Facebook Marketing for Beginners

BUSINESS AND FRANCHISING

FACEBOOK MARKETING FOR BEGINNERS

Facebook? It has never interested you. You like to call yourself “old school” and talk longingly about the good old days of LPs and turntables and actual face-to-face conversations. But the reality is that if you’re not using online community tools to engage with today’s plugged-in generation, you’re missing out on a prime (and budgetfriendly) opportunity to grow your business.

Welcome to the world’s largest social network! Facebook has more than 1-billion daily active users, including your competitors. With such a large user base, ignoring Facebook is no longer an option, especially if your goal is to expand your business reach, attract new customers to your premises and drive higher sales. And all of this at minimum (if not zero) cost to you. Plus, it’s really easy to use. All you need to do is set up a Facebook Page.

Here’s how to set up a Facebook Page as a social media platform for your tavern:

You’ll need a Facebook account. If you don’t have one yet, sign up at www.facebook.com and start connecting with friends and family. Once you’re online and logged into your profile, click on the arrow in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select “Create Page.”

From there, you will be guided through a series of easy steps to setting up a Facebook Page for your business, that include choosing your type of business, entering your address and contact details, and uploading images to give your page some aesthetic appeal. Be sure to add your page to your favourites, so that you can easily access it from your newsfeed.

How to manage your page:

Among the many benefits of placing your business on Facebook, Page Admin Tools give you control over what and how to share with your customers. Add your business information in the “About” section, read and respond to all the private messages sent to your page by clicking the “Messages” tab, get an overview of all the activity on your page in Notifications, and learn about who you’re reaching and what they’re engaging with by visiting your page Insights.

How to post updates:

When you publish a post, it appears in your followers’ newsfeeds, and lets them know what’s going on with your business. To start, just type your message, and then add photos to make your post more appealing. When you’re done, you can either publish your update immediately, or using the drop down menu next to the publish button, you can schedule your post to go live at a later date.

How to reach more people by advertising on Facebook:

Facebook ads will allow you to reach a wider audience. You can either promote your page, or boost your posts (or both, depending on your budget). While this is a service you must pay for, you’re always in control of what you spend. After you’ve created an ad, and defined the audience you want to reach, you choose a budget for the total amount you want to spend and the length of time you want your ad to run. By default, Facebook will optimise your ad to reach the people who will most likely be interested. You can set a daily budget or a lifetime budget, and your ad must run for just over 24 hours. Whatever figures you input in the Ad Manager, Facebook will give you an estimated projection of the number of people you could reach with your ad. For example, an ad that runs over two days, with a minimum budget of R10 per day, has the potential to reach an audience of up to 1 500 people, while an ad with a budget of R100 per day, and running over 10 days, may reach up to 7 800 users.

Going organic:

There’s no rule that says you have to pay for advertising on Facebook. If you invite people that you know to like your page, and regularly post informative (and shareable) updates, you will still grow a dedicated audience, although at a much slower rate. Since the inception of paid advertising, Facebook’s organic reach is slightly more stunted than it once was, but this doesn’t mean your page will never be seen. Keep your content fresh and friendly, and always directed at the people you want to reach. Need more help getting your business page setup and making use of all the awesome social media features? Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ SpotongMagazine and feel free to ask us any questions you might have.

FACEBOOK STATISTICS (AS OF SEPTEMBER 2015) :

• 1.01-billion daily active users on average • 894-million mobile daily active users on average • 1.55-billion monthly active users • 1.39-billion mobile monthly active users Source: www.facebook.com