by Marketing Manager | Facebook, Social Media
With small businesses providing the majority of Facebook’s advertisers, the platform is naturally invested in helping the “little guys” weather the coronavirus storm. So in May of 2020, they announced a new feature to help small businesses sell — Facebook Shops. This mobile-first sales platform is the latest FB platform where brands can sell physical products, without a large time or money investment. Unlike Facebook Marketplace which serves peer-to-peer sales (à la Craigslist), Facebook Shops lets companies set up their own branded storefronts on this mobile-first sales platform. Facebook Shop Features Like most Facebook features, Facebook Shops are free to set up, providing users another sales platform with no additional startup costs. Facebook will eventually charge 5% per shipment, or $0.40 for shipments of under $8.00. However, they are waiving fees through the end of 2020 due to the pandemic. Brands can add as many products as they wish to their shops, and they can customize their look with a cover image and branded accent colors. Since Facebook owns Instagram, they’ve integrated the shops with both platforms. Users will be able to find a brand’s shop on the business’ Facebook Page, Instagram profile, and within the Shops tab on mobile. Brands can also link to items in their Shops in Stories and Ads on both platforms. This lets you promote and sell your products all in one place. Another handy feature — customers can message the business right from the Shop through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct Messaging, making it easy to get answers to questions. There is also a future plan to let...
by Marketing Manager | Content Marketing, Facebook, Marketing Tips, Social Media
Did you know that the average Facebook user clicks on 12 ads per month? It’s true – and it illustrates why Facebook ads are still one of the most cost-effective ways to connect with your target audience and promote your business. If only you weren’t messing them up. Look, we can’t say whether your Facebook ads are perfect. Maybe they are. But the truth is that most people do mess them up – and the mistakes they make cause their ad campaigns to be more expensive (and less effective) than they should be. Fortunately, there’s a quick fix. Once you understand the 3 most common mistakes people make, you can stop making them – and starting to get the results you deserve. Here they are. #1: Targeting Ads to People Who Aren’t Already Fans This first mistake can be a real head scratcher for small business owners. Aren’t you supposed to use Facebook ads to grow your audience? The short answer is no, not really. You can – and we’re not saying that you should never run an ad that targets new customers. But you’ll get more engagement and more clicks if you target the people who already like your company. If you think about it, it should make sense. The people who follow you on Facebook are qualified leads. Some may have already bought from you but all of them are people who had enough interest in your company to click that Follow button. Running ads that appear only to followers is a great way to nurture leads, encourage repeat business, and let your followers know that you...
by Marketing Manager | Facebook, Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media
I’m willing to bet you already know a lot about Facebook ads. Facebook is still the most widely used social media platform with 2.54 billion active daily users as of the third quarter of 2020. Because of Facebook’s algorithm, non-paid content from family and friends are given priority in users’ feeds, making Facebook advertising a must for local businesses. The good news is that it’s easy to use Facebook ads to drive traffic to your website and increase conversions. The key is choosing the right objective and then designing an ad that will help you to accomplish it. Here’s what you need to know. What is a Facebook Conversion Ad? Any time you create an ad on Facebook, you must choose the type of ad you want to run. The options are: Get more website visitors Boost a post Get more messages Promote your page Get more calls Get more leads For conversions, you should choose the “Get more website visitors” option. That’s the one that will allow you to advertise to your target audience while enticing them to visit your website with a single click. How to Choose a Conversion Objective While you need to increase traffic to your website to increase your conversions, you also need to choose a conversion objective. Depending upon the nature of your business and your marketing goals, your conversion objective could be any of the following: Opt-ins to build your list Opt-ins to generate leads Downloads of a lead magnet Sales of your products Whatever objective you specify, Facebook will provide you with a pixel (a tiny snippet of code)...
by Marketing Manager | Blog, Facebook, Photography, Social Media, Twitter
The world of social media marketing is noisy these days. Getting your content to the people who are most likely to buy your products or use your services is akin to trying to flag down a car going 90 miles an hour on a six-lane highway — when you’re in a building on the side of the road. It’s tough going. The only way to succeed is to make sure that your social media posts stand out in a crowded playing field. You need to create content that’s compelling and irresistible if you want to grab attention from your competitors — or, let’s face it, from your followers’ friends and family. Here are some things that can help your Facebook posts and Tweets stand out in 2021. Up Your Emoji Game You might not think of emoji as professional but the bottom line is that internet users love them. Incorporating them into your social media content can help your posts stand out. Go to GetEmoji.com and you’ll find a huge bank of emoji you can copy and paste into your posts. It’s important not to overdo it. Using one to three emoji per post is the right range. A word to the wise: make sure you know what an emoji means before you use it. I’ve seen more than one example of the “tears of laughter” emoji being used to express sorrow. If you don’t know what it means, don’t use it. Add Images to Tweets While it’s common to see photographs and graphics attached to Facebook posts, visual imagery is...
by Marketing Manager | Facebook, Lead Generation, Marketing, Marketing Tips
You’re probably already marketing your business on Facebook. If you’re not, you should be – but it’s not just a question of having a Facebook page and using it. You’ve got to use it wisely if you want to get great results. It’s not uncommon for small business owners to dive into Facebook marketing without really knowing what they’re doing at first. I mean come on, at some point you just have to dive in, right? You may even have some decent results but I’m willing to bet they’re not as good as they could be. So… let’s get back to basics. What do you need to know to earn a big return on your Facebook investment? Let me break it down for you. Create Your Page. If you don’t already have a Facebook page for your business, the first step is creating one. To do it, click the plus sign at the top right-hand side of your page once you’re logged in. (Note: this used to be on the Pages sidebar, which has been removed with the latest Facebook update.) You’ll be prompted to enter information about your business including what type of business it is (eCommerce, local, B2B). Use Consistent Branding When you create your Facebook business page, make sure to keep your branding consistent. That means using the same photo across all social media sites. I suggest using your company logo as your profile picture. You should also keep your language consistent with your brand’s tone and personality. It’s a must to create a seamless cross-channel experience for customers when they interact with your company...
by Stefanie Blackburn | Facebook
Facebook has become the most powerful advertising platform for small businesses. The combination of being able to reach people by their interests, social connections, pages that they’ve visited, as well as by their location makes them a very effective and powerful option for small businesses to reach new prospects and customers, and grow their attention and revenue. Facebook has four primary location targets available that allow you to create very powerful, local-focused ad campaigns. Facebook’s Help articles define them as the following: Reach everyone in this location You can ‘Reach everyone in this location’, which is the default option. This option allows you to reach people whose home or most recent location is within the selected area. You might want to advertise to large fairs or high-profile sporting events. For example, everyone in a particular location. Let us say, everyone in Florida. It will automatically advertise to everyone in Florida. People who live in this location The second option is people who live in this location. This includes people whose home is within the selected area. You might want to advertise a retail business. For example, to people who live in a specific location, perhaps, a service like a real estate agent would want to advertise only to people that live in a certain location. People recently in this location People recently in this location, is the third option. With this option, you’re reaching people whose most recent location is within the selected area that you’re advertising to. You may want to advertise time-sensitive sales. For example, to people who are recently in the location that you choose,...
