complicated. Which is why you’ve probably been neglecting it since the day you created your business page.

Understandably so! From figuring out the many steps of setting up your page, to finding your ideal audience, to deciding what sort of content to be posting: navigating this platform can feel messy and completely overwhelming. And that’s not even mentioning the countless new features Facebook is frequently adding to its line up.

Which is why today we’ve decided to dedicate an entire blog post to Facebook. In this post, we’ll walk you through the best practices you need to focus on, so you can get a strategy in place without dealing with all the overwhelm. So if you’re ready to finally have a manageable Facebook strategy, read our eight easy tips on how to make the most out of this platform:

1. Set up your Profile - Link to blog post

• You might be thinking “I’ve already set up my page” and be tempted to skip to the next tip, but hold on! Have you REALLY set up your profile, filling in your about section, writing your “story”, and setting up a call to action button?
• If the only thing you have done to set up your page is upload a cover and profile photo and put in your contact information, we’d recommend reading our blog post ___________, which makes sure you have the most complete and engaging profile possible.
• And if you have filled in more than just the basics, we’d still recommend reading through this post. There may be a few things you missed that will go a long way in making the best first impression possible for a potential customer landing on your page!

2. Know your audience and your goals

• The most important thing (after setting up your profile) is knowing who you’re actually talking to. You need to get crystal clear on who your ideal client is so that you can create an effective marketing strategy around that information.
• You also need to decide what your goals are with Facebook: do you want to get more likes? Do you want to direct traffic from Facebook to your website? Knowing who you’re talking to can help you figure out how to implement your strategy in the most effective way, without wasting time on strategies that aren’t suited to your ideal clients.
• This also goes hand in hand with our next tip, which is:

3. Share relevant content

• Once you know who you’re talking to, and your reason for talking to them, the next step is creating and sharing content that is highly relevant to that purpose. When you are not clear with your messaging, your audience won’t know if your product/service is for them or if they are supposed to take specific actions on your page. Confused audiences are never a good thing, because they won’t take the action you want them to and they might even look elsewhere for the service or product you are offering!

Consider these two scenarios:

1. A real estate agent is targeting individuals or couples who are looking to buy a new house. Her target market is in the “house hunting mode”, and so they’re willing to devote an hour or two every day looking through house listings on realtor websites. Because of this, the agent will find a lot of success with directing her target market to the listings on her website whenever she posts about a new home on her Facebook Page, because the customer is in the mindset of wanting to take the time to find the perfect home.
2. In comparison, a blogger who creates quick, easy recipes that even kids will like most likely has a target market of busy parents looking for a quick meal their kids won’t hate. Time is a luxury for stay at home parents, so they won’t have the time, or even be interested in, clicking a link to read the blogger’s next blog post. Instead, the blogger would find a lot more success with posting a quick three minute video showing the recipe steps with a quick description of the recipe in the caption. Her clients will begin to look to her as a go-to source for easy, healthy meals and will be more inclined to like her page so they can stay up to date on the newest recipe the blogger shares on her page.

Both examples have very different customers, but because the blogger and realtor are crystal clear on who their target market is and what they want, they know the sort of content they need to post in order to make their strategy a success.

4. Switch up your content

• Being crystal clear on your messaging, though, doesn’t mean your content needs to always be the same. Content needs to be engaging so customers want to pay attention and interact with what you’re sharing and the best way to do this is to make your feed interesting by changing up the content.
• If you always share photos, try out video! Facebook Live or Facebook Stories are easy ways to start. Rather than just sharing your products, give a virtual tour of your studio space or highlight a recent customer. Another great option are polls and surveys, as this allows you to gather immediate, direct feedback from your customers. We love this type of content because it can go a long way in inspiring brand loyalty.
• Always remember the purpose behind your content, though, and make sure whatever you’re sharing (and however you’re sharing), it is still relevant to your customer.

5. Communicate and interact with your customers often

• Did you know that 1 in 3 customers go to a competitor if they’re ignored on social media and yet 89% of social messages are ignored by brands?1 With 34.5% of users choosing social media as the top choice for customer service1, it is critical your Facebook page is an open avenue for customers to not just talk to you, but have a conversation WITH you.
• Having polls and surveys is a good start, but also make sure you are responding to comments and direct messages as quickly as possible (whether it’s a complaint or a thank you). Letting your customer know that they are heard, regardless of their reason for reaching out, can make a HUGE impact on how loyal they are to your brand.

6. Post frequently and regularly

• This tip is a simple way to also build the “know, like, and trust” factor with your audience. By posting frequently and at a regular time, customers can learn more about you with each new post (know), determine whether they want to continue following you (like), and decide to come to you first when they are in need of your product and service (trust).
• Posting infrequently and always at different times makes it hard for your customer to get to know your brand and trust it, so make sure you include frequent posting into your strategy.

7. Use ads wisely

• You may have heard more than a few people complain how they wasted money on Facebook Ads with little to no gain, and so you’re determined to not waste your time with Ads. But while, Facebook Ads CAN be a waste of money, we would argue it’s only if you don’t use them correctly, meaning you don’t get SUPER specific about the audience you want the ad to target. Think of it this way:
• Let’s say you sell princess crowns. You hear of a community event that everyone in the city will be attending, so you decide to give the city $100 so you can set up a booth. With tens of thousands of people attending, you’re BOUND to sell your crowns, right? However on the day of the event, it’s crowded with customers from every walk of life: dog lovers, senior citizens, car lovers, and farmer’s market aficionados. You make a couple of sales to a few little girls, but for the most part, they’re lost in the crowd and don’t even know your booth exists.
• A week later, you decide to again spend $100 on a booth, but this time at a much smaller renaissance faire. There are only a couple 1,000 people at the faire, but every other person is dressed up as a princess. You have a steady stream of customers all day who love what you’re selling and know exactly where to go to find you.
• It’s exactly the same with Facebook Ads. If you aren’t specific, you are throwing your money into a crowd, with no easy way for the few target clients to find you. But if you narrow that crowd, it suddenly becomes a lot easier for them to find you! Plus, with the ability to target your ideal client based on interests and demographics (with the exception of some industries, like banking, housing, and automotive), you can introduce your page to a broader range of potential followers that you may not have been able to reach without the use of ads.

8. Check in with your Analytics Frequently

1. So now we’ll end with perhaps one of the greatest features of a Facebook page (and perhaps the most underutilized): insights and analytics. Consulting your Insights page frequently and taking your analytics into account while creating your strategy can help you understand what sort of content you need to be sharing because you can understand anything from the demographics of your follower base, to when they are online, to which posts they engaged with the most.
2. Knowing this information can help you understand when to post and what sort of content you need to be sharing more of, which can, as we’ve mentioned several times before, build the “know, like, and trust” factor with both existing and potential followers. And when they trust you, they become the loyal, repeat customers you’ve been searching for.

Social media is hard to navigate, and all these new features can make you feel like a college freshman sitting in a Physics 303 class. But by following the tips outlined in this blog post, you now know where you should be focusing your Facebook efforts in 2020. We recommend tackling each of these tips one at a time and before you know it, you’ll have a robust marketing strategy in place that is tailor made for your company and your customers, without ever feeling overwhelmed. So let us know which tip you’re going to start implementing first in the comments below!

1 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/q2-2016/