11 Small Business Marketing Strategies for Facebook Pages
Building your brand presence on Facebook requires you to understand your audience, use the right tools at the right time, and consistently learn and improve your campaign as you go. To help you out, here are 11 effective marketing strategies for Facebook pages to promote your business and drive up your sales.
1. Optimize Your Facebook Page
One of the simplest ways to improve your Facebook brand presence is to optimize your Facebook business page. Having a well-optimized business profile can help build brand awareness, connect with your target audience, and boost conversions.
Once you create your Facebook business page, follow these marketing strategies for Facebook pages to properly utilize the space on your profile:
Start With the Right Template
While you are welcome to use the default template assigned when you first set up your Facebook page, several page templates are also available. These include Facebook page templates for retail stores (including ecommerce), service-based businesses, events venues, nonprofits, celebrities and influencers, restaurants, and more. Choosing the right one can save you time setting up your page and make it more effective.
To find the best one to support your Facebook page marketing efforts, read our article detailing which free Facebook template to choose. It also provides more details about page setup and how to select a template when you want to make a change. Or, to check out available templates right away, you can access templates through your page’s settings on both desktop and mobile devices.
How to change your Facebook template on the desktop version
How to change your Facebook template on a mobile device
Provide Detailed Business Information
Optimizing your business page starts with adding business information to make it easy for customers to visit your website, contact you, or come to your brick-and-mortar store. Your page should communicate your business well since it will introduce many potential customers to your brand.
Add as much information as possible about your company to your Facebook page, such as its:
- Company name
- Phone contact information
- Email contact information
- Website URL
- Hours of operation
- Address
- Driving directions
- Special instructions (e.g., parking, pandemic-related restrictions, and so on)
When setting your page up, select as many categories as applicable to your company. This makes it easier for your page to come up in organic Facebook searches. Afterward, navigate to the “About” tab on the left-hand side of your business page and complete all sections. Don’t be afraid to go into detail and use relevant keywords in your summary. Highlight what makes your business different and clearly state what you can offer.
Add information and choose categories for your business page
Set your location and business hours
Designate business hours and any temporary changes
Add a profile picture and cover image
Choose a Clear Profile Picture That Represents Your Brand
The profile picture can be seen everywhere. It is what people see when you interact with them online, when they see an ad for your business, and when they find your business in Facebook search results. If you’re still on the fence about which image to use, try using the acronym “CHEESE” to find the best option for your profile picture:
Clear
High quality
Eye-catching
Expressive
Simple
Engaging
In most cases, your company logo will be the best choice for your profile picture on Facebook. However, certain businesses, like real estate businesses, can also perform well with a professional headshot as a profile picture. You can find amazing templates or create your own profile picture with Canva, a powerful online graphic design tool that you can use for free.
Eye-catching orange fruit store logo idea for Facebook business page (Source: Canva)
Simple photography and design logo for Facebook page (Source: Canva)
Book stack clear logo for Facebook business (Source: Canva)
Include a Message in Your Facebook Page Cover Photo
According to a KISSMetrics report, 93% of consumers say visuals are the most important factor in their purchasing decisions. Most people will judge your business page based on the images they will immediately see.
Since cover photos are like billboards on your profile, use them to your advantage by showcasing something unique about your business. Some types of messaging to consider include adding your website URL, call to action (CTA), unique selling proposition, first-time customer offer, and so on.
Glamnetic Facebook business profile that utilizes the cover photo for brand message (Source: Facebook)
Similar to how a storefront works in real life, your cover photo should be well-designed to generate interest. Always use cover photos to add value to your business by including a message—no matter how simple it is. Also, keep in mind that you aren’t limited to just one cover profile. You can set up a series that cycles through as a slider.
Need professional help to get your profile and cover images right? Hire a graphic designer from Fiverr to create images for your Facebook page for as little as $5.
Add a Call-to-Action Button
2. Align Facebook Marketing Strategies With Business Goals
One of the most important (but often overlooked) marketing strategies for Facebook pages is to plan how you will market your business on Facebook to support your overall business objectives. To get you started, here are some of the most important business objectives and how they can be translated into Facebook goals:
- Increase sales: A strong audience targeting strategy on Facebook can increase your business’ sales. With almost 3 billion active Facebook users, Facebook is an exceptional source to improve business reach. It’s important to not just focus on increasing the total number of people who see your brand but ensuring that you’re gaining audience members among your ideal customer types as well.
- Maintain or increase profit: To maintain or increase profit, you’ll need to get enough conversions to cover the cost of Facebook marketing. With this in mind, set a budget for your campaign that is enough to boost your reach but still be able to produce revenue.
- Strengthen customer service: By opening up customer communication for sales and support on Facebook Messenger, you can foster a stronger relationship with prospects and customers. Facebook Messenger is a powerful tool for businesses of any size. It is fast, free, and a channel already used by billions of people.
- Monitor and grow brand presence: Several Facebook monitoring tools can help you track and report all conversations revolving around your business, competitors, and industry. This can help you get one step ahead of the competition. Creating a successful Facebook marketing campaign will also decrease social media advertising costs while maintaining a good campaign performance.
- Improve company value: To make your business more valuable, use Facebook as an avenue to nurture your relationship with existing customers and strengthen brand awareness to potential customers. Frequent posting of substantial content can help solidify your brand image online.
- Evaluate performance: Numerous tools are available to track your progress on Facebook marketing. Your campaign performance is also a benchmark for how your business is faring.
3. Engage Your Small Business With the Community
Facebook thrives on interaction. As a small business, you can use Facebook to your advantage by establishing the significance of your brand to your community. By engaging in different aspects of Facebook, you also ensure that more people see and gain awareness of your brand. As far as marketing strategies for Facebook pages go, here are some ways your small business can engage with the community:
Create a Facebook Group
Having your own business Facebook group can reward your small business with brand loyalty from its members and even potential brand ambassadors. Remember that people enjoy having a dedicated space. If you create a group for your business, center it on two things: what your brand is about and what your customers are interested in. By creating an interesting group, you can encourage more people to engage and gain more trust in your brand.
Did You Know? A Facebook Group is a place to post, comment, and communicate about shared interests with other users. A Facebook Group can be about anything. In fact, as of February 2021, over 10 million groups were on Facebook.
Join Facebook Groups Based on Interests
Make sure to join Facebook Groups that cater to people whose interests are related to your business. It’s a good (and free) way for businesses to gain awareness organically and to reach an engaged target audience. For example, if your business provides hair and makeup services, you could join the Makeup Artists group. By placing your business as an authority in your space, you’ll build a loyal following, which will translate into sales and brand equity.
Join Local Facebook Groups
There are many options for Facebook Groups based on your location, like those dedicated to your neighborhood, city, or state. Local buy and sell groups are beneficial for small businesses as it allows them to post their products or services for free, while also being an avenue for potential customers to post what they’re looking for.
Engage With Other Pages
Engaging with other business pages can allow you to co-market your brand. Co-marketing is when two businesses collaborate to promote and cross-sell each other’s products. It’s a free strategy that can help small businesses gain credibility and awareness.
For example, a local sporting goods business may co-market with a local tennis club by offering new tennis racquet demos one day a week at the tennis club. For more inspiration about leveraging co-marketing as a marketing strategy for Facebook pages, check out our list of the best lead referral partnership opportunities by industry.
4. Conduct a Facebook Competitor Analysis With Page Insights
By performing a Facebook competitor analysis, you can track your key competitors, get an idea of what your target market is interested in, and learn from their mistakes. If you want to monitor your competitors’ key performance indicators (KPI), Facebook Page Insights is the best tool to use.
Page Insights overview on Facebook Business Manager (Source: Facebook)
Set Up Your Page Insights for Competitor Analysis
Although Facebook’s Page Insights is commonly used to learn more about your own content and audience, it also has a helpful section for monitoring other business pages. Here is a simple step-by-step guide to help you get started using Facebook for competitive benchmarking:
- Go to your business page and select the Insights tab from the leftmost panel. Don’t use the Insights section of Meta Business Suite—instead, scroll down to the Insights tab just below the Notifications section.
- Once you are on the Insights web page, scroll down to the bottom-most section of the Overview tab to find the “Pages to Watch” section.
Add Pages to Watch in the lowermost section of the Overview tab (Source: Facebook)
- Click on the “Add Pages” button and type the business page names of your major competitors. You can also choose from the suggested pages in the pop-up window.
- Monitor your competitors’ KPIs with the following statistics:
- Total page likes
- Rate of change in page likes from the previous week
- Number of posts this week
- Engagement this week
- Scroll up and click on the Posts tab from the left panel.
- Select the Top Posts from Pages You Watch Tab.
- Go through the competitors’ posts with the most engagement to find out what works.
Use the Top Posts resource in the Posts tab to see competitors’ posts and insights (Source: Facebook)
- Find the posts with the least engagement to prevent any mistakes they could have made.
5. Create Facebook Ads
Facebook ads help your business reach targeted audiences with specific messages you would not necessarily be able to reach with organic posts. Facebook ads are a type of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where businesses pay based on audience interactions, such as a click, video view, or conversion. Any business with a Facebook business page can set up ads through Facebook Ads Manager, and it’s a fairly affordable form of paid social advertising.
What makes advertising on Facebook unique is that its audience targeting tools are very sophisticated. In other words, you can pinpoint exactly who they want your ad to display to, which helps make your ads more effective as they are only displayed to qualified users. Audience targeting aside, they are also set up to help businesses achieve specific marketing objectives, such as generating awareness or leads. Learn more about Facebook advertising.
Clear and creative mobile-first Facebook ad for Dermalogica (Source: Facebook)
Stick to Your Branding
To create quality Facebook ads, you must stand by the same marketing principles you use for your other strategies. Stick to high-quality images and videos, just as you would for your website. Also, keep your brand colors in mind, as this will help your business become more recognizable.
If you already have some go-to techniques for your other marketing materials like Google Ads or social media posts, try translating them into something you can use on Facebook. If you need a good source of quality imagery, check out VistaCreate. It has millions of assets and thousands of premade templates for social media posts on Facebook and other platforms, and you can create a brand kit for free to keep everything cohesive.
Know the Ad Specifications
To advertise with confidence, make sure that you know the ad specifications required by Facebook.
Allot a Bigger Initial Budget
Small businesses need aggressive advertising at first to get more leads and sales. Around 10% to 12% of business revenue is a good number to start with. Once you have secured a bigger customer base, you can lower your advertising budget to as low as 5% of revenue. However, these budgets are not set in stone because different factors influence Facebook advertising costs, such as audience, bidding strategy, and ad quality.
Use Your Call to Action in the Last Sentence
No matter the character limit for a Facebook ad, always make sure that your call to action is clear in the last sentence. Use strong action words that provoke enthusiasm, and don’t forget to keep it clear. Common calls to action in Facebook ads are:
- “Shop Now!”
- “Download our app for free today!”
- “Get Started.”
- “Book Now!”
- “Like our page for more tips.”
- “Order today while supplies last”
- “Get a Free Demo!”
- “Sign Up Today.”
- “Learn More”
6. Create a Content Calendar With Meta Business Suite Planner
A content calendar is used to plan and organize your Facebook posts. This includes what, when, and where you’ll post your content. Facebook’s new Meta Business Suite includes a Planner tool that you can use to manage your Facebook business page posts. With this Planner, you can create your own content creation process and share consistently.
Overview of Meta Business Suite Planner found on Facebook Page (Source: Facebook)
Learn the Basics of the Content Calendar
View your content calendar by week or month by clicking the button in the top left corner of the page. There are automatic “Moments” listed on the right-most side of the Planner based on holidays, and you can add more important events to your business by clicking the Add button right beside the Moments panel.
You can also filter the content you want to see on your calendar based on the type of content or where it’s posted. There are three types of content that you can schedule in the Meta Business Planner: posts, stories, and ads.
You can schedule the type of content you want by clicking on the Create button found on the top right corner of the window and inputting the necessary details of your post. In the same window, you can explore different formats and optimal times for posting before clicking the Schedule button. The following are specific steps on how to schedule your content posting.
Schedule Posts
- Click the Create button on the top-right-hand side of the Planner.
- Choose where you want to publish your post: on your Facebook account, Instagram, or within Facebook groups.
- Write the text portion of your post and add hashtags or emojis.
Pro tip: If you click on the Hashtag icon, a pop-up will show you trending hashtags you can choose from and your recently used hashtags. Use the bookmark icon to save hashtags for future use.
- Upload photos or videos to your post. You can also use a preformatted template from Vimeo by clicking on the Use Template button.
- Add your location if needed.
- Customize your post with a call-to-action button or add a Feeling or Activity to go with the post.
- Preview your post with both the desktop and mobile views found at the top of the preview section.
- Schedule your post by clicking the Optimal Times button and inputting the schedule as guided by the recommended posting time.
- Test your post by clicking the Create A/B test button. This will show different versions of your post to separate audiences. After 30 minutes, the test will end, and only the winning version will continue running.
Schedule Stories
- In the top-rightmost corner of the page, click the drop-down arrow button and select Create Story.
- Choose whether you want to share the story on Facebook, Instagram, or both.
- Upload the media you want to use for the story.
- Use the creative tools on the left side of the pop-up to crop the picture or add text and stickers.
- Consider adding a swipe-up link found in the Additional Features section.
- Schedule your post by clicking the Optimal Times button and inputting the schedule as guided by the recommended posting time.
Schedule Ads
- In the top-right most corner of the page, click the drop-down arrow button and select Create Ad.
- Choose to get automated personalized ads, create an ad from scratch, or turn existing content from your page into an ad.
- Follow the prompts to create a Facebook ad based on your preferences.
- Select the ad version you want and assess your preferred version’s settings and estimated results.
- Add your payment method.
- Schedule for promotion.
Post During Prime Times
According to Sprout Social, a trusted social media publishing, scheduling, and reporting platform, the best times to post on Facebook are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays are found to be the day of the week with the lowest engagement.
7. Produce Proven Engaging Content
Generating content is a great way to maintain an active presence on Facebook. Businesses are advised to post content on their feed anywhere from three days a week to once daily. Generally, the larger the audience size, the more often it posts, but businesses need to consider their industry, audience, and the quality of content they can produce.
Post Images & Videos
BuzzSumo found that Facebook posts with images receive 2.3x more engagement than posts without them. Images you can post range from simple snapshots to charts or even lighthearted comics. If possible, also put your content into motion by posting videos. Over 500 million viewers watch 100 million hours of video content on Facebook daily, so having video content can ensure that people know your story.
Create stunning images and videos for your Facebook posts with VistaCreate. With over 50,000 preformatted templates and a user-friendly interface to help you create your own designs, VistaCreate is a reliable graphic design platform to help small businesses.
Share Links to Your Website Content
Use Facebook to promote newly published articles by sharing links to your blog posts. Add a brief write-up to tee up the link that serves as a teaser to drive users to click on the link and read your post. When you share links to your recent blog posts, your Facebook followers will have the chance to visit your site and read them—creating more steady traffic to your website.
Create Shareworthy Infographics
Infographics turn complex ideas into engaging, easy-to-understand content. You can share more information with a visually appealing infographic as this will encourage more users to reshare your content.
Get professional quality content and infographics by hiring a freelance graphic designer for your business. At Fiverr, you can find design experts to provide content for your Facebook page at a small business-friendly price.
Reshare Relevant Content
Sharing news and articles about your industry can help boost your social media presence. Use authoritative sources so your viewers can rely on you to provide trustworthy information. Share content by well-known industry experts so that your page can be a reference to potential customers.
Post to Stories
A fun way to be active and engage with your audience on Facebook is by posting stories. It shows your audience what is happening right now in a fun yet personal way that has the power to build connections. Businesses often use stories to share behind-the-scenes photos and videos, updates and developments, and the people behind the business.
Go Live
Live video content is both timely and authentic. Using Facebook Live can notify your followers when you’re posting content, allowing them to participate more in the comment section. Once you’ve tracked the days and time frames your followers are most active, establish the time for a routine live video of your business page.
Pro tip: Pin a post to the top of your page. Everyone who visits your page will see this post first. Choose a post that is likely to drive subscription, likes, and sales.
8. Use On-site Tools to Boost Your Marketing Strategies for Facebook Pages
Facebook is first and foremost a social media platform that thrives on user engagement. The company encourages small businesses to operate on Facebook by providing different marketing tools. Use these resources to your advantage by incorporating them into your social media marketing effort.
Set & Promote Events
Add your business events on Facebook straight from your business page. This helps promote your event to your audience while enabling them to RSVP. How people respond can be displayed to their friends which, in turn, can boost the event and incite interest from participants’ friends.
Launch Special Offers
You can find the Create Offer option on your Facebook business page right next to the Create button underneath the posting section. Choose the discount type of your choice, additional text or media, the expiration date, and where people can redeem your offer. Offering exclusive discounts and vouchers can make your page more valuable to your followers.
Start a Facebook Contest
Establish your goal for a Facebook contest: get more likes, subscriptions, or brand awareness. You can write your own contest details and rules to cater to your goal and lay out the prizes you can give at the end of the contest, e.g., a free session to your services or a free product tester. This can encourage your followers to actively engage with your page often.
List a Product in Facebook Marketplace
The Facebook Marketplace is Facebook’s version of classified ads. This shouldn’t serve as your business’ primary sales channel, but it can give your small business another way of gaining additional exposure, and, ultimately, more sales.
9. Encourage Positive User Reviews & Engagement
As a small business, you need as many people vouching for you as possible. This encourages others to try your product or service, since the information would come from people they trust. Interact with customers’ content, especially comments on your page and posts that your business is tagged in. Make sure to thank your customers so they can even want to do so more often.
Incentivize User Reviews
If you’re not getting much feedback from your customers at first, try to message them and incentivize user reviews. It can be a discount code for a future purchase or a small freebie. Once more people interact with your page, it will continue to grow and happen naturally.
10. Integrate Other Platforms
To get the most from your Facebook marketing strategy, use all the available platforms to ensure that your Facebook page gets likes, follows, and engagements early. Facebook makes up a whopping 75.28% of all social media use, so integrating Facebook Messenger and Instagram can make it unbeatable to other platforms in terms of potential reach.
Connect Your Instagram Account
Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page through your Facebook page settings. Having a linked account on both platforms can build more trust from your customers as they find the same quality content on both your accounts. At the same time, you can get more comprehensive insights with two platforms instead of one.
Use Facebook Messenger
Use Facebook Messenger and Facebook’s live chat feature to connect with page visitors. Messenger is an excellent customer service tool since it is free, customizable, and already used by your Facebook audience. You can set up messages to automatically display to those who visit the page, serving to engage with visitors whether you’re there to chat with them or not.
Facebook’s live chat can do more than provide a communication channel. It can help establish trust with customers who might be concerned about doing business with a company they don’t know. In fact, 53% of Facebook users say they’re more likely to buy from a business that uses Facebook Messenger’s live chat functionality.
Promote in Your Physical Store
To get the most out of your Facebook account, connect your online presence to your physical presence by putting up a sign or poster in your store displaying your handle on Facebook. You can even put your Facebook page URL on your receipts and business cards to encourage people to follow you.
Reference Your Facebook Page Anywhere You Can
Add Facebook share buttons on your blog posts, article pages, infographics, and other site content so that your readers can share your content with the click of a button. Also, display your Facebook page name on email newsletters and email signatures to encourage your subscribers to follow you online.
11. Look Into Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is the upcoming star for small business marketing strategies for Facebook pages and other platforms. With low-risk and high-return campaigns, influencer marketing gives 11x higher return on investment than other forms of digital media.
Search for micro-influencers (fewer than 10,000 to 20,000 followers) you can collaborate with to start out. They can fit the advertising budget of most small businesses and often have a more engaged audience than bigger influencers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How can I market for free on Facebook?
Facebook offers many free ways to market your business, otherwise referred to as organic social media marketing. Strategies include creating a Facebook business page, building positive reviews, enhancing your page with a CTA and custom tabs, inviting user-generated content, writing and sharing content, offering deals, and participating in groups. Learn more about free Facebook marketing strategies and ideas.
What is a Facebook landing page?
A Facebook landing page is the web page a user is directed to after clicking on a Facebook ad. All businesses advertising on Facebook should create custom landing pages. They yield higher conversions because they are designed to effectively guide users through your sales funnel with content that aligns with your ad’s message.
Learn how to create a high-converting Facebook landing page, and then try Mailchimp. With Mailchimp, you can create ad landing pages and engage using email marketing, beginning with the Essentials plan for $11 per month.
What are the best Facebook Ad management agencies?
The Facebook ad management agencies for small businesses are those that are affordable with expert Facebook ad managers and have low monthly ad spend requirements. Some of the best Facebook ad management agencies include Hibu, Lyfe Marketing, and Disruptive Advertising. Many businesses also find top providers through Fiverr Pros. Learn more about the best Facebook Ad management agencies to find the right one for your business.
Bottom Line
With billions of users worldwide and low small business marketing costs, Facebook holds power to connect your company to customers in a cost-effective way. It’s an excellent option for businesses that are looking to generate brand awareness and want to convert it into sales.
Facebook marketing requires expertise and time—both highly valuable and stretched out in small businesses. To ensure you get results that you’re happy with, outsource to the experts, such as those at Hibu, for professional and affordable Facebook management that helps you reach your goals. Get started today.