How to use Facebook to promote your small business in four steps

Facebook started out as a social media aimed at private individuals, but it has evolved into a major factor in the success of businesses, especially for those who want to use it to advertise. Before you dive into using Facebook to increase your small business' visibility, it is important to understand how to use it effectively. Here are four starting tips to use Facebook to increase your online presence and business.

Advertising on Facebook

Promoting your small business on Facebook requires a well-defined, specific marketing and communications strategy in advance.

Start by defining the goals for your page and your ads. Is your aim to increase your visibility, attract customers into your store, convert prospects into customers, or to find new business partners?

You will then need to identify your target audience by considering the type of audience that your products and services are aimed at. The answer to this question will enable you to identify the features offered by Facebook that are most likely to be useful: video content for young audiences, an informative text descriptions for older age groups, for example.

You should define your editorial strategy in the same way. For instance, we recommend that you stick to one or two posts per day on Facebook, so choose strategic times of day: on weekdays, this means between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Don’t think twice about automating your posts to save time.

Optimizing your page and your profile

If you’re going to use Facebook with the goal to promote your small business, you’ll need to create a high-quality page. Even though there is no universally-applicable definition of what constitutes a good profile or a good page, there are some general rules that we would like to advise you to stick to:

• The profile photo and the background image (banner). Use professional photos – but without going over the top. Aim instead for a fresh and subtle look! The two images must convey a coherent message together.
• Consistent design graphics (across different social networks and on your website, if applicable).
• An introduction to your business. It must be concise and should only contain the most important details about your business.
• Don’t overlook keywords: ensure that you use consistent language and vocabulary (both in terms of the text on your website and with keywords that are specific to your industry).
• Use images (or any other media) that show the products that you create.

“Local awareness” campaigns

Facebook launched its “local awareness” option in 2014, created specifically to address the small business and entrepreneur markets.

The idea is simple: your advertising is displayed and viewed by an audience that is located within a limited radius that you specify in advance (10 meters, 10 kilometers, etc.).

What makes this so compelling is the fact that the advertising is completely customizable. You could, for example, use CTAs such as “plan the route” “call now” and many more. You can also select a target customer base, filtering by demographic data such as age and sex.

All advertising is therefore created with a view to engaging on a local level, which is guaranteed to increase your number of visitors.

Whatever the area in which you operate, bear in mind that the primary aim of this kind of advertising is to encourage internet users to visit your store. Your ads must, therefore, be constructed to bring about this goal.

Our favorite features for marketing your small business or entrepreneurship activity on Facebook

A. The business toolkit

Facebook offers a range of tools that are a real goldmine for small businesses. For example, you’ll find the a-b-c guide of how Facebook ads work, advice on how to promote your page, and instructions explaining how to use Facebook Insights, which we will discuss later.

B. Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights is an audience measurement tool, which is particularly useful for small businesses that wish to advertise: promoting a business demands a detailed understanding of the impact that your page has. You can access the demographic data of those who have liked your page, as well as learn about their purchasing behavior.

C. The “Services” tab

The “Services” tab, which is now built into your page, enables you to share the products that you create, and there’s no better way to promote your business than to promote your creativity, your expertise, and the story of your business.

D. Offer creation

Finally, you have the option of creating special promotional offers and incorporating them into your page. The process is fully automated and enables you to offer your customers deals such as discounts and happy hours, which is an excellent way to expand your customer base!

By now, you will appreciate that Facebook is perfectly positioned for use in a business context. By combining a website and a high-quality Facebook page, you will have laid the foundations for success. As a side note, Heek supports integrating social media widgets into your website.