Priya Florence Shah
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about how organic reach has decreased so much on Facebook, that it makes no sense for a lot of marketers to maintain a presence or spend money there. This is both right and wrong.
Right, because if you’re a B2B business, then your advertising spends would probably get a better response on a network like LinkedIn. After all, you have to understand WHY people visit a specific network before deciding to advertise on it.
When people visit LinkedIn, they’re networking for business. This is when you can catch them in the mood to read a whitepaper or watch a video about your services.
When people visit Facebook, however, they’re usually there to catch up with friends and families. Personally, I use it to catch up with my large family, that is spread all over the world, and to connect with people who are interested in the same causes. I also use Facebook to read news, catch offers from brands I like and share content I find interesting.
This is why B2C businesses should not give up on Facebook. Because users come there to fulfill their social needs. That’s why if you’re in the F&B, hospitality, retail or event marketing industry, you should make Facebook your playground.
So what are the kind of ads you should run on Facebook? Not ads for page likes. Those are completely wasted because likes don’t translate into money in the bank. You could have a page with 100k likes and only a few of your fans actually seeing your posts in their newsfeed.
Instead, use your Facebook page as a placeholder to run promoted posts. Thanks to the fact that Facebook knows so much about their users, you can target your ads to a specific audience’s interests and geographical location, and catch people when they’re in the mood to catch up with friends or make a purchase. Here’s where you can learn more about Facebook’s promoted posts option.
You can also use Facebook’s retargeting (also known as remarketing) option to advertise to people who have already visited your website. You can learn more about this feature in this article from Social Media Examiner.
So if you’re a B2C marketer and you need to connect to the right audience, don’t give up on Facebook just yet. Just use the right kind of options (promoted posts, custom audiences, remarketing) and convert those lookie-loos into paying customers.
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