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How to Use Facebook Free Advertising for Small Businesses

What is a Facebook Business Page?

Facebook Business Pages are the main sales channel for businesses on Facebook. They are free and provide a number of marketing tools that can be used to communicate with customers and prospects.

You can edit your Business Page to include information about your business, pictures, videos, links to your website, and more.

The primary difference between a personal profile and a Page is that Pages are designed to represent businesses, organizations and brands. Anyone can create one, but it takes time and effort to build up your audience once you do.

In this article, we’ll go over how your local or small business can use Facebook advertising to grow your brand reach.

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What is Facebook advertising?

Facebook advertising is the best way for businesses to build a connection with their target audience. It allows them to tailor their message and display it directly to users who are likely to be in the market for that product or service. 

 

Facebook advertising has come a long way since it was first introduced, and these days there’s a lot more control over how the ads are displayed and how much money you’ll spend. 

 

There are also many different ways to track those results of Facebooks ads—from basic metrics including likes, shares, clicks, or comments, to more sophisticated measurements of direct sales, but also as a way to target future customers who are likely to make a purchase.

 

You can set up ads in Facebook’s Ad Manager—this is where you’ll create your ads and choose who they’re shown to. You can also set limits for how much you want to spend on each ad.

 

You can also set a budget for the lifetime of the ad, and it will continue to run for the duration of the time you set. For instance, if you put $1,000 towards Facebook ads for a month, the ads manager will divvy up your budget over the course of the month automatically (and you don’t have to check it every day).

 

The cost for a Facebook ad is relative to the overall amount of people who will see your advertisement. The more people there are who fit into your target demographic, the more expensive it will be. 

 

Facebook shows you a suggested bid, which is already set by them according to what they believe will be most effective for your campaign, but if you feel like this amount isn’t suitable, you can adjust your price.

 

Free Facebook Advertising by Optimizing Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

You can run Facebook ads for free if you maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS) on the platform. If you produce a greater return on your ads, then it covers the cost of the ad as a whole.

 

For example, let’s say your attributed cost on Facebook ads for a sale of a $200 service is $50. Then your ROAS is $200/$50 = 4. 

 

You can set a maximum CPA (cost per ad) figure. For example, it could be $40, but currently your ad spend of $40 is higher. 

 

In order to find you profitable ROAS, apply this formula:

 

Average order value / Maximum CPA

 

In this case, that would be $200/$40 = 5

 

This means your target ROAS should be 5 or higher, in order to cover your ad budget. As long as you hit that target, you’re virtually advertising for free on Facebook! 

 

Should businesses choose boosted posts or Facebook ads?

When a company wants to get more of its business seen by people who have already liked the page, they can choose between boosted posts and Facebook ads. 

 

A boosted post is a post that is made into an ad to cast a wider net, greater than those who would see the post organically on their newsfeed.

Source: HootSuite

 

A Facebook ad, on the other hand, is shown to everyone who falls into a particular category—a plumber might choose to advertise to everyone in a city with at least 500 people who are 18–34 years old and whose interests include housing or home renovation. 

 

Both options are great ways to get your message out there, but one might work better than the other depending on the goals of your business.

 

A boosted post would be right for a company that wants one of their high-performing posts to reach an even larger audience. A Facebook ad could be useful if a company wants to promote a particular product or service when there isn’t an existing post surrounding it already.

 

Tips for Small Businesses Using Facebook

Are you a local business wanting to drive the best value out of your Facebook page? Here are the tips to keep in mind.

1. Optimize your Facebook page.

Make sure your profile picture is professional and high-quality. You want to give customers an idea of what you do right when they first click on your page, so make sure the image stands out and leaves them wanting more!

 

Write a personalized bio that gives readers a good idea of who you are and what you care about as a business. In this section, you can also include any important information like your hours of operation or other locations where people can visit your business in person.

2. Respond to messages on Messenger.

For small business owners on social media, Facebook Messenger is a great way to chat with new customers who are interested in what you’re doing or have questions about how it works.

 

Responding to messages quickly is a key part of making your business seem trustworthy and reliable, so it’s a good idea to adopt a quick response policy for Facebook Messenger. 

 

Additionally, having a quick and automated response will help you save time that you can spend on other projects or messaging with customers and other people who are more likely to be interested in what you have to say. 

3. Use analytics to gauge the success of your campaigns.

Small businesses who want to make the most of their advertising dollars often turn to Facebook, but with a user base as large as Facebook has, it’s easy for companies to feel like they’re shouting into an empty room. 

 

The good news is that many of the same tools that help you monitor your company’s social media activity can also provide data on how effective your Facebook campaign is in generating sales leads and turning those leads into sales. 

 

In addition, Facebook offers a variety of analytical tools that will help you determine the best times to run your ads and gain a better understanding of how and why your Facebook ad campaign is performing the way it is. 

4. Know your target audience.

Understanding your target audience and potential customers is key to the success of any marketing strategy. Having an in-depth buyer persona built up can help you to understand the needs and wants of your customer base.

Source: AWeber

 

By using lead generation tactics that specifically cater to that demographic, you could share Facebook posts that are especially relevant to your custom audiences. 

 

This also helps drive the most value out of your ad campaign. 

5. Set your budget.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been at it for years, Facebook advertising is a great way to reach people who are interested in the services of your business. The only problem is that it’s a little bit tricky to figure out how to set up an ad that’ll get people clicking—and the more money you spend on ads, the more important it is to make sure you’re spending it wisely. You don’t want to end up with a bunch of clicks that don’t convert into customers!

 

As a local business, you might be able to get away with a lower budget than if you have a national brand. If you’re trying to reach a new audience, then you might need more money than if you’re trying to reach existing customers.

 

A good rule of thumb is to start small. Don’t throw too much money at it in the beginning. Remember that while Facebook ads can be cost-effective when done correctly, they can also be very expensive if done incorrectly. So start small and see how it goes.

6. Be more personable than promotional.

The last thing Facebook users that you’re targeting want to see is an overly sales-y and promotional post on their feed. The art of social media marketing is to have a “pull” effect, not “push” your services onto active users.

 

Make sure your ads are designed to drive engagement from new customers while effectively retargeting your existing base. 

7. Offer contests and giveaways.

Customers love a good promo, and this also applies to contests and giveaways. Be it giveaways for new products or perhaps an exclusive consultation for a house fixture like roofing, there’s so much potential for the kind of promos you can do on Facebook.

 

It’s all about nailing the placements and luring in the right kind of customers with the Facebook algorithm on your side. 

Source: Sandri Energy


Pro-tip: You can also link the offer to a landing page on your website with further details and contact information to encourage customers to reach out. 

8. Share relevant content from other sources.

You can go beyond sharing your own posts to bring in more engagement. Another way to get more mileage out of your social media posts is by curating content from other sources.


To take advantage of this fact, here’s a helpful tip: try sharing articles, videos and other content from other sites in your Facebook posts. This will make your followers think you’ve already done the research for them and will help them get to know you better.


This tactic can be especially effective for small businesses who can create a sense of familiarity and trust with their followers through these connections.


Use Signpost for digital marketing without the headache

Social media is a great way for small businesses to connect with new customers, but it can be time-consuming and confusing. It’s not uncommon for small business owners to spend hours a day maintaining their social media accounts, whether it be answering questions, responding to leads or messaging customers.

 

Signpost can make it easier for small businesses to market themselves on social media by automating parts of the digital marketing process too. Our messaging hub helps to centralize communications with potential leads onto one platform. With our SMS marketing and live chat services are also available to simplify your communication with customers.


If you need review management software for your business without the headache, Signpost is a cost-effective solution. Request a demo today.

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