Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with a record of 2.4 billion users as of Wednesday, 18 September. In essence, this means that you have the potential to reach a large number of consumers for your business.

media update’s Nakedi Phala reveals four ways in which you can use Facebook to boost your business. 

It doesn't matter if you are a small, medium or large corporation, Facebook is an easy-to-use platform that allows you to engage with your customers and showcase your business products or services — and even develop your identity and broaden your reach. 

Here are four ways to boost your business using Facebook: 

1. Build conversations

What good things are being said about your business or brand? What negative things are being said? And, what suggestions are people making? Being able to answer these questions will give you an opportunity to defend your business if need be. You can start by responding to compliments from consumers and taking note of suggestions from loyal consumers. 

To convince a customer to buy into your business or product, you need to master the art of persuasion and equip yourself with effective communication skills.

Here are a few points to consider when interacting with your audience and potential customers on Facebook: 
  • If a customer posts a question on your business page that you don’t know how to answer, instead of telling them that you do not know, conduct a bit of research and respond later.
  • When someone makes a negative remark about your business or product, ask the user to send you a direct message and resolve the matter. In public comments, you can thank them for sharing their views.
  • When someone makes a recommendation for your service or product, take it into account and share it with your stakeholders — the suggestion could improve parts of your business. 
  • It’s difficult to take critique in many instances, but as a business, it shouldn’t be taken personally. There are competitors out there, meaning customers will compare and criticise every now and then. And you should be able to welcome any feedback that could improve your business. 

2. Utilise Facebook advertising 

If you have the budget to reach a bigger target audience, you can consider taking on an advertising package from Facebook Business. 

For example, if your business is running a campaign, you have to go through Facebook advertising objectives first to understand the do's and don'ts. This includes policies and guidelines about which content material is acceptable and not. 

Your objectives will dictate how people interact with your brand, so it is important to know what you want to achieve through your advert. In an instance where your whole advertising campaign is to showcase your new website, it is advisable to compile an ad that will encourage your audience to visit the website. 

Facebook Advertising can also help to improve brand awareness. The whole point of advertising is to accelerate interest — that’s why you pay — and the whole point is to pay for an ad that will give your customers value and your competitors a run for their money.  

Take, for example, social media monitoring company amaSocial. What makes them stay ahead of the curve is their convenience of delivering content almost immediately without compromising on the quality of work.

Including elements that are only unique in your business would be something of substance to add in the ad.  The content you use to advertise your business or product on Facebook, make sure it’s thought-provoking. 

3. Host Facebook competitions 

Although Facebook has made a number of changes to its policies, which may affect how contests and promotions are run, this doesn't mean you should not look into running them — you just need to be cautious of how you promote and share them. 

Competitions are a marketing tool that offers consumers the opportunity to gain brand experience and learn about the business, service or product.

A well put-together Facebook competition can: 
  • improve engagement with current consumers
  • increase brand exposure 
  • draw you closer to new leads 
  • educate customers about your product or service 
Running competitions is a great way to build a strong following. Contests help increase subscribers, especially if the terms and conditions urge them to subscribe to your email newsletter. 

4. Use Facebook Insights to measure your success 

Having invested all the effort in making sure your business excels on Facebook, one of the ways to measure whether it’s a success or not is to use Facebook Insight. This is an analytics tool and it’s free to use. It shows interaction data, page views, the number of audiences you’ve reached and the number of post engagements. 

Using Facebook Insight has a number of benefits, as it allows you to: 
  • track users that frequently interact with your brand 
  • gather data to use for decision-making 
  • segment your root audience 
This tool can help you measure the effectiveness of your business on Facebook and help you to see where you need to make improvements in the future.

In essence, using Facebook exposures your brand to potential customers and diverts traffic to your business.

What other benefits do you know of that can help a business reach its potential on Facebook? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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Now that you know why using Facebook for business can be effective and financially savvy, read about the  Five ways to produce striking content on social media.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy