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There has been a big shift in the last two years in the usage of the various Facebook marketing options. Organic posts used to be sufficient, and you could reach a wide array of your intended audience. However, with the influx of shareholders’ demands as Facebook has gone public, the real opportunity has shifted to paid advertising. There are a lot of segments available for marketers to target through the paid advertising options, including demographics, attributes, sociographic, comments and page likes.

Here are the top five ways to get your social message seen on Facebook:

Paid Advertising

1) Retargeting – Take advantage of the opportunity to hone in on those people who have not converted on your website within the world of Facebook. Approximately 96% of visitors that come to your website are not ready to buy, and there is a great chance that your website visitors are among the 2 billion people actively using Facebook.

2) Lookalike Audiences – A really powerful way to amplify successful campaigns is within the lookalike audience tool, a duplication of data sets to match specific attributes. However, you cannot approach lookalike audiences as you would previous customers or even those within your well-defined prospect list. Lookalike audiences should be utilized to broaden your brand and encourage engagement.    

3) 3rd party data – Be diligent in your evaluation of the 3rd party data providers that you work with. Rely on the well-known options within your industry. Be sure to ask the right questions around the source of the data and that they are aware of how the data is being used.  

Organic Reach

4) There is still a place for organic content on Facebook. It just has to be much more strategic, timely and valuable to a prospect. Think of social media as a way to improve the customer experience pre-sale and post-sale. For example, great post-sale content could be about a referral or loyalty program you offer to your customers. The most important element regarding organic outreach is to drive the behavior you want to see by including a call to action within your copy.  

5) Facebook Messenger is proving to be a great tool for  prospecting as well as supporting your current customers. It’s essentially a chat tool within one of the most widely used websites in the world. There is a lot of potential within Messenger for communicating with your community.

It is important to know what you are good at and what you are not. If you feel comfortable managing your own Facebook campaigns, be sure to make the commitment to the constant education that is required to maximize the opportunity you have with both paid advertising and organic outreach.

What more tips on social media? Check out this post on “9 Steps to Master a Successful Social Media Strategy.”  

SR&B is a proud AMA Baltimore sponsor. SR&B is a full-service advertising agency who serves small to medium sized businesses in the Baltimore Metropolitan region.