In our fast-paced digital age, when looking for ways to promote your business, one of the first places you will probably consider is social media platforms – more specifically, Facebook. Some questions that you would consider are:

  • How is Facebook used to promote businesses?
  • Is the social network doing well or has it been affected by rumours and criticism by global regulators?
  • Is it valuable to you and your business?

As you are probably aware, there are many social network platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, which can also be used in their own way for business promotion. However, it’s clear to see that with over 1 billion active users, Facebook is, in fact, the biggest and most used social network worldwide.

As mentioned before, regulators have targeted the social media giant, potentially affecting the company’s reputation and even though it’s hard to predict the future of Facebook and generally all social media, this social network remains a major player in the market until this day.

Promoting your business through your Facebook Page

Prior to beginning your promotion, you first want to ensure your Facebook page is appropriately set up. It is highly recommended that you choose the name for your Page wisely – make it easy to find and as close to your brand name as possible. Additionally, make sure you include high-quality images for your profile and cover image.

Every Facebook Page is made with the aim of being successful. However, what success looks like on social media will vary based on your business goals, whether that is promoting new products, building brand awareness, increasing sales or collecting leads. Regardless of your goal, you need likes.

If you’re building a Page from scratch, consider sharing it with people you’re already connected to on Facebook. From your Page’s main screen, check out the section titled “Know friends who might like your Page?”.

Invite your colleagues and encourage them to share the page or invite their own friends to build more awareness. 

Refrain from buying likes, as this is very risky. Paid likes are unlikely to engage with your content, therefore the average user will likely question your credibility, as these accounts are usually fake or compromised accounts.

Finally, be active! This is the best way to gain Page likes to build an engaging community. You can achieve this by posting helpful and/or entertaining content that your followers will want to read and share. Make an effort to respond to messages quickly and interact with comments on your posts. This will earn you a “very responsive to messages” badge.

Maintaining a Strong Presence

In some cases, your posts may not show in your audience’s news feed unless you pay to promote them, but this doesn’t mean you should stop posting on your business page. There is a reason for this.

Users today often use Facebook and other social networks as search engines to gather further information about companies. Usually, the information that will come up first would be contact info, operation hours.

Creating a Facebook Marketing Strategy

The first step to creating your Facebook marketing strategy is to identify your audience. To do this, take a look at your followers to determine the type of persona your business attracts. You should also evaluate your competitors’ Pages, being mindful of their visual quality, post frequency and post engagement (likes/comments/shares). Additionally, you can also use the Audience Insights that Facebook offers.

Once you have the above figured out, create your strategy calendar. This is the tricky part! Usually, when strategizing, you should determine which days and times fit your audience best, and create the appropriate content. Creating your own content befitting your brand is of utmost importance but also challenging to people who do not have the appropriate skills and knowledge. That’s where a digital agency steps in!

Using a Digital Agency for your Facebook Marketing

When opting for paid ads on Facebook, things can get a bit tricky. At Web Theoria, our team consists of content writers, digital designers and, of course, the marketers. We create customized visual material espoused with the appropriate content, as well as a detailed strategy for our campaigns, tailor-made to befit our clients’ needs.

As a professional digital agency, we take into account target demographics which includes information like location, age, gender and language. Furthermore, we consider budget allocation, ad format and time/days in which to post for optimum engagement.

Successful Facebook Marketing Examples

Despite what has been already discussed in this article, there are still questions as to whether there is any value to Facebook advertising. While there are all aware of the other social platforms out there, Facebook still remains the giant with over 1 billion active users.

However, a question that you might ask yourselves is, with millions of brands on Facebook, how can you make yours stand out?  Below are 3 examples that take their Facebook marketing to the next level. An important thing to note is that the strategies used by these major players can be used by any company out there. You don’t have to be Nike or Microsoft to be successful.

1) Nike

Number of Likes: 22.6 million

Nike is arguably one of the biggest brand names out there. They have a marketing budget that a lot of companies can barely begin to fathom. Yet when it comes to their Facebook presence, they don’t over-emphasize the need to buy their products.

Even though Nike is such a household name, they still have competitors, therefore you would think the competitive nature of the industry would encourage them to step up their promotions. But they don’t have to. They have established and continue to maintain a strong brand image, which resonates throughout their Facebook page. They have quite possibly the most famous slogan out there, so they grab onto that popularity and incorporate it in their cover photo, photos shared, and through a branded hashtag.

Nike’s Facebook page is a balance of new products, science, charitable initiatives, and encouragement. One way they differentiate themselves from their major competitors is by emphasizing the research and development that goes into every design. Their products are seen as the result of extensive engineering or science experiments, which evoke the idea that these items are cutting-edge and high quality.

Another effective strategy for Nike is that they have established separate pages for each of their product lines to better target their different markets. From basketball to golf to snowboarding to women’s products, Nike likely has a page that will target your interests. Their ability to manage an “umbrella” account on top of many others and maintain a consistent image is truly remarkable. It speaks to how well they not only know their audience but what their brand is all about.

2) Nature Valley

Number of Likes: 1.4 million

It seems like one of the biggest challenges due to the prevalence of technology is getting people to actually go outside. We spend most, if not all, of our day inside glued to our computers, smartphones, and TVs. Nature Valley is trying to change all of that. They’ve successfully utilized their Facebook page to promote getting outside, as well as lightly market their granola bars and snacks as part of a healthy lifestyle. The majority of their posts are pictures of nature, outdoor activities, and exercise tips, rather than just product promotion.

They position their marketing in a way that focuses much more on enjoying the outdoors versus just getting some whole grains in your diet. Their most recent Facebook campaign is around the hashtag #getoutthere, which promotes this philosophy while also linking to technology. Most people probably aren’t going to leave their phone inside all day while they go for a hike or bike ride, and Nature Valley acknowledges that by playing to the consumer’s need to be connected while promoting a healthy lifestyle. They encourage fans to share photos of the activities they do with Nature Valley products in their bag, providing an interactive element while simultaneously marketing their products.

In addition to these fan-shared images, Nature Valley has a gallery of breath-taking nature photos from around the world that you can download and use as your Facebook cover photo. They have already been sized to the proper dimensions, so they’re ready to use for your Facebook profile or computer desktop background. It’s another way to keep this “get out there” idea in the consumer’s mind.

3) Microsoft

Number of Likes: 6.2 million

When you’re marketing a new technology to customers, it can be easy to get into a “tech-speak” frame of mind, and that type of language is likely to go over many heads. It doesn’t exactly welcome engagement or discussion amongst followers and fans. Microsoft has found a way to bridge this gap through emphasizing visual content and avoiding too much tech talk.

They know that their primary audience on Facebook is going to be typical consumers like you and me, and compose their messages accordingly. Their latest Facebook campaign is around the hashtag #5to9, which focuses on what you do with your time outside of the office. They also take common workplace acronyms, like PTO and ETA, and change them into non-work-related phrases. This strategy emphasizes work-life balance, while also showing how Microsoft products can be used for both work and play.

Microsoft has been modernizing its brand over the past couple years, updating its logo and introducing new products like Bing, the Surface, and Windows 8. These products are a far cry from the early Microsoft that came on the market. With that has come to a new marketing strategy, heavily focused on social media and video. Sure, Apple is a major player in the technology industry, but they barely use Facebook or social media.

Microsoft has effectively used this to their advantage by creating an engaging page that is easy to understand. For those who don’t comprehend technology lingo (like me), this approach is quite refreshing. Microsoft proves that even the most intellectual of industries can appeal to everyone if you can bring things down to a “human” level.

Conclusion

From our own experience and based on the case studies mentioned above, the foundation of any successful marketing campaign is to stay true to the company foundation. Taking cues from other successful campaigns, we can conclude that there are three things to look out for:

  1. Find what makes you unique from the competition and play off that.
  2. Strategize and conceptualize your campaign and general online presence meticulously.
  3. Be real. People want to engage with real, authentic people and content.

To start your own successful Facebook marketing campaign, get in touch with us for your consultation!

Case Study examples and images by Hubspot

Published on November 14, 2019