How To Use Facebook For Business – Ultimate Guide

We know Facebook as a social network where we share updates with our friends. But did you know that you can use Facebook for business? Facebook is perhaps the only social medium that can help you reach out to over a billion people. It knows more about your customers than you do and can help you communicate with them at a new level.

In one of the earlier posts, I had shared how to use WhatsApp for business. Now, lets see how to use Facebook for business..

 

5 Benefits of Using Facebook For Business

There are many advantages for using Facebook for your business. Here are some of them:

Low Cost – Create a page for your business on Facebook is actually free. I’m saying ‘low cost’ because there is a cost attached to the time that you spend in creating it. You can quickly share business updates, offers, promotions, information about new products and much more quickly.

Quick & Easy – Posting on your business page is as easy as posting on your personal page. There is a also a Facebook Page manager app available for Android & iOS phones which you can use to post updates on the go. You don’t need any technical expertise to create web presence of your business using Facebook.

Frequent, Real-Time Updates – Most businesses update their websites once a month and some of them once a year. Now compare this to Facebook where you can post updates several times in the day! Your clients or followers will appreciate it and this will help you get more business.

Audience Reach – Almost every person I know, has an account on Facebook. Its easy to reach out to your local audience with Facebook as its wildly popular. You can learn more about your prospects or clients and communicate with them with messages instantly.

Better Customer Connect – With Facebook page, you can not only reach out to your customers but you can also engage them with meaningful conversations. You can ask questions, create polls, take their feedback or even use Facebook for customer support.

 

Why Facebook Likes Matter?

Nowadays, people judge the popularity of your brand by the number of likes you have on your company’s  or product’s Facebook page. Studies has shown that social signals affect your ranking on Google.

This is why any business – no matter how big or small – should have a presence on Facebook. It offers a great opportunity for a company to make online sales, get a loyal followers for the brand, connect directly with customers and when done successfully, let people spread the word about your product or service.

 

So, What is Your Business Goal?

Its very important to set goals for any activity in which we are investing our time and money. So, before getting started with building your business presence on Facebook, you must ask yourself few questions..

– Am I doing this to generate sales online?
– Am I doing this to promote our app or website on Facebook?
– Am I doing this just to create awareness about my company?
– Am I doing this to communicate with my customers?

Idea is to be clear with the outcome so that we can work in a right direction. You can do all of the above and much more with Facebook. Once you are clear about the goal, you can create the strategy accordingly.

 

How To Create A Facebook Page

Creating a Facebook page for your business is super easy. Here is an official guide on setting up a Facebook page. You’ll need a Facebook account for this. Below are the steps:

1. Create a page from your account as shown in the image here.
2. Choose a right business category for your business. You can create a Facebook page for your company as well as for your product.
3. Choose an industry specific category in next step & click on get started.
4. That’s it! Add profile picture, cover photo and description.

Later, you can claim a vanity URL for your page. So, instead of some random URL, you can have an URL like https://www.facebook.com/profitbooks

Need inspiration? Checkout this list of 20 best company Facebook pages.

 

What To Post On Facebook Page?

Now that you have created a Facebook page for your business, the next question is – What do I post on my company page to keep it fresh? How can I come up with new ideas every day?

First, you need to decide how often you are going to post. Its okay to post 3 times a week as long as you stick to the schedule. According to a research, 73% of users unlike the brands because they post too frequently. So, you need to find a right balance.

 

What to post on Facebook:
You can post photos from the company events, upload product videos, client testimonials, share exclusive offers, run a contest, celebrate company milestones and do much more.

 

Do This :

• Post not more than 3-4 times a week or 1-2 times in a day.

• Ask questions. Question posts have 92% higher comment rates.

• Run contests and give away free stuff to increase engagement

• Write short and crisp posts. According to KissMetrics, posts with less than 80 characters, normally receive 66% more engagement.

• Follow the 80-20 Rule. That means, 80% of the posts should be social, relating to your audience or industry and 20% should pertain to your product or service.

 

Never Do This :

• Don’t just SELL all the time. Constantly posting promotions can cause your followers to flee.

• Do not ignore your audience. You should respond to every comment no matter if its positive or negative.

• Do not post copyrighted images or photos downloaded from internet. It will only hurt your brand in long run.

• Do not write fake comments or buy ‘Likes’. Its of no use and totally waste of time.

• Do not clutter the newsfeed by posting attention grabbing posts. 

 

Facebook Groups

Facebook groups are underrated and underutilised. These offer more control and tools to engage your audience. You can upload files, create events, polls and do much more. Now Facebook even offers a dedicated app for Facebook Groups.

You you create and nurture a community using the power of Facebook Groups.

 

Sell On Facebook

If you run a small business and can’t afford a full-fledged eCommerce site, you can consider selling on Facebook. There are tons of apps that help you sell on Facebook. Site like Shopify can also help you setup a Facebooks store in minutes.

Here is a quick guide to get you started.

Conclusion

Facebook is a powerful social network and it can help you grow your business easily. You can setup a company page and use Facebook for business promotion, brand building, customer communication and much more.

If you are already using Facebook for business, then please share your tips in the comments section below. Also check this guide on how to use WhatsApp for business and tips to promote your business for free.

 

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