Using Facebook for more than cat videos

Friday, July 28, 2017, Vol. 41, No. 30

Facebook now has two billion monthly users and accounts for 10 percent of all website visits. So, you’ve probably already taken the time to set up a Facebook page for your business and are making regular posts part of your marketing strategy.

Today, I’d encourage you to think of Facebook as more than just a marketing communications channel. It can be a strong source of sales leads, too.

Start your Facebook lead generation efforts with an advertising campaign. Facebook’s advertising platform allows you to easily create ads using multiple formats such as video, single images or a rotating carousel. The powerful editor built into Facebook’s business platform seamlessly walks you through the ad-creation process.

While Facebook reaches an incredible number of people, it also provides several tools for defining a highly specific target audience for your ads – allowing your dollars to work for you more efficiently.

Keywords and demographics allow advertisers to target audiences down to spending habits, interests, as well as connections to your page. A well-defined audience is the single most important aspect of creating a well-crafted advertisement.

Plus, the Audience Insights Tools on Facebook is incredibly useful for narrowing the scope of your message to make sure it is likely to be of interest to your selected target market.

Besides setting your target audience, choosing your messaging and creating a firm offer will ultimately be your key to increasing the leads your ads generate. Facebook users are often distracted, so you’ll need to offer something that really catches and holds their attention. Consider offering a significant discount or even a free prize to customers who visit your site from Facebook to make yourself stand out.

Once a lead is generated from your Facebook ad, it is important to remember that you must nurture the lead you have captured. Be sure to gather the information you need to stay in contact with your new lead by using Forms on the Facebook advertising platform.

When a form is used in an advertisement, the fields are automatically populated from a user’s profile. While you can choose to add multiple fields that are found on an individual’s profile, it is best to keep the information you gather from users short and straightforward to encourage them to supply their details.

Just gather the information you need to establish a relationship with the user and then be sure to follow through.

Always remember that with Facebook, the more people engage with your content, the more business traffic you will receive.

Make sure you are fostering engagement with your social-media advertising by identifying your target audience, crafting messages they will respond to and following up with those who engage.

Catherine Knoll, digital marketing strategist at RedRover Sales & Marketing Strategy, can be reached at redrovercompany.com.