Facebook: Over 2 Billion Opportunities for Your Business to Grow

Last year, I reached my 10th year anniversary on Facebook. It was an intimidating notification to receive, as I like to pretend I’m not getting any older. On my 10th anniversary, Facebook presented me with an elaborate video that chronicled my a decade's worth of wall posts, photos, and comments.  It’s a digital scrapbook that spans my high school days, all the way to where I am now, a PhD student in Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. While my Facebook and I have had moments of “It’s complicated,” I can’t help but cherish my profile and the easy access to businesses around the world.

Facebook may not be the trendiest platform out there right now, but it certainly has been the most influential in the history of social media. Facebook is constantly developing features that keep its billions of users coming back. Now that Facebook has bought Instagram and the developers are implementing new features every day, it is my position that Facebook still has a major role to play in our lives as consumers. 

Businessblogshub.com posted a good article that highlights nine tried-and-true social marketing tips for Facebook. This is a great place to begin if you have decided that Facebook is the right platform for your business to grow. Important takeaways from this article is to respond promptly to messages, answer criticism with empathy, and optimize your posting time. 

Facebook now indicates how responsive your business is to messages. Consumers expect your business to reply quickly and efficiently. When your business page earns that “Very responsive to messages badge,” your business will gain mega professionalism points and a strong rapport with your customers. When your business is facing criticism, make sure that your replies are customer-centered and provide a solution that works best for your customer. This infographic from coschedule.com explains when it is best to post to your Facebook page. As Facebook’s organic reach declines, due to the overtaking of paid advertisements, it is more important than ever to post at the right time. From this infographic, we can see that posting on weekdays between 1-4 PM and on the weekend between 12-1 pm.

Now that you’ve got the basics it’s now time to take your Facebook marketing into 2018 and beyond. Business2community.com offers highly relevant tips to make sure that your business is staying on the forefront of the latest Facebook trends. This article focuses a lot on the customer experience, just like your business page should. Make sure you are posting content that engages with their interests and follows the 80:20 rule. This article explains that 

“You want to make sure that only 20% of your content is hard-sell promotional, while the remaining 80% is fun, inspiring, educational, high-value articles, and any other non-sale content. Just because your text isn’t over-sell, doesn’t mean you are not building your loyal customer base. Look at the below example – are they telling you, “BUY NOW”?

Making sure that your marketing blends in with your customer’s lifestyle is key. This article also highlights the need to “Go Live.” This growing trend keeps customers in the loop and can connect them to your brand in unique ways. The last huge takeaway from this article is to share user-generated content and testimonial posts. Consumers want to feel a part of the experience on social media. Posting this type of content also helps build your brand loyalty and promote community. As one of the oldest and top-performing social media platforms, Facebook users have years of experience and high expectations. By knowing the basics and latest trends of Facebook, your business can, and will, succeed in taking over the social media machine.