Social media adoption and growth has been steadily growing on a global and local scale. As of Jan 2021, Kenya had 11 million active social media users. This represents a 25% growth from the previous year.
When it comes to Social Media Marketing, Facebook is one of the most effective marketing channels for most businesses. It has approximately 2.80 billion daily active users globally. This suggests that this social media platform is used by almost half of the world's population. From a Kenyan standpoint, it is one of the most used social media platforms.
Facebook, founded in 2004, has had a major impact on the marketing landscape. Before social media, sales and marketing were very expensive. So much so that small business could barely survive. Further, advertising used to be interruptive and one-way. Brands and businesses could speak to their consumers through ads, but communication from consumers to brands was a lot more challenging. It was also rather difficult to know the impact of advertising and calculate the return on investment from the same.
In 2006, Facebook became available to the world and has since grown in popularity and remained at the top. It made it very easy for friends, businesses, and strangers from across the globe to connect with each other easily. The biggest benefit to businesses was that it was available to small and large businesses alike, with data collection embedded into it. Advertisements and messaging could never achieve the degree of hyper-targeting that they do today.
Facebook Marketing has the potential to be extremely helpful to your business. It is, however, critical to first comprehend how you can use it efficiently.
How can you win with Facebook Marketing?
1. Know why you are sharing content.
When marketing on Facebook, it is important to know what you want to achieve. Always define your goals for each post and for each ad. It could be to announce a new promotion and drive traffic to your landing page, or it could be as simple as starting a conversation around one of your products or services. Either way, each post should give you your desired outcome. The internet is flooded with content. Don't just post content because you think you have to. Make use of a Facebook content calendar to help you plan and schedule your Facebook posts more efficiently.
2. Actively engage with your audience.
As a business owner, it's likely that your first instinct would be to post content about your products or services with the main goal of getting clients to make a purchase. But for your brand to be successful, you cannot turn your Facebook page into an online brochure by only posting content that says “buy now”. Instead, be social and drive conversations. The goal of social media marketing is to build relationships that drive trust making your audience comfortable enough to buy from you.
3. Respond to your followers’ questions and comments.
It is also very crucial for you to respond to those who engage with your brand. Effective communication and quick responses between you and your followers demonstrate that you value your audience's feedback and are keen on communicating with them. It’s all about relationship-building.
When it comes to handling difficult questions and complaints or dealing with crises, always respond with radical honesty where possible. You need to be willing to show empathy and communicate in a friendly tone - no matter how distressed or frustrated you feel. With the right consumer engagement strategy, you could convert angry, dissatisfied customers into loyal fans.
It is these small but important acts of honest engagement that build your brand perception.
4. Create image Facebook posts.
An image is an almost impenetrable pull on social media since our brains respond quicker to pictures and color compared to text. 80% of people remember what they see, compared to 10% what they hear, and 20% of what they read. In general, image posts receive far more engagement than text posts.
A catchy photo (or drawing, or infographic) is a great approach to attract the attention of a potential buyer browsing through their news feed. Sharing photographs that deliver the right message and matter to your target audience will help you achieve the recognition and engagement that you want.
If you’re looking to revamp your Facebook strategy, make sure you're sharing relevant, interesting content that your audience appreciates.
5. Make video content.
A 2021 digital report showed that 90.6% of people globally watch online videos monthly. In addition, 96% of Kenyan internet users watch videos online, and Facebook is the second most popular platform for hosting, posting, and watching videos in Kenya.
The reason why video content is becoming more popular is that videos can explain complicated concepts in a way that’s easy to understand. And today, with just the use of your mobile phone, you can easily shoot videos, edit them and share them online. Video content allows you to connect with your audience in a way that text cannot.
Facebook loves when users post videos, and they even have an entire “Watch” section dedicated to video alone.
When you post video content through Facebook's native page, it offers a video auto-play feature. This means that when Facebook viewers scroll down the news feed, your video will automatically start playing. This is an excellent attention-grabber and an easy approach to increase views and engagement. It also gives you an edge over linked video uploads from other sites, such as Youtube, that don't have the same auto-play function on Facebook.
Marketing with videos on Facebook is a good way to get your message in front of your target audience in a more compelling way.
6. Utilize the Facebook stories feature.
Facebook stories were initially introduced in 2017 and have since proven to be a valuable tool for marketing on the site. Facebook stories can last up to 20 seconds long, and only last for 24 hours. The short time frame makes them easy to make and gives you an opportunity to post content almost daily.
The cool thing about the Facebook stories feature is that you can also link your Instagram stories to your Facebook stories. You can easily kill two birds with one stone by posting ‘story’ content simultaneously on both platforms.
Using Facebook Stories will also put your brand at the top of the site. Because of the feature’s top position on the platform, your brand will be one of the first things users see when they open the Facebook app.
7. Have clear CTAs.
Have the right Calls to action (CTAs) on both your page and your posts. Some CTAs include asking your audience to like your posts or send a message on messenger. It could also be asking them to send a WhatsApp message or to provide feedback or suggestions. This will make them feel like they are a part of your brand’s decision-making process. Your CTAs (Calls to action) need to be clear so that they can guide your consumer towards your desired outcome.
8. Amplify your external content.
Facebook allows you to add links - both internal and external - to your posts. This can help you redirect users to your other pieces of content that you’ve previously produced outside of Facebook. For example, content on YouTube, Instagram, your company website, etc
9. Have relevant Key Performance Indicators. (KPIs)
Your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics that can be used to assess how well your Facebook goals and objectives are being met. When you're planning your content marketing goals, make sure you also have a framework in place to track your performance. This will help you identify what's working and what isn't, guiding you on what to keep doing and what to drop.
10. Run Facebook ads.
Even if you have thousands of followers, not all of them will see your content in their feeds each time you post. Only about 4% or less will. In order to get that figure up, you will need to supplement organic (unpaid) content sharing with promoted content. Facebook offers different ad formats depending on your marketing objectives. These include images, videos, carousels, etc. The prices of these ads vary depending on your end goals.
Boosting is a form of paid content. It is however best used for increasing the exposure of a particular post with the aim of increasing impressions and customer engagement. Using regional targeting and other targeting options, you can build a customized audience for your boosted posts. You can also select the goals for your boosted post, or have it automatically selected from you.
11. Use Facebook Messenger and ChatBot Marketing to support your Facebook marketing goals.
According to a study conducted by Facebook, more than 20 billion messages are exchanged between businesses and users every month on Facebook Messenger alone. In Kenya, the potential audience reach through adverts on Messenger is 1.8 million users. This tells you that you also need to jump on that bandwagon.
Facebook Messenger provides Facebook Page administrators with an option of having automated responses to preselected questions so as to never miss a lead through the messages function. Some of the automated response functions include:
Sending instant replies.
Answering customers’ FAQs.
Sending ‘away’ messages to reply to all incoming messages with a note explaining that you’re unavailable.
Sharing location information.
Send reminders and follow-up messages to customers who book appointments through your page.
Automatically respond to people who recommend your page on Facebook – e.g. to thank them for letting other people know about your business.
Respond to job applications and appointments to confirm you’ve accepted an application/let applicants know when you’ll get back to them.
Start a messenger conversation with people who sign up for your Facebook events.
As efficient as the Facebook automated responses feature is, the things you can communicate through them are very limited. That’s why Facebook messenger also allows you to use chatbots.
A Chabot offers an autoresponder functionality that allows you—or rather, a simulation of you—to communicate directly with your customers at all hours, including after you've closed for the day.
Chatbots are built using artificial intelligence (AI). Through AI, the chatbots can respond to different phrases and questions posed by users (your customers).
The main difference between the regular automated response feature and chatbots is that chatbots can also process complex requests, personalize their responses and even improve their interactions over time.
You can create a chatbot with conversational flows focused on often asked questions about your business, and even walk customers through an ordering process as far as making a payment and receiving the money.
You may also use chatbots to capture lead information e.g. phone numbers, emails, and any other data that may be relevant for later remarketing. Just because you’re asleep, doesn’t mean that your potential customers are. Actively communicating with them and responding almost immediately leaves no space for prospective buyers to reconsider ordering from you.
Facebook Messenger also allows you to connect your Facebook and Instagram accounts (and messages) directly. This means that you can use both Messenger and Chatbot functions to automatically respond to messages on both social media platforms at once.
12. Host Facebook Live’s.
Live video is one of the fastest-growing segments of video marketing. Live video, also known as live streaming, involves broadcasting real-time video content on topics that may be relevant to your brand.
If a Facebook Live broadcast has a lot of views and engagement, the Facebook algorithm will naturally recommend the video to other people, both during and after the live event, who share similar interests and behavioral characteristics as those who are already watching. That means you can organically expand your reach and engagement with Facebook Live.
Facebook Live is also a great way to connect with consumers in real-time. It also creates a sense of community as users can interact with you and each other during the live stream. While streaming, you can observe the conversations going on in the comments section and respond to viewers' questions.
13. Measure your Return On Investment. (ROI)
ROI measures the amount of value you obtain from your marketing efforts against how much you invest in it. You can't improve if you don't measure. Measuring your ROI will help you figure out what you should keep investing in and what you might need to eliminate from your marketing plan. Here’s how you can demonstrate value from your social media pages.
Marketing today can be tough especially for small businesses. Facebook marketing can be the greatest asset to have in your marketing strategy.
