social media marketing

Facebook Marketing is booming in a big way.

It is very rare for a Facebook user to go by without scrolling through Facebook feeds every day. According to Digital Marketing Research, 66% of Facebook users log in on their smartphones or desktop daily. With over 1.785 billion active Facebook users, marketers need to get smarter to take advantage of Facebook Marketing Ideas to grow their audience and small or mid-sized business.

Facebook marketing can be tricky for a small-sized business, but nothing is impossible!

Smart and easy Facebook marketing may alone take your business to the next level.

So, before we dive deep into the ocean of success strategies let’s understand two main WH questions related to Facebook Marketing – What and Why

 

What is Facebook marketing for small businesses?

 

Facebook is a social media platform that allows small businesses to market their services and products to their users on Facebook. Facebook marketing can be done through organic strategies (Free strategies) and targeted strategies (paid strategies).

Firstly, Facebook’s marketing plan follows organic strategies to develop the user base and brand value of the company without any investment. Once a considerable amount of user base is reached, the second step is to utilize paid Facebook marketing strategies such as targeted ads.

 

Why use Facebook marketing for small businesses?

Facebook Marketing is an effective tool to improve your customers and businesses exponentially. Facebook marketing provides an opening for companies to interact with users/customers. People can learn more about the products, services, and organizations on social media platforms. Facebook is the biggest social networking platform which provides the opportunity for businesses to build and maintain relations with the users.

So, it is important to “Make connections that matter”

To help you out in the crowded social media market, I’ve put together a comprehensive list of Facebook marketing ideas as given below.

• • Common Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses.
  • Free Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses.
  • Paid Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses.

 

Common Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

1. Create and optimize your company page – If you are looking forward to building up a social media presence on Facebook then there’s some groundwork to do. You need to create and optimize your Facebook page to translate your Facebook likes into actual clicks and conversions.

 

2. Work on Page Details – Particularly in the world of business appearance can speak volumes, that is why it is important to pay attention to the UI (User Interface) of your company page.

 

3. Add a profile picture with your brand logo – An updated, professional and consistent profile picture that represents your brand name looks more organized. It develops the right impression on your audience.

4. Enable custom URL or “Username” – Username helps people to find and remember your page. When you create a username for your company, it appears in a customized web address for your Facebook page. It helps your page to rank higher and also helps people to find your page easily with that username.

5. Always add a “Description” – Never leave the company about us section blank. Use all the 250 characters to write about your company. Original content helps to build page rank.

6. Add your website – A website is self-explanatory. It helps you to build your company’s reputation.

7. Create a Community business page and Facebook group – The main idea behind creating a Facebook community page and group is to provide like-minded people with a platform for live conversations, discussions, and sharing information based on their interests.

 

For example, Users interested in Tour and Travel’s topic would be very much interested to join a Tours and Travels Facebook community or a group rather than a community or a group discussing Facebook Marketing Strategies.

Anybody can join, post, invite new members, hold discussions, and share information on the group.

• Running a contest or a giveaway with a tempting offer helps you increase engagement rates and grow audiences in your group.
• Target specific audiences on Facebook – Selecting audiences based on what and where you are selling your products can be an impressive strategy in Facebook marketing for small businesses. If your audience selection is broad it requires a large budget. ALERT! If you go too specific this strategy can backfire on you. Let’s say, for example, if you are promoting a childcare brand, you might first want to check the family status of Facebook audiences. Small businesses on a budget can use smart ideas to cut costs and still reach their target audiences and build the business.

 

Free Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Today, the Facebook marketing channel is a platform where you have to pay to play. Small Businesses on a low budget are still using Facebook to market.

Does it work? The answer is YES!

You can still leverage Facebook to promote your business for FREE! FREE! FREE!

Here are some free Facebook marketing ideas that support small business owners to “breathe a sigh of relief”.

1. Provide consistent and quality posts with user intent – According to studies, you should post the finest content to your Facebook page 2-3 times a week.

“Consistency and quality are the mantras for success in social media” Facebook page posting every 30 minutes is a thing of the past. It doesn’t work for Small or average businesses. If are you posting too often you may experience a drop-in engagement rate. Think logically and always post when your audience is online and most interactive. For example, if you are a local business in India, you should focus on the times when people in India are awake.

2. Provide solution-based primary text – Solution-based approach is a strategy for transforming business objectives and goals into a plan. How does a content strategy align with a small business objective?

The answer is simple, understand the search intent of users, if you fail to persuade your audience then you are missing out!

Your audience wants

To learn something new

To find solutions to their problems

To do better work

To reach their goals

Focus on these four pointers to reach your business objectives.

3. Use of the call to action button – The call to action (CTA) button plays important role in boosting your conversion rate. It is a clickable element on a website, email, blog post, or Facebook page that appeals to users and redirects visitors to an offer. You might have seen a lot of different call-to-action buttons about anywhere on a website. Here are some most commonly used CTA buttons:

• • • Call Now
    • Add to Cart
    • Download Now
    • Read More
    • Sign up

 

Take your time to develop your button. Quality CTA buttons help to increase the conversion rate and sales.

4. Post consistent blog posts on Facebook -“Consistency and content are the keys to growth in social media”.

Post content that your followers want to read. Understand how to often post, what to post, when to post & what type of content to post. Creating a posting schedule can help you improve your engagement rate.

5. Use of Hashtags in Facebook – Facebook’s search is not as good as Google’s search, but it still has the potential to find you there. A hashtag (#) helps your followers to find a post relevant to their interest and interact with other users who share the same interest by joining the discussion on Facebook groups or communities.

For example, let’s take #FacebookMarketingPlan. Using that hashtag in your Facebook posts can land new people on your page who are searching for the same hashtag in your Facebook search.

6. Market your services – On social media platforms like Facebook, you might want to post the finest content so that it is good enough to impress your audience and build your service-based Business.

Never miss a chance when you get to market your services. You can also add a service section on your Facebook page.

7. Offer discounts – Offering discounts is one of the easiest marketing tools to grow your business on social media. Offers and discounts are attractive to customers.

It not only helps you to bring new clients but also helps to bring back previous customers. Especially on social media, word-of-mouth traffic can increase your sales and business exponentially.

 

Paid Facebook Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Facebook’s paid ads are a useful marketing tool that allows businesses to Facebook’s paid campaigns. Facebook’s active user count in the year 2022 is over 6+ billion, with India having a number (of 251 million) Facebook users. So, using Facebook marketing packages you can reach half of the world’s population.

1. Set priorities and business goals – This is one of the fundamental parts of a Business plan. Check where is your business now … and where you want to take it. A clear vision can help you to prioritize time to focus on your plan promotion budget and achieve your business objective.

2. Create advertising strategies – Advertising is persuasion! Advertisements are used to increase awareness about your newly launched company and persuade target customers to buy your product or services and you’re your business.

3. Decide your Audience – Facebook automatically shows your ads to the audience who are most likely to find your ads relevant. You can further target your audiences with 3 audience selection tools.

• • Core audiences are based on criteria such as age, location, and interests.
  • Custom audiences are people who engaged with your business either online or offline.
  • Lookalike audiences are people with similar interests.

 

4. Set Facebook ads budget – Pay to promote only your best content. Spend a low budget on your Facebook ads and prevent the risk of your marketing budget vanishing into thin air without even achieving your conversions.

Don’t let your Superstar content fade away, boosted content will still resonate with a larger audience if it did well earlier.

Caution! “go-easy on your pocket”

5. Market Facebook event – During occasions or even as a regular part of your Facebook marketing strategy, you can host an event to connect with your customers to give them an unforgettable experience. Hosting an event means an investment of time, effort, and money.

Let’s understand how to get started, it is a 6 steps plan:

Step 1. Create an event on your Facebook business page

Step 2. Choose a video or image

Step 3. Name your event

Step 4.  Fill in all details (time, location, date, description)

Step 5. Choose the Frequency of the event

Step 6. Promote your event organically

Tips:

• • Add co-hosts to increase distribution and response rate
  • Boost that event on Facebook Business Group
  • Turn events into an ad that converts

 

6.  A/B testing – The A/B test is a process of comparing two different campaigns to check which one has the better This technique is used to find out which ads design (ad headline, body copy, CTA button ) performs well to attract your target audience to boost conversion rates on a landing page.

7. Track performance metrics – A Small business owner might want to keep an eye on the performance of the business which includes sales, customer satisfaction, warehouse efficiency, and so on.

Data which includes activities, employee behavior, and productivity is used to track processes within the business by the employer to track performance metrics. It provides valuable information to plan strategies, grow business and increase profits.

Performance metrics are divided into four groups:

• • Business Performance – It provides access to how your business is performing in the Sales, marketing department, and profitability.

• • Sales performance – It provides access to measure performance in the sales department. It measures total revenue and customer reach.

• • Project management– It measures the profitability of various projects and provides insight into how to make projects even more efficient.

• • Employee performance- It is obvious that if your employees are performing as per the standards set, then your business will grow; but if their performance is poor, then your business might suffer.

It is important to track your employee’s performance by the quality, efficiency, and productivity of their work.

A Business that performs well, is a business that grows well

Whew!

I know, I know: there’s still so much to learn when it comes to Facebook marketing. But the good news is you have a fair amount of knowledge to get started now.

So, look no further. Start here, start now.

Social media presence can be understood as a full accounting of an individual’s or company’s activity across all social media platforms. Social media presence includes posts, replies, or other interactions on all platforms by any person or company. Most companies have dedicated staff for social media tasks. In this article, we will discuss the importance of social media presence and how to build your social media presence for engaging new customers.

 

Why is a social media presence important?

As we all know that people nowadays are spending so much of their time on social media platforms, so advertising on these platforms will be very beneficial. A successful social media presence is very important for businesses because it allows communication with consumers directly. The popularity of social media is an efficient way to connect and get your message about your products or services to customers quickly and directly. Other benefits to build a social media presence for your company are as follows:

• It establishes your company’s brand

  Every company needs a strong brand identity and social media can help with it. A company’s social media presence will help it to be in minds of customers.

• It grows your customer base

  Social media presence expands the reach of your company to potential customers who did not know about you previously. Hence your customer base increases tremendously.

• Helps in new product marketing

  Social media is a great platform to introduce and market new products. Your social media presence is an opportunity to increase anticipation for your product among consumers who have already shown interest in it.

• Builds customer loyalty

  By interacting with customers on social media, you can work to increase their loyalty and create a positive impression of your company.

 

 

How to build your social media presence?

To get maximum benefits from social media platforms, you have to grow your reach among customers. Given below are some steps to follow to increase your social media presence:

 

1. Make sure you use the right platform for you

Depending upon your type of business choose the right social media platform for you. Trying to get famous on every platform is not necessary. Choose the right social media which will help to promote your business. This is a very important aspect of social media management. If you are stuck as to where to start, then put your focus on Facebook and Instagram as both platforms are the most used in the world.

2. Set your social media goals

You should set goals that are specific, measurable, relevant, and time-bounded. Set a goal of your choice. They may be long-term goals as well as short-term goals. For example, you can set a long-term goal of growing your Instagram followers count by 50% in three months or you can set a short-term goal of increasing your follower count by 10% every month.

3. Be Human

Gone are those days when brands promoted their products and services in a very boring and inhuman manner. In the modern age of transparency, people want to get to know your company on a more personal level. Many brands today crack jokes and talk to their followers in a very frank manner. The idea is to connect with your customers in a very human manner.

4. Focus on your content

Producing quality content is one of the important keys to growing your social media profile. If your content is good the conversion rates get higher, which means each new viewer is more likely to become a follower and a user of your products.

5. Create an editorial schedule

Creating an editorial schedule is a good practice in social media management. Maintaining a schedule helps to post your advertisement or any social media post in a proper and timely manner.

6. Keep it fresh

Don’t be that person who posts the same link over and over again. Audiences like to see fresh and exciting content that cuts through the competition. Try to create content that is bespoke to you and your business. The content should be fresh, and exciting and it should stop a reader from scrolling down and let them engage with you.

7. Respond to your followers

Respond to users who reply to your posts. It will increase your interactions as well as it will help in building loyalty. This is a part of social media management in which followers develop an attachment to your company’s products and services and promote your business for free.

8. Keep an eye on algorithms and updates

Most social media platforms are using some level of algorithm. If you can follow these algorithms and updates your social media presence will enhance drastically. For example, some platforms like Facebook give priority to visually engaging content over less visual content. You just have to follow the algorithm in such a way that your posts are most liked by customers and followers.

9. Always be with the trend

Always be up to date and be with the current trend. Brands always have something new to post or advertise if they keep an eye on current affairs, trending hashtags, or any latest meme.

10. Use tools to monitor your activity

There are many tools available online which can help you in identifying your top-performing content, performance trends, and many more. These tools will help you in determining whether you are heading in the right direction or not. The data analyzed through this type of tool can help you treat social media less like a guessing game and more like a science.

 

What are the best methods to manage your YouTube channel so that your small business will grow in 2022? Yes, if you are managing your YouTube channel properly then you are here to make a lot of money. In this article we will discuss creating a YouTube channel for small businesses, managing a YouTube channel, YouTube channel tips, YouTube marketing ideas, and many more.

 

Tips To Manage Your YouTube Channel

Creating a YouTube channel can provide several benefits for both small and large businesses. A YouTube channel provides new ways to get your products and services in front of potential customers. A YouTube channel is a channel within the YouTube website that serves as a homepage for an individual or company’s YouTube account. Anyone who joins YouTube will be given a personal YouTube channel that they can customize and use to share information. Below are the steps to create a successful YouTube channel for your brand or business:-

 

1. Create a Google account

If you don’t have a Google account, create it. If you already have then you can link it to YouTube. YouTube uses login information from an individual’s Google account to create a YouTube channel.

 

2. Set up a YouTube brand account for your business

You can set up a YouTube channel for your business or brand once you have logged into YouTube using your Google credentials. To do this, sign in to your YouTube account and click on the icon at the top right of the screen once logged in. Select the gear icon to go into your YouTube settings. Choose “create a new channel” and then select ” use a business or other name. You can then fill in the “brand name” with your business or brand name and click “create” to finish setting up your YouTube Brand Account.

3. Customize your YouTube brand account

You should first customize your brand account to ensure it appears professional and unique to your company. To add a description to your YouTube channel, click the ”customize channel” button that is displayed at the top of your account page. After that, you can add the description of your company, your location, your email, and other relevant information.

4. Type of content you want to create

You should create those contents that target your desired audience. Creating a variety of content can help keep your channel relevant and attractive to users.

 

5. Create a Channel Trailer

Create a trailer for your company’s YouTube channel. Keep the trailer short that shows a quick introduction of your brand.

Upload your first video: After editing and finalizing your video, you can upload it on your channel by simply clicking the upload button on the top right of your account screen.

 

6. Optimize your videos for easy sharing

Insert keywords in the title, tags, and description sections of a video so that it is easy to find by your target audience.

7. Sharing the videos

Once you have uploaded a video to your company’s YouTube channel, you should share the video link on all of your social media platforms.

After creating a YouTube channel, it’s the turn of managing the channel in such a way that it has a strong YouTube presence. You have to be smart enough to understand the YouTube business marketing aspect where the videos should be informative as well as attractive. Here are some YouTube channel tips that will help you in managing your YouTube channel to gain maximum popularity:

 

• Plan your video content

Planning your video content plays a key role in managing your YouTube channel. Plan your videos ahead of time to keep your content interesting and attract more viewers and subscribers. If you have a theme, stick to it. For example, if you have a health benefits-related YouTube channel, focus on uploading health-related videos only. Having a theme lets your viewers know what to expect from your channel.

• Use the right equipment and gadgets

Quality videos help attract more viewers. It’s a good YouTube channel tip to have the latest equipment while making videos. DSLR, tripod, and mirrorless cameras can be good to have. This equipment can help you create quality videos with the right lighting and good audio.

• Look for inspiration from other videos

If you are lacking creative ideas to make your videos, you can watch other videos on YouTube and get ideas from them. There is no harm in taking ideas and inspiration from other sources but try not to copy them.

• Select your shots wisely

Make sure you’re only uploading quality content to your YouTube channel. Choosing the best shots ensures you keep your viewers engaged. This is yet another video marketing strategy to stay among the best in the YouTube community.

• Use attractive video titles

To help your video content rank higher on YouTube, use a descriptive and engaging title. This is one of the important aspects of YouTube’s marketing strategy. Include those keywords which are often used by viewers to search for something on the internet and on YouTube. You can also include relevant tags to put your videos in certain categories on YouTube.

• Engage with your viewers and subscribers

Once you’ve uploaded some videos and received comments from viewers, spend time replying to them. You should also interact with them over social media. It will help you in connecting with viewers and convert them into your channel subscribers. It is a good YouTube idea to be friendly and responsive to your viewers. If they like you and the content you provide, they’re more likely to subscribe to your channel and keep viewing your videos.

• Upload your videos regularly

When you have started a YouTube channel, it’s important to upload content consistently. Consider having an upload schedule so that your viewers know when they can expect new videos from you. This will help you retain your subscribers with you.

As of today, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It has a vast user base and it’s an excellent platform for advertisers to show off their products to a significantly broad audience. If you are going to use Instagram for marketing your small or large business products, you are going to reap benefits from it. And if you are looking for Instagram marketing ideas to support your small business then this information is for you. Gone are those days when small business entrepreneurs found it difficult to promote their products to the masses.

Unlike big business houses, small business entrepreneur hasn’t have that much revenue to advertise their products in television commercials, YouTube ads, or big hoardings by the roadside. And here comes advertising through platforms like Instagram. It is very feasible for Small businesses to get marketing benefits from Instagram because it’s cheaper and reaches customers as well with not too much hard work. Let’s have a look at the advantages of marketing through Instagram:

 

Instagram marketing advantages

1. Instagram has almost 1 billion monthly active users. These users are your main target customers who can buy your product or services.

2. Instagram has 500 million daily, active users. You can well estimate how many people are going to see your products and advertisements daily. That’s the magic of digital marketing on platforms like Instagram.

3. Marketers who have already taken advantage of Instagram for small business ideas can attest to more than 7 billion dollars of revenue being generated from Instagram.

4. It is also the home of more than 2 million advertisers. By referring to their advertisement idea you can get your advertisement ideas too.

5. Instagram offers increased conversions. Research indicates that almost one-third of the audience using Instagram has used it to purchase items. It indicates that the more you advertise on Instagram, the higher the chances of your product being sold.

6. Instagram also offers a plethora of targeting options. That’s because Instagram, like Facebook, has access to features like advertising based on age, location, gender, interests, etc.

7. As a platform, Instagram enables you to engage in conversations with your followers and build relationships with them. This is known as brand-follower relationships. Understanding your audience based on engagement will also help you make smart decisions about your content. Once the customers have faith in your products there is no looking back for you.

 

Instagram Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

Having an idea of how advantageous marketing through Instagram is now let us discuss five easy Instagram marketing ideas which will be useful for small businesses in 2022.

1. Create an eye-catching Instagram profile and optimize your bio:

Before you get started with Instagram marketing you should create an Instagram business account for yourself. After that, make sure that your profile is optimized for your business and target audience. Your small or big business brand’s Instagram profile should be nothing but about the story of your brand.

Your Instagram bio offers your viewers the first look at your brand. That’s the reason why your bio needs to be captivating, informative, and engaging. Your bio can be used to give a basic idea of your product, what kind of content you plan to post, brand hashtags links to other social media platforms, etc. You should also include a trackable URL to which you want to drive traffic, a link to your brand’s website, or the product page.

2. Create awesome Instagram stories

Stories are a key part of good Instagram marketing ideas. They are active for 24 hours only and thus create curiosity among viewers. Half of the small businesses on Instagram use stories and they are getting good results as well. To create good stories play with the GIFs, add music to your stories, mention people, add hashtags, etc.

Instagram’s new Poll feature can help bend the bridge between you and your audience. Polls and opinions can help you improve your products while making your audience feel directly connected to your business.

3. Make your business easy to find by tagging your location

Your small or large business must be accessible both online and offline. The location tag on Instagram helps you pinpoint your correct address. The location tag lets people know where to find you and brings more exposure by making you easier to find in Instagram searches when people are close by. This creates a sense of faith and trust in your brand.

4. Partner with influencers for a wider reach

If you want to reach potential customers on Instagram the easiest and fastest way to do that is through influencers who have already built an audience with a large following. Many people are buying services or products based on what they see in their Instagram feed from the influencer they know. If you can partner with the right industry influencer, you can get your brand out in front of those users. It works the same way as some big business houses partner with celebrities or cricketers or their brand endorsements.

5. Post at the right times

 Did you know that the best time to post on Instagram varies based on your industry or business? Yes, as per the research there is the best time for every Instagram post. In 2022 there will be a focus on what to post and when to post to gain maximum benefits. One of the best ideas is to post during peak days and hours when your followers are online. Here are the best times to post for each industry we analyzed:

• Travel and tourism: Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Media and entertainment: Tuesday and Thursday, 12 to 3 p.m.
• Food and beverage: Friday, noon.
• Retail: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, noon.
• Professional services: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9 or 10 a.m.
• Non-profit: Tuesday, 10 a.m. or 4 p.m.
• Non-retail e-commerce: Thursday, 4 or 9 p.m.
• Pharma and healthcare: Wednesday and Sunday, 9 a.m.
• Personal care: Thursday and Friday, 1, 2, or 3 p.m.
• Technology: Monday and Tuesday, 2 p.m.
• Education: Thursday, 4 or 5 p.m.