As a PR agency, our goal is to get client stories and messages in front of the media and potential customers. With over 2.29 billion daily active users, Facebook and Facebook Ads are becoming one of the most effective ways to deliver on business aims.
It may come as a surprise to some people, but many marketing specialists consider Facebook to be a legitimate PR tool. When you combine the app’s targeting capabilities with the low cost of getting started, it trumps most advertising strategies in the market today.
Whilst we recognise Facebook is a useful advertising tool, it’s important not to neglect your existing tactics. You should find ways to integrate the platform into your live marketing plan and use its features in line with your current strategy. Once this has been established, you can begin building relationships and using Facebook to fuel your PR engine with the following steps.
Define your audience
Facebook gives marketeers a nearly limitless audience for commercial messaging. In other words, you have completely free rein to define your ideal customer and deliver what it is they want from your page. A marketing and content strategy can then be crafted on the back of this.
How you define your target audience is up to you. Traditionally, the more obvious client indicators have been linked to age, location or occupation. But businesses are changing their approach slightly. Instead, they’re seeking potential customers based on the problems users have with their industry, product or service, and then showing how they’re the solution.
If you wanted to stick with the more conventional ways of targeting audiences, honing in on a specific demographic within a specific location can provide lucrative results. Facebook’s local communities remain some of the most-used groups and are great at helping you attract new customers, whilst keeping current ones engaged.
Set your goals
Your PR and marketing goals will depend on your marketing strategy. But these goals are pretty useless if you haven’t established the appropriate objectives to coincide. And here’s why;
A goal describes a destination, whereas an objective measures the progress needed to get there. Together, when formulated correctly, they can produce tangible results which contribute to wider business goals.
When goal setting on Facebook, think about the purpose of your page. Is it for followers to invest in your product/service? Build brand awareness? Or it could simply be to maintain a consistent brand image across social media. Whatever your goal may be, as long as it states what you want to achieve from your followers, it should provide a sense of direction for the remainder of your plan.
Plan your content wisely
Just creating a Facebook page for your business or product usually is not enough to garner attention. You need to approach your strategy with an eye for those who like your page, as this is what is going to get you leads.
Keeping content creative will help to align your current PR plan with upcoming social media activity. This can be achieved through storytelling techniques which help deliver engaging Facebook posts. But remember, the main aim of your content is to post what your audience wants to see, so don’t focus on the creatives too much.
Statistics show that 53.2% of internet users aged 16-24 use social media as their primary source of brand research. So, if you employ Facebook in your PR campaign, you’re more likely to meet the needs of online buyers by filling in the gaps that traditional media relations neglect. You can still communicate your original PR messages, but in a way that makes your brand feel approachable and engaging for the online community.
Don’t overcomplicate your content plan. This is a mistake made by many Facebook creators (and marketers in general) because it’s easy to overestimate what’s in reach, and in turn, miss deliverables. Simply set your sights on what and when you will post, and a strategy will naturally form with a bit of extra guidance.
If you’re interested in knowing the best times to post on Facebook, research has found between 8:00am to 12:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays to be the prime time. Although, it’s recommended to experiment for yourself and avoid building your social schedule purely on app generalisations.
Page optimisation
Let it be known that page optimisation isn’t a feature unique to Facebook. Without taking away its importance to the platform, all social media requires optimisation for the general maintenance and upkeep of your page.
When creating a Facebook Business Page your profile should have a:
- Profile picture – This is the image that represents your page throughout Facebook, so make it something personal and recognisable. Your company logo is always a safe bet.
- Cover photo – This is the larger photo at the top of your profile, above your profile picture. Cover photos are public which means anyone visiting your profile can see it. Use this as a chance to promote and introduce your brand.
- Call to action – Having a call-to-action button encourages users to take an action that is important to your business, such as booking an appointment, purchasing a product/service, or signing up to something.
- Contact info – Adding a phone number, website and email address means that people visiting your page can access this information to get in touch with you.
- About section – When visitors want to collect key information about your brand, they will come to the about section. Ensuring this is updated with the relevant details is very important for the overall appearance, quality and understanding of the page.
- Pinned post – This is a great way to display your business’s important and upcoming information. It can also be used from a promotional standpoint, whereby you pin your latest offers/discounts which is likely to generate sales.
- Custom page URL – A short, Facebook branded URL is easy to share and looks much more professional than a long URL made up of random numbers and code. When this resembles your other social media accounts too, customers can easily identify your business on any platform.
Just for reference, these features are not mandatory, but we strongly encourage you use them to help enhance your page.
Test other Facebook features
What sets Facebook apart from other social networks is its extended features – particularly Facebook Ads which we discuss in more detail in the following point.
Facebook groups are another useful add-on to the platform, and they can be implemented in two ways. Firstly, you could look at it from a sales perspective and target certain Facebook groups to better your chances of reaching ideal potential customers. Alternatively, you could use it to build relationships with specialists by connecting with suppliers, learning from experts and reaching out to media operating in your space.
The next term is one you’ve probably heard of if you’re familiar with the app – Facebook Marketplace. Marketplace is a destination on Facebook where people can discover, buy and sell items. Although it isn’t particularly aimed at businesses or large companies, you can still use it to advertise your shop/products. It’s free to create listings and Ads can reach a potential 562.1 million people, making it a must-try for local businesses.
Facebook Ads
If you want to begin social media advertising, Facebook is the best place to start for most businesses. Facebook Ads reach the largest potential audience of any social platform – 2.11 billion people as of 2022.
In recent years many people have been put off by Facebook Ads because of their rising costs, but are they as pricy as we originally thought?
Although the cost of someone viewing your Facebook Ad has increased year on year, the average cost of cost per click has remained relatively stable (around 40 cents for the last 4 years). And you don’t have to be an expert to start advertising on Facebook. Using the app’s simple self-serve tools, you can create and track campaigns with easy-to-read reports to improve your marketing strategy.
Key Takeaways
One of the core messages running throughout this blog is that you don’t need a huge budget to see results. Facebook is living proof that you can target specific audiences for a tiny spend and meet your business aims accordingly.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to PR and marketing on Facebook. Testing different versions of your strategy is the best way to discover what really works for your business and the customers you want to attract.
Like most marketing methods, these things take time. It requires processes and doesn’t produce results overnight. So, in order to profit from this platform, it’s important to be patient and consistent with your strategy. Even if most of your custom comes from offline sources such as word of mouth, in-person dealerships etc, it’s still worth implementing for the easy wins.
With any luck, this blog will have inspired you to think about your own Facebook presence and how it can be tailored to better your advertising methods. If you’re interested in developing your social media tactics, get in touch with our in-house team of professionals today.
