How To Advertise On Facebook And Don’t Spend A Dime

Let's Dive Into “How To Advertise On Facebook”

Facebook represents our primal need to be social: connecting, comforting, sharing, and entertaining. It is part exhibitionist and part voyeuristic. It is our collective consciousness, shared in a digital forum with written ideas, videos, photos.

What we share becomes an extension of ourselves.

Facebook is here to stay.

Your business or niche is your pride and joy. Putting it on Facebook is a decision to create a digital representation of your business and weave it into the massive fabric that is the Facebook experience. When you can post status updates, photos, links and videos that tap into your fans deepest emotions (in seconds), then you can master the art of building profitable Facebook pages.

Why Do I Need a Business Presence on Facebook?

The numbers don't lie:

•  1.3 Billion people use Facebook. Nearly half are logged in at any given time.
• 680 million use on mobile devices.
• Facebook is available in 70 languages.
• The average user has over 100 friends and spends nearly 20 minutes on Facebook per visit.
• 73% of U.S. users earn over $75,000 per year.
• Facebook has logged over 1 trillion likes since its beginning in 2004.

In a nutshell, these facts mean that there is a boatload of people on Facebook. Many have the disposable income to buy your product or service.

It means that your page can reach them anywhere at anytime, even before they get out of bed in the morning. 

If you can offer something to your target audience that brings them value, any value, that they feel compelled enough to like your page and keep coming back, then you can create a profitable Facebook page.

Should I Build a Business Profile or a Fan Page?
Learn How To Advertise On Facebook Within Their Guidelines

You will need a profile in order to have a page. The real question is: “Should I tack on a Facebook page to my profile?” If you have a business, yes. If it is just you, maybe not…..

“It is long been my position that Facebook Fan Pages are the most important sites to a brand anywhere on the internet. Maybe more important than our own homepage.” Gary Vaynerchuk, Social Media and Media Expert

Let's see why you should have a Facebook page versus a profile for your business activities:

Facebook Profiles

• Private and public posts.
• For non-commercial use only.
• Mutual permission is required (a friend request sent must be accepted).
• No way to track traffic or readership.
• Limited to 5,000 friends.

How To Know If You Are Using Facebook As A Profile?
Status Looks Like This

Facebook Pages

• Pages can be managed by multiple Facebook users.
• They give demographic information about your visitors (after 30 likes).
• Everything you put on a page is public.
• There is no mutual “friending” for a Facebook page; people can simply follow your page. Pages have no limits for followers (big plus).

How To Know If You Are Using Facebook As A Page?
Status Looks Like This

When building a page from scratch, it is vitally important to build a page where you can track the progress of your posts. That means you can see who is visiting your page (age, gender, location, etc.) and how they interact with your page. Because all of your posts are public, they can be indexed by Google, so good SEO is applicable. Integrate Facebook apps that can benefit you and your fans and you can create a great place for your customers and Facebook fans to congregate.

Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities

You can read the entire document -> here

Basically what it's saying is…. you use your personal profile “PRIMARILY” for business purposes… You know who you are….

Developing Your Facebook Page According To Its Purpose

Before building your page, choose its purpose.
In other words, it will be much easier to plan content, posts, and images if your page has a larger purpose. The mistake that many business owners make that their Facebook page is simply a digital neon sign: it tells people that you exist, but not much else.

Giving your page a purpose will also eliminate the frustrating conundrum of what to put on your page. Many pages have more than one purpose, but still align with a common theme or parent purpose. Develop the purpose of your page.

Make sure to read my Facebook Marketing Strategies – Top 10 List to get a refresher

Here are the common purposes of Facebook pages for business:

• Build your email list.
• Sell physical, digital or affiliate products.
• Generate leads.
• Market your business.
• Capture more contracts.

Click Banner Below To Increase
How Many People See Your Facebook Posts

Niches Facebook Pages

Another way to create a profitable Facebook page is to create a niche page. Niche pages focus on one subject, theme or product and create a fan base around it. For example, if you love German Shepherds, you can create a German Shepherd fan page. Create blog posts, videos, photos and written messages around German Shepherd dogs. Build up your fan base then:

• Build a list.
• Create or promote products such as dog training, leashes, dog food, etc.
• Direct traffic to your blog or sales page.
• Market new products or promotions.
• Hold contests and give away prizes.
• Edify loyal fans.

How To Properly Run Niche Facebook Paid Campaigns And Basically Sell Anything

I've been playing with Facebook niches for awhile now.

From running football niches to family oriented topics…. It's built all on Facebook fan pages

This article won't go into that topic but if that is something you would like to study and learn.

Hit me up as I do consulting for this particularly.

Posting Epic Content

This would seem to be difficult. After all, only people who post viral content get all the likes and shares, right? Not necessarily. Yet Facebook pages stand dormant because they can't come up with viral content; so they post nothing at all. 

Let's try a different approach.  Think Epic Sauce

If you fear you cannot post viral content about your business, then focus on using the following template for content on your fan page:

1. Photos – Of you, of your office, of something you did today that is tied to your business, a meme, or a nice photo that you can tie into your business.

2. Fill in the blank – Start a sentence and let fans finish it for you. 

3. Quotes – Text or images, quotes are always a hit.

4. Videos – Videos are the superstars of social media. Short, punchy videos work well. Of course, you should pick the videos your audience enjoys the most.

5. Questions – Simple questions that can be answered quickly, are about the fans themselves, and can be answered in a few short words really attract comments and likes. Either/or questions, (ex. beef or chicken tacos?) can also give your page a burst of fan activity.

6. Gratitude –  Did you just hit 1,000 fans? Share and thank your fans for their support. Periodically thanking fans for following  for no particular reason also triggers likes and reciprocal gratitude.

7. News – Something that is relevant to your company or your industry. Be sure to ask your fans what they think or ask them to engage in some way.

What Times To Post On Facebook Pages?

Posting around (see below) are ideal for most pages.

It is wise to schedule your posts using Facebook or a social media management tool. As your page grows, check your Facebook traffic statistics to see when most people are visiting your page. Also, use them to tell you which posts do well and which do not. You will want to give your audience more of what they like so fan retention and engagement go up.

Also Best Days, Times Of Day For Pages To Post On Facebook

Source: CoSchedule

David Cohen from AllFacebook.com stated:

Social media agency Pandemic Labs became the latest to offer its take on what time of day is the best time for pages to post on Facebook, and which days of the week, as well.

According to a study of more than 22,000 Facebook pages, more than 12.7 million posts, and more than 12.3 billion interactions, conducted by Pandemic Labs via its Watchtower Facebook analytics tool:

The three best times (all ET) to post on Facebook are: Saturday at 10 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 7 p.m.

The three worst times to post on Facebook are: Tuesday at 4 a.m., Tuesday at 3 a.m., and Thursday at 3 a.m.

Finally, use common sense with your posting content. Don't use anything that will offend, alienate or ridicule people. Don't be negative or rant about your day at work. Using controversy can work well, but sometimes there is a fine line between controversy and offensiveness. If in doubt, leave it out.

Playing with “polarity” has a high risk and reward… but something you can mess with and test.

Quick Word ON How To Advertise On Facebook – It Changes Often

I want to take a quick detour and talk about how Facebook is a moving train…. moving..

What I mean is.. don't expect to learn something and be set in stone and that's how it is for decades to come.
As long as you're cool with that you will be happy marketing on facebook.

Example of how Facebook Changes. My article on how they changed their tracking (click Here)

 What this did was tell me…… “Take your external pixels and shove it…”

Getting Traffic to Your Facebook Page: Organic Traffic Vs. Paid Ad Campaigns

What is organic traffic?

Basically, it is traffic that you get to your website, blog or social media page without paying for it. In other words, people find your online presence by search results or they see someone sharing your content on their profile or page.

Facebook fans can also find your page if they find your website or blog and see a Facebook like button. They also see it if they are on your email list and see a link in your email.

Make sure to connect your dots so you build your multiple exposure angles with your prospects.

You may have used paid campaigns before to help you get traffic, but have you ever used Facebook?

Benefits of using Facebook’s own internal ad campaign:

• They are laser-focused.
• They appear to specific groups of people who use Facebook on a regular basis – the active people who comment and share – on desktop and mobile devices.
• The ad you create and the demographics you choose have a great degree of influence over how many likes and shares you get when promoting your page.

Getting paid traffic can also get you some organic traffic as well. Your demographics will also have friends who are in your demographics. When you fans like and share your posts, their friends are more likely to join your page – becoming fans and customers as well.

Not all likes are created equally. It is vital for your Facebook page to get fans to like your page that are engaged, receptive to become customers and even willing to be part of your Facebook community. Some fans also have a lifespan – they are actively engaged for a few months, but then move on.

Great fans can also provide you with something that companies pay thousands of dollars for – feedback. You can get real-time feedback on a topic, product or idea by simply asking your Facebook fan base. The value of having targeted, active fans on your page cannot be understated.

One way to get feedback…. Use Surveys 😉

SurveyMonkey is one of the free programs I use to run surveys. The Free service has it's limitation but it's good enough for smaller audiences.

Using a combination of paid and organic traffic to your Facebook fan page can help you get a strong following.

Outsourcing and Automating Your Facebook Fan Page

As you accumulate content to share, you will find out quickly that maintaining a profitable Facebook page is hard work and time-consuming. If your business keeps you busy, you may want to consider outsourcing or automating your Facebook page.

You may be thinking, “If I am building a page for my business, shouldn't I be controlling all of the content and publishing in real time?”

Yes and no.

Yes, you should control your engagement by :

• Liking and replying to comments.
• Posting timely news and events.
• Posting impromptu photos and updates.

The key is to plan how you post content. Do you do all of your own impromptu or news posts and schedule the rest? Do you outsource half of your content? 95%? When you are starting out, you can start small – perhaps posting twice a day, five days a week. Being consistent is very important in social media. This is where automation comes in. Automation can help you stay consistent.

Scheduling posts (DO IT…)

Scheduling is pretty straightforward. Simply go into Facebook, create a new post on your timeline and instead of posting, you click on the clock icon to schedule the date and time. You can do it for the day, week or month.

This way, you can be sure that your Facebook page is consistently putting out quality, well-planned content.

This is what the icon looks like when you are LOGGED IN as your page (not as your profile)

Top 3 Reasons to Consider Outsourcing (Automate It)

Outsourcing has gotten a bad rap in the media, but the reality is that outsourcing can be your best friend. Outsourcing simply means to hire someone else to help you do business tasks. Websites that specialize in outsourced talents make it very easy to find the talent you need at a moment's notice.

Here are some of the top reasons to outsource:

1. Break up a mountain of work. You need help and you need it quickly.

2. Speed up your productivity. With more hands and minds you can literally be in two or three places at once. You can also reach your goals faster.

3. Get more experience in seconds – not years. You can work with someone who specializes in that task. They have the know-how you don't.

Where to Outsource For Facebook Work?

*This article has a couple of programs I could possibly get paid on due to my referral but the sole reason I bring them up is that they work and I use them.

Yeah.. I've been a member with them since 2009. My… does time fly by.

But outsourcing what you are NOT good at or what you HATE doing is worth it's price…

Letting go of the reins can really skyrocket your productivity and help get your Facebook page become the branding machine you want it to be. 

Even though you are looking to build or represent a business on Facebook, it is important to remember the very human side of Facebook. Social media is about connecting with people.

It is about providing them with something of value, whether it is entertainment, knowledge, enlightenment or inspiration. Facebook fan pages about your fans, not completely about you.

Please your fans, and they will follow you.

Relate to them and they will stay.

Get inside their heads and they will love you:)

Now it's your Turn!
– What tips do you have in building Facebook Traffic and Engagement?
– Ask a Question in the comment section below.

How To Reach And Engage More People On Facebook Without Paid Ads
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