Let’s not underestimate the power of Facebook and the role it plays in our lives today. What initially started off as a way to communicate among students is now one of the most effective communication tools for the world. In short, it’s a rare day to go by without one having to go through their Facebook feed.
Based on Facebook’s annual statistics, it’s been reported that 1.591 billion users are active on a monthly basis. That number, putting it lightly, is huge. And with Facebook’s annual growth rate increasing by the year, it’s safe to say that the number of active users will increase.
From a digital marketer’s perspective, these numbers speak huge opportunity. It’s critical to have a solid presence on Facebook among such a diversified audience. With an estimated 1 Billion daily active users, it’s important to make a presence. While it’s one thing to market a brand, it’s also just as important to stand out from the competition. As time passes by, more and more players join in the game to establish a brand and thus comes such challenges.
Therefore, a marketer must be smart here in deciding how to help a brand grow through Facebook. It’s a challenge but it’s not impossible. We give you 7 smart Facebook Marketing ideas that will help you stand out on the social network.
- Target Specific Audiences
Advertising a quite the thing on Facebook. But creating the right ads for the right audiences can be quite challenging. Did you know that you can target your ads at Hindi speaking women based out of Nepal? Or that you can target users within Delhi that use iPhones with iOS 8? It could get that complex if you choose.
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Facebook gives you that opportunity to target incredibly specific audiences. This gives you the chance to analyze and target your audiences based specifically on your brand objectives. While it’s appealing to look at huge numbers when just targeting a specific place, It’s highly likely that your ads will be fed to those not interested resulting in a huge waste of money. The more specific your audiences, the better your chances they’ll buy what you sell.
- Create Video Content
With Content going mobile today, video generated content has become an ongoing trend and a well-recognized marketing idea. Facebook users are looking to be entertained by what they see in their news feed. Between April 2015 and November 2015, Daily video views on Facebook doubled from around 4 million to 8 million. Around 51.9 percent of marketing professionals worldwide consider Video marketing as integral to their ROI. This only backs the trend emphasizing just how important video content is today.
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But again, keep in mind that while people like to be entertained, it’s difficult to keep them entertained long. It’s no easy task coming up with long entertaining content to keep the user engaged. It’’ best to keep your video feed short and to the point. They’re also easier to film and edit from a digital marketer’s point of view. While it’s integral to use content effectively to build your brand, using videos also help.
- Target Existing Customers
Any digital marketer who’s tried marketing on Facebook would surely be aware of being able to target existing audiences. This means focusing content on custom audiences as well as those who have liked your brand page. This is a great marketing idea and should be practiced regularly.
This would allow you to target them in a more personalized way. Since these are customers that are already aware of your brand and have established a liking to it, appealing to their personal side could prove to be very effective.
- Humanize your Brand
Taking inspiration from the previous point, appealing to one’s personal sentiments could be a great marketing idea. What you as a digital marketer needs to realize is that Facebook is eventually about people and a connection between them. So your idea here should be to interact with the people, not advertise.
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Pushing your products at them will only seek to drive them away further. Show them the human side of your brand. Note that in order to build this brand, it takes manpower from a team. Introduce the team to the audiences. Tell them your stories. Showing them what’s behind your brand, humanizes it allowing more to relate to it.
- Post Relevant Images
Pictures can play a deep role in accompanying textual content. This is provided that they’re as relative to the content as possible. It is a fact that our brains process images faster than text. So why not use images too? While it is tempting to use good looking images to further enhance a reader’s experience, it’s essential to be careful of what images you use. Going with images that are to flashy may tend to deviate the users eye from the important content.
Try to find a balance between content and images here. You don’t want to post just pictures with no content at the same time. Striking a balance could prove beneficial. It is also important to note that posts accompanied by images are bound to get you more shares and views among users too. Plus, too much content is just plain boring.
- Engage Your Customers
Nothing really new here. As a digital marketer, you’re probably aware that engaging in a user is of the topmost priority. And there are many ways to do so. Conducts quizzes and official competitions to invite interaction from your customers on your brands page. Everyone wants to be a winner and you’re giving them the opportunity.
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Just be sure not to get too greedy with the engagement. While a competition will bring you loads of overall engagement, it’s important to ensure that you don’t dilute your brand as just being one that gives away freebies at any given point in time. The biggest mistake you can make here is getting your customer to believe exactly that.
- Try Using Emojis
Emojis have been growing in popularity today with many claiming it as the best way of speaking their minds as to what they truly feel. In those regards, emojis play a vital role in engaging with consumers based on appropriate messaging should a digital marketer decide to use them. It was once noted that emojis increased ad click through rates but Google was quick to remove the ability.
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Nevertheless, one shouldn’t disregard the power of an emoji. They are after all, the best representation of our true emotions. Around 92% of users make use of emojis in their communication, so why not appeal to that? You could further personalize your brand with the use of them. It quite simple.
These are a few easy tips you could incorporate into your marketing ideas. If used effectively, with a little bit of patience and aggressiveness, you could have quite a robust marketing process going on for you. Keep in mind though, that marketing on Facebook isn’t the only aspect to digital marketing. You will need to keep in mind other aspects like the ever important SEO.
If you’re new to digital marketing and are looking to create your first ad campaign on Facebook. Look here for our guide on creating your first campaign.