It’s not unusual to find myself scrolling through my Facebook feed daily. And I’m not the only one! DMR reveals that 65% of Facebook users visit the site every day. We, as marketers, understand the importance of having a business presence on Facebook. However, we also recognize the increasing difficulty of standing out from the crowd. With more than 1 billion daily active Facebook users, it’s crucial for marketers to be strategic about expanding their audience and business using Facebook.
It’s challenging, but definitely achievable! Let’s explore 10 clever Facebook marketing strategies to help you shine in the bustling world of social media.
10 straightforward Facebook marketing strategies
Once you’re done here, check out these 62 captivating Facebook post ideas to spark your creativity!
1. Zero in on an incredibly specific audience
Would you believe you can target your marketing towards French and English speaking women, aged 31-56, residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA, who identify as “fit moms” with grade-school children? It’s true! Don’t just take my word for it - explore my article on 11 astonishingly specific Facebook audiences you can target. This incredibly precise level of ad targeting is a major advantage of Facebook marketing. By now, you’ve hopefully invested time and effort in understanding your customer base and developing buyer personas. Now, you can put those personas to work and reach the individuals most likely to be interested in your products or services. A word of caution: excessive specificity can backfire. Keep an eye on the audience definition tool to avoid being overly granular with your persona targeting, which could result in limited visibility for your content.
2. Organize a simple contest to boost engagement
Facebook contests aren’t new, but this tactic remains a valuable Facebook Ad tip. You’ve likely encountered many contests and perhaps even participated in some (I know I have!). But have you considered running one yourself? A well-executed contest with an appealing incentive is a fantastic way to increase ad engagement on Facebook. Imagine a beer enthusiast passing up a free trip to one of Boston’s best beer festivals (see the ad below)!
The beauty of running a contest lies in its simplicity. Take inspiration from Harpoon, for example, by simply asking people to submit photos featuring your product and randomly selecting a winner for an exciting prize.
3. Produce short, captivating video posts
Have you tried incorporating videos into your Facebook marketing, only to find that people aren’t engaging? This could be attributed to one of two reasons:
- Your videos are too lengthy.
- Or, they lack engaging elements. Remember, Facebook users seek entertainment. They are on a social platform, likely to pass time or connect with friends. Your content needs to grab their attention quickly, and what better way to do that than with video? Other marketers are recognizing this trend. Between April and November of 2015, the number of average daily video views on Facebook doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion! Companies like BuzzFeed have mastered the art of driving video engagement - keep it concise and engaging, with a visually appealing thumbnail. I recently spent a couple of hours absorbed in the short video recipe posts on BuzzFeed Food’s Facebook page.
As a bonus for marketers, shorter videos are easier to film and edit! For guidance, check out these 15 tips for filming and editing marketing videos.
4. Leverage eye contact in your visuals to guide attention
Humans naturally follow the gaze of others. If everyone in a room looks up, you instinctively do the same. It’s simply human nature. Help Scout’s Gregory Ciotti explains that “Human beings are naturally inclined to follow the gaze of others, and we have been conditioned from birth to follow arrows that direct our attention.” Capitalize on this tendency to draw viewers’ attention to the most crucial elements of your Facebook ad. For example, if you have a strong call-to-action, use an image with a person looking at or pointing to that text. Consider this Facebook post from Moz – the image guides your gaze along a clear path, beginning with Rand’s eye contact and leading you through the red arrows.
5. Share images of dogs acting human or babies acting like adults
I know this sounds unusual, but it’s effective! Why? Well, who doesn’t love dogs and babies? So, maybe dogs and babies aren’t directly related to your brand. That doesn’t matter! Establish a connection through witty, brand-related captions. BarkBox, being in the pet industry, excels at this with endearing pictures of dogs accompanied by relatable captions.
When it comes to Facebook marketing, don’t take yourself too seriously. Injecting humor into your posts captures the attention of busy, easily distracted users. And this is the perfect formula: Baby + headset and suit + adult-like caption = guaranteed laughter.
6. Target your existing Facebook leads
Did you know you can upload email lists directly to Facebook and target those audiences with your ads? With Facebook’s Custom Audiences feature, you can target leads acquired through newsletter signups, other lead generation campaigns, or even segments of your existing customer base for upselling opportunities.
Beyond focusing on highly targeted audiences (refer to tip #1), tailor your ads to your existing contacts in an even more personalized manner. For example, suppose you have a list of individuals who downloaded a guide titled “Introduction to Building Your Own Website.” You can upload this list to Facebook and target them with a highly specific ad referencing the guide and outlining the next steps to elevate their website.
7. Replicate your primary revenue-generating audience
We’ve covered various strategies for creating relevant audiences. Once you’ve gathered sufficient data, you can clone your top-performing Facebook audience. Facebook’s Lookalike Audience feature allows you to expand your reach by identifying new leads with similar characteristics to your existing audience. It’s essentially cloning your best customers!
8. Humanize your brand with engaging employee photos
Facebook is inherently about people. Its initial purpose was to facilitate interaction with friends, not to advertise businesses, but marketers often overlook this aspect. The challenge is that solely promoting product-related messages will only get you so far. To truly connect with your audience, showcase the people behind your brand. Numerous companies excel at this - take Unbounce, for instance. They utilize their Facebook business page to feature employees in a humorous and relatable way.
9. Invest in promoting your top-performing content
You probably generate bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports to track which content resonates best with your audience based on page views, shares, comments, and other engagement metrics. Use this data to inform your promotion budget allocation. Allocate resources to boost the visibility of your best-performing content.
While it may seem obvious, it’s surprisingly easy to let high-quality content fade into obscurity. Avoid this by running Facebook ads to breathe new life into your content superstars. Evergreen content that performed well upon initial publication will likely resonate with a broader audience over time. (This is particularly effective for content that struggles to rank organically in search results.)
10. Incorporate emojis into your Facebook marketing
In May 2015, nexus-security’s esteemed data scientist, Mark Irvine, discovered that ads containing emojis achieve significantly higher click-through rates compared to those without. Unfortunately, Google caught on, and emojis are no longer permitted in AdWords ad text. According to AdWeek reveals that 92% of online users incorporate emojis, and frequent users find emojis to be a more accurate representation of their emotions than words. Just like dogs and babies, people simply enjoy emojis. The key takeaway? Incorporate emojis into your Facebook marketing posts to infuse your text with personality and emotion.
It’s that straightforward! You might be surprised to find Facebook Advertising becoming your most effective marketing channel in no time!
Get started with these simple & creative Facebook marketing ideas
As a quick recap, here are the key takeaways:
- Target an insanely specific audience
- Run a simple contest to up engagement
- Create short, enticing video posts
- Use eye contact in your images to direct attention
- Post images of dogs acting like humans or babies acting like adults
- Target the leads you already have on Facebook
- Clone your main revenue-generating audience
- Humanize your brand with fun employee photos
- Only pay to promote your best content
- Use emojis in Your Facebook marketing