Should you still be marketing on Facebook?

Are you marketing on Facebook?

If you are, you have probably noticed that your Facebook posts are not reaching as many people as they used to – or what? Many people have been noticing this for a while now, and it isn’t just that people have been using Facebook less over the holidays or something like that and therefore not seeing what you are posting.

Facebook have simply come out and said that businesses can no longer rely on getting free exposure through their Facebook pages, and they recommend that businesses buy advertising. This shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone. A: They are a business and their revenues come from advertising. B: There is a gargantuan amount of posts swirling around on Facebook everyday and they must somehow filter what people see so that people are seeing what they are interested in. If people started seeing everything, they would quickly leave (and that would in turn render Facebook useless as a marketing tool). People don’t see everything that those they are connected to on Facebook post – they filter it and choose the best stuff for you.

You can see a few more articles about these Facebook changes and their effects below, if you want to delve deeper.

So what can we do? Should we just stop using Facebook for marketing or is there something we can do about this? – Yes, we can! Here are 7 things you must do to get the most out of today’s Facebook:

Number 1
Post things that people are interested in and interact with. If I like, comment or share something from someone (be it a person or a page), Facebook will show me more stuff from that person or page. That means we need to have stuff that people are really interested in and want to do something with, to increase the results from our free page activities. And how can we make sure we do that? Well…

Number 2
We have to know who we want to be talking to. That means we need to be very very clear about our target groups and we must know and understand them as well as possible, in order to appeal to them. Facebook is a social medium – who wants to be social with someone who makes no effort to get to know them or understand them and is therefore yapping on about something you are totally not interested in? – no more than you talk to that guy at the party who only talks about himself and has no interest in you ;)
– this is is one of the reasons I place such a strong emphasis on target group analysis with my clients and that they get to know and understand as much as humanly possible about it.

Number 3
You have to be interesting. Michelin chefs don’t just cook good food, they also know how to present it so that it is attention grabbing and interesting. You have to do the same. You have to think about how people perceive you and how you present yourself to them. Have some character, be different and definitive, be consistent. It’s that brand thing again, which I have written a lot about on this blog, and will continue to do :) And which is at the core of everything I do with my clients.

Number 4
You need to really get a handle on your content strategy. What stuff are you going to post? How are you going to produce it and curate it? How are you going to distribute it otherwise? There are quite a few things to take into account. Solid content marketing is a necessity in today’s world and something that small and medium sized businesses can do as it takes less cash and more thought and work than the old ways of traditional media advertising.

Number 5
Learn how to use Facebook ads properly to support other things you are doing on and off Facebook. You can do quite amazing things with Facebook’s advertising platform. You can target those that have liked specific pages, you can input a list of emails and only target those people who have those emails on Facebook, you can find lookalike audiences – i.e. just advertise to people like the people you already have on your page and so so much more. For everything directly to do with Facebook, such as advertising, Amy is my girl and you can check her out here also.

Number 6
It is less expensive to advertise to people who already like your Facebook page than others, so it is still good to have a lot of followers – but pointless if those are not the right followers (refer to point number 2!). Don’t go for the like and share games where people can win an iPod or whatever. They are not just annoying, but they also get you loads of followers that aren’t really interested in the least in what you have to offer and will not be bringing you business. Please, for me – don’t do it!

Number 7
Get people further into the relationship. Don’t just use Facebook to be on Facebook. Use Facebook to establish a relationship you can then nurture outside Facebook. Get them to sign up for your mailing list where you can stay in touch regularly without paying extra. People may not open each and every post, but they will open some and they are reminded of you each time you pop into their inbox. Please note however that points number 1-4 above apply to your email marketing just as much as they do Facebook. Note also that there are do’s and don’ts with regards to email marketing that you need to know about before you start and there is a certain art to it – people can always unsubscribe if they don’t like you – more on that later. I am about to start to offer a great email marketing course soon and the best way to know when it will be available is … yep, to sign up for the mailing list ;)

So what do you think? Have you seen the reach of your Facebook posts decline and what are you planning to do about it?

If you want to read more on the subject: