Facebook Marketing Strategy - The Ultimate Guide to Using Facebook for Marketing in Your Business

Sinceeveryone is on Facebook these days, having a Facebook Marketing Strategy in place is as important as having a website. This post will walk you through all you need to know about creating an effective Facebook Marketing Strategy. We will discuss what industries Facebook is best for, introduce different ways you can use Facebook to market your business (different Facebook products), and finally discuss how you can achieve highest conversions on Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups.

Introduction to Facebook by Adam Paciorek

Adam Paciorek is a serial entrepreneur and a social media expert.  CEO of Altico LTD, author of “How to get 1000 Real Twitter Followers in 25 Days or Less. A Step by Step Formula” and social media marketing consultant for some really big brands.Facebook is likely the most well known social network in the world. The story of its foundation by Mark Zuckerberg among with couple of fellow Harvard University students has captivated many following start-up founders.As there is a lot of changes going on with how Facebook works and how its advertising platform works, this section will focus on couple less known ways to use Facebook - Company Pages and Groups as well as Audience Insights. Both of those allow you to gather the initial community of customers and learn more about them.

Getting started on Facebook. Different Facebook Products - Facebook Profiles, Pages and Groups

When it comes to creating your communities, Facebook is not a one-size-fits-all service. There are different options when creating a home for your brand, business or product. Namely: a profile, a Page and a Group.

Facebook Profile

You might be most familiar with the profile - you probably already have it for your personal use. You might have also noticed that some people, especially for personal branding reasons, started to use their own profiles for purely business reasons. They totally gave up on using it to share personal information.That can work well if you are fully committed and happy to resign from using Facebook like most users.

Facebook Pages

Another option is Facebook Page. A product designed specifically for businesses. It is a much formal presence.Facebook pages nowadays are almost as popular as websites - since everyone is on Facebook these days, almost all businesses want to have a Facebook page for social proof!The result? There are over 90 million Facebook Pages!

How to stand out in the face of so much competition?

Below, we are going to discuss how you can create a Facebook Page, and how you can make your Facebook Page more valuable to your potential customers - and stand out from the crowd!

How to create a Facebook Page?

Creating a Facebook Page is super-easy. Simply go to your Facebook Profile, and click on pages on the right hand side menu:

Then, you will see a list of the pages you have liked. On the top-right you will see a small call to action 'Create Page':

Then, you will have a choice between creating a Facebook Page for a Business/ Brand or for a Community / Public Figure:

Click on 'Get started' under the right selection - and move on to filling your Facebook Page with relevant information!

Filling information on your Facebook Page

Setting up a page is similar to a personal profile - the key is to provide as much information as you can, so as to make your page more searchable.

After filling in the basic information:

• Your pages name
• Category (industry)
• Address
• Phone number

You will be asked to upload the profile photo and cover photo for your page. These are important marketing tools so it's vital to get them right!

The right sizes for the profile photo and cover photo for your Facebook Page are as follows:Profile photo – 170 x 170 pixelsCover photo – 820 x 462 pxYou can easily create the graphics in the right sizes using Postfity.com - simply link your Facebook Page and create a Cover Photo:

Or you can use templates from Canva.com

Changing your Facebook Page covers as a way to promote e.g. product launches or events 

Do you know that changing your Facebook Page cover can be a great marketing tool in its own right? You can use Facebook Covers as a way to promote e.g. product launches or events.After linking your Facebook Page to your Postfity account, you can create and schedule Facebook Cover Photos for different events/ occassions directly in the tool:  

For example: 

How to wow the visitors of your Facebook Page? Create a Messenger greeting!

Following all the changes to Facebook algorithm, many administrators of Facebook business pages have seen the reach of their posts drop drastically.Still, Facebook pages are a must-have marketing tool and you can increase the organic reach of your posts significantly by using the right kind of posts. Before we move on to how to boost organic reach on your Facebook page, let's finish with the page set up!You can set up Messenger welcome messages for everyone who lands on your page.To create a Messenger greeting:

1. Click Settings at the top of your Page.
2. Click Messaging in the left column.
3. Next to Show a Messenger greeting, click to select On.
4. Click Change, edit the greeting, then click Save. 

Once you start seeing results with engagement on your automatic greeting for your page, you can explore more advanced setups and create a simple chatbots that help your visitors with the most common questions. This topic is a bit more advanced but, if you are interested, have a look into services like Chatfuel (https://chatfuel.com/), Botsify (https://botsify.com/) or OnSequel (https://www.onsequel.com/). 

What to post on your Facebook Page for the highest organic reach?

As we already mentioned, organic reach on Facebook pages is in decline. According to BuzzSumo, Facebook engagement declined by 20% from January to July 2017. This went down even further since January 2018, whenMark Zuckerberg announcedthat Facebook was limiting the number of posts from business pages people see on their walls. According toWolfgang Digital, the organic reachdeclined by a further 34% since then.However - the organic reach of posts depends on the kind of posts you publish on your Facebook page.According to Buzzsumo, the besttype of post for organic reach is, as follows: 

1. video - the best video length is 3-4 minutes. 
2. question
3. photo
4. giveaway
5. and finally - links and coupons. 

[caption id="attachment_12961" align="alignnone" width="800"]

Source: buzzsumo-video-content-by-industry[/caption]Naturally, Facebook doesn't want you to take people away from Facebook - so external links will be at disadvantage.What to post instead? Include call to actions in videos or post links to external websites in comments rather than in the body of your post. That way you will not be reducing your post reach.

Facebook Groups

The final, and probably the most interesting option that Facebook currently offers are Facebook groups. Those are communities of real users that are directly linked to your business page. Given that organic reach and engagement in Facebook groups are still higher than on Facebook pages, they can be a great part of your Facebook Marketing Strategy.

Creating a Facebook group is really easy as well: 

 To link a group that you admin to your Page:

1. From your News Feed, click Pages in the left menu and select your Page.
2. Click the Groups tab in the left column, if it's visible. If it's not visible, manage your Page's tab and sections and then go back to your Page and click the Groups tab.
3. Click Link Your Group.
4. Click Link next to the group you want to link your Page to.
5. Click Link Group to confirm.

Let’s now have a look at 21 tips to help you master any Facebook groups you're managing.How to grow it? How to increase engagement? How to use your business groups for growing business?Due to the current Facebook mechanisms, even groups that have just hundreds of members are still getting way more activity and engagement than a Facebook page that has over a hundred thousand people.A well-managed Facebook group can be extremely useful for any business.Growing you Facebook group:

1. Make it as easy as possible to join - make it a part of a step-by-step process for example placing a link to the group on your homepage, right after subscribing to your newsletter or as a part of promotion like “Join our Facebook group for a chance to win X”
2. Insert a link at the end of your emails. This can be done automatically through the signature sections in most email service clients
3. Create a short link to your group -  so it's easy for people to get there. For example, you can setup a redirect from a domain yourbusiness.com/community to point to your Facebook group. It is easy for you to remember, easy for other people to remember too, especially if you're mentioning it on a podcast or a video.
4. Mention that shortlink organically - through other content you're already creating.
5. Link multiple Facebook groups that you own together - to do this, all you have to do is go to a different group (2) than the one you want to promote (1), go to “More”, click on “Link existing group”. Then choose the group (1) you want to promote. It will then become recommended in group (2).
6. Feature a community member - simply mention them, and what they said in your blog posts or videos.That way you will let viewers know that there is a community around your brand and that you value it a lot. More will join. You can find the most engaged users in “Group Insights” -> “Top Contributors” section of the admin panel.

Increasing engagement: Sidenote: The majority of members of the group will be just watching and reading comments. This group is called “Lurkers” and can be even around 90% of the whole group. They can still become customers. From time to time you can call them out in the friendly way - such as “Hello to all our Lukers who never posted yet, please introduce yourself in the comment sections below this post.” and an image.OK, back to the list

1. Send a personal message to the top contributors in the group - you already know how to find them. Thank them personally, maybe even invite them to become admins of the group. You will not only make the most engaged users, your top fans, feel better but also free up some of your time
2. Engage your audience by showing them” behind the scenes” of the business - that works really well. Group members feel really involved with your brand. Those can be photos of early sketches of your product, introduction to the team members etc.
3. Give a choice for your group members - if you are ever working on something new and you have multiple options to choose from, share those options with your group members. Ask them which option they like more. You will get some valuable feedback from top fans and it's going to increase the engagement.
4. Share an actionable quick win - if relevant for your offering, give some simple actionable advice. Like a short blog post just for your members. If you get a lot of positive feedback, then it might be worth converting that content to a longer blog post, a video or even a product.
5. Run a poll -  Running a poll, let’s say once a month is great because people love to select their favorite answer or answers to questions that you have. It can be a source of very valuable insight for your business. The simplest one could be “What are you currently mostly struggle with in your business?” or “What shall we focus on in our next version?”
6. Do a live video for your group members -  if possible, do it regularly. It will work great for increasing your authority. Come in with a specific topic in mind or just go on to say “thank you” and “hello” to people. Going live on Facebook is not very easy. All you have to do is go into your group and click “Live video”. Then the system is going to access your camera and microphone and you are ready. It can be only couple of minutes long.
7. Control the spam posts in the group by letting it all happen in one spot - regularly create a post (you can schedule it in Buffer) where members can post links to interesting things they found in the comments section. That can really clean up the group and make it most valuable. You can call it “Linking Monday Thread” or something similar. If someone violates this rule and posts somewhere else, politely let them know that there will be a post where they can share their content soon.
8. Show members how they can get notified when new posts are posted - You can create a short introductory video or show a screenshot with an arrow pointing to the notifications box that's right under the cover photo of the group and then click on “highlights” or “all posts”. This will ensure they will see posts from your group in their feed.
9. Be social - visit your group often, join conversations and respond to comments. Your community will be very engaged thanks to those small acts of kindness. Remember, the key to Social Media is being social.
10. Use 'Weekly Thread Posts' that allow people to contribute/ share link to their websites/ social media profiles in the comments. E.g.:
11. Monday Motivation - share your favourite motivational quote!
12. Promo Tuesday - promote your business/ website in the comments! 
14. Wednesday with Social Media  - share your Facebook Page/ Instagram account/ Twitter in the comments 
16. Thursday tip - share a business tip with your audience !
18. Friday success - share your success of the week with us! 

Using groups to as a part of Facebook Marketing Strategy in your business:

1. Use “Group Insights” - Facebook collects a lot of data on your group members. They share some of it with group owners. All you have to do is go to your group and click “group insights” on the left-hand side. Spend some time here, you might find information helpful for your future content, potential business partnership opportunities and locations for events.
2. Crowdsource case studies and testimonials - Simply ask group members to share their stories of using the products. Then, ask the best ones if you can actually use them in on your website and other promotion materials. The majority of people will be happy to help you.
3. Create events for  product launches - use Facebook Events functionality and promote them in your group. That way member’s networks will also be informed about your products.
4. Validate business ideas - literally ask what you are considering doing. Then invite everyone who provides a positive comment to opt into the pre-launch list or even pay a pre-sale deposit.
5. Use your Facebook group to grow your email list - Facebook might change its algorithms, might even disappear altogether. Here are some ways how to do it:
6. Create a cover photo offering a free guide, add it to your Facebook group. Include a clear link where to go to get it.
7. Do giveaways and say "Comment below if you want it" - private message each commenter (you can only pm about 25-50 people a day with an external link to an opt-in page)
8. Set up questions for new members - So you can collect answers from people even before they get access to the group. Just click on “more” -> “edit group settings” then scroll to “membership requests” -> “Ask Questions”. You can ask things like “What is your email?” “How did you hear about us?” or “What is your goal for joining?”. That will help you not only adjust your content to meet group members’ needs but also find some potentially interesting partnerships.

The list above can look like a lot of work. Please treat it like a menu of options and first choose couple of those ideas and see what works best for your community.

How to grow your Facebook group/ page to 1000 members/ followers organically? - By Dagna Banas

About DagnaDagna, a Polish medical doctor-turned-business blogger, grew her successful information product business around her blog in just 18 months. Having amassed 20,000 Facebook group members and 7,000 email subscribers, she was able to quit her job and support her family exclusively from her blogging and infoproduct business.

Summary – How to grow your Facebook group, email list and information products business?

• Ask friends to join your Facebook group in private messages
• Ask them to invite 5-10 more friends to the group who may find it valuable
• Ask new group members to add 5-10 more friends to the group in the ‘welcome new members!’ post
• Your email list is your number 1 sales tool - use your Facebook group to promote your newsletter: by mentioning it to the new members in the ‘welcome post’ and by mentioning it to the new members in the ‘questions’ you can ask to people signing up

Dagna's story of growing a Facebook group to 20,000 membersHow did I attract new people to the group?On the first day since I launch the group, 100 fantastic women joined it. It was the result of sending private messages to friends with an invitation to the group and a request to invite friends who could also benefit from this group. It was an amazing surprise for me that only within one day such a big group of people joined the group. As of today, there are 20,000 of us. From the very beginning, the group has been very engaged and active, but I have also worked hard to build these engagement levels. Before I started the group, I read and watched everything I found on the web about running engaged groups on Facebook. I created a schedule of recurring posts (with a different topic for each day of the week) and I tried to actively contribute in the group. I also did regular lives on topics related to running a business, which provided additional value for the group members.As for promotion of the group - of course, I promoted it on my blog, as well as on Facebook (mainly in other business groups on days when promo-posts were allowed). I am also recording a podcast "smart female business" in which I mention the group and encourage the listeners to join. In addition, because I was interested in expanding the group, I asked the group members (whom I refer to as "Szczęściary" – the “lucky ones”) to invite their friends to the group several times, which usually resulted in an influx of quite a few new members). In the post, in which I welcome new members who have recently joined the group, I also ask people to share information about the group with someone valuable, which usually results in 5-10 new people invited by a new member of the group, but not everyone does it.But apart from the group, I think that a much more important tool in my (but also any other) online business is the mailing list. My list is currently 7,000 people, which I think is a big success, because I've been building it for only a year and a half.First of all, my list existed as long as the blog. I build it sometimes with more, sometimes with less engagement, but new people appear on it every day. I build the list using the so-called freebie, or a mini-course "Business inspirations", which is an e-mail course and consists of short business tips sent for 10 consecutive days that I send to a newly registered person and that can help them in running their business. I opted for a model which involves sending messages every day in spite of warnings ("it’s too often, people will be unsubscribing" etc ...) because I wanted my list to consist of people interested in messages from me, getting to know me as a person and really having a relationship with me, which is difficult to achieve at a lower frequency of contact. So far this system has been working (for more than a year now), and I’m still receiving emails thanking me for "Business Inspirations", which makes me very happy.The Facebook group certainly helped me in building the email list, because in the welcome posts I have been encouraging the new members to sign up for "Business inspirations" email course. In the past used to use the "questions for people wanting to join the group" option to encourage new group members to sign up for my newsletter instead, placing information about the possibility of subscribing to the newsletter there. However, there is no option to create a clickable link in the questions, which is why I gave up.

Posting on Facebook - what to post for best engagement rates?

We already know that videos and images should be the backbone of your Facebook Marketing Strategy.

We also know that the videos should be 3-4 minutes in length for highest engagement.But what exactly should you post in your videos to make most out of them for your business?The key is that you create your own, original video content that has a good monetisation logic (is logically linked with your product/ service and makes the people watching it want to check it out ;) ).It should not be salesy though - you should provide value in the video, making it really useful to your audience, by presenting interesting information that has practical value to them.

What should you include in your Facebook videos for best engagement?

Basically, you can repurpose the content of your blog posts into Facebook videos:There are four video formats available on Facebook you can share at the moment:

• Videos shared from external links
• Uploaded vidoes
• Live videos (on Fanpages and in groups)
• Stories

I arranged the Facebook video formats in descending order in terms of organic reach and engagement. Facebook stories seem to be the most popular and engaging format at the moment.

What can you do with Facebook stories (and why are they so popular)?

Facebook video content - what should you talk about?

According to Jonah's Berger's book 'Contagious' - about why things catch on (and go viral) - there are certain golden 'rules of thumb' as to what makes people most engaged in content.The content of your videos should conform with the following 6 principles:  

• Social currency - make people feel smarter, cooler and generally better about themselves
• Triggering - create videos that will trigger the need for/ positive associations with your product (e.g. hot summer triggering ice-cream)
• Emotional
• Public (other people using the product)
• Practically Valuable (solving real problems)
• Packed as a Story* 

*People love authentic stories. Even if you're talking about a very technical topic, start from / wrap it up as an authentic story, and include them in your Facebook Marketing Strategy.You can use:

• Your client's case studies (anonymized, otherwise seek written consent to use them!)
• Your own brand story
• The story of your business progress/ struggles (and how you have overcome them).
• Features of your employees
• How people are using a particular feature of your product and what they achieve with it

Image and Video Sizes for Facebook 

Facebook video size:

1280 x 720 pixels

Facebook image sizes:

• images: 1,200 x 628 px
• link + image: 1,200 x 628 px

How often should you post?

The best number of posts for Facebook in terms of engagemnt is 5 posts per day; however - if you're aiming at video - posting 3-5 times per week will be enough.Hope this helps! Let us know in the comments if there's anything else you'd like to learn about organic Facebook Marketing Strategy!