Facebook is practically needed by every type of company out there, but it’s also the only platform that pretty much requires you to pay for advertising if you want anyone to see your posts. What gives? Here’s how you can make a splash without spending your life savings.
- Launch a Facebook group. Then, use online business marketing and advertising to show people that this group exists. Facebook doesn’t limit your reach within groups, so your updates have a better chance of being seen. Plus, you can connect with a targeted group of people who are interested in everything you have to say about a specific topic. If you have a lot of people join the group, you can make much more of an impact than you would on your business page. This is a great way to have an ongoing conversation about a niche and to reach a lot of people without spending a lot on advertising. Aside from running an ad to get people to join your group, you really won’t need any other paid advertising.
- Make sure you’re using quality visuals. This will get more people to engage with your posts. You’ll keep the reach you currently have and even maybe expand it, too. Make sure to add a visual to each post you put up and keep the text portion of the post short. Studies have shown that Facebook posts with just 70 characters get more attention than posts with 200 or more characters. If you don’t take great photos, don’t completely ignore visuals. Your Facebook posts still need them! Work with a photographer, learn how to shoot photos for the web, or find Creative Commons images that go with your topic. Whatever you do, make sure you find some way to use quality imagery.
- Okay, so you’ll have to spend a little bit of money on ads. However, you can really make your money work for you if you use the advertising that Facebook offers in the right way. Don’t overuse the boosted post option. Instead, just the normal advertising platform to target your audience. You can then either direct people to your Facebook page so that you can grow your audience, or you can send them right to a specific web page. For example, you can direct people to the signup page for your mailing list. With Facebook advertising, you can specify a bunch of information about your audience, even beyond gender, age and location. You can target people with specific interests, who take certain actions online, who make a certain amount of money, and more.
When it comes to Facebook, don’t worry too much about reach. Instead, focus on the quality of engagement on your posts and how much you connect with other people. You could reach millions of people with the right advertising investment, but how many of those people are quality members of your audience? It’s much better to reach a few who will make a difference.