It’s no secret. Using Facebook marketing to connect your business with customers is an essential part of any modern business’s marketing efforts. Sadly, with Facebook’s announcement that the company is changing how content reaches users’ newsfeeds, your business’s social marketing efforts could be at risk if you don’t take action fast.
The reason for this change? Facebook wants businesses to start investing more in their ad services. It’s a purely financial move, and though an understandable one, the effect on small businesses that use the platform to build relationships and stay in touch with their audiences could be huge.
If you want your Facebook marketing efforts to continue to have the impact you need them to, take these five steps today.
Put the Power in Your Followers’ Hands
Even with the algorithm changes, Facebook users still have the power to control what they see on their newsfeeds. They just might not realize it. All you have to do is ask them to and your loyal followers will opt in to see your content on their page.
Here are the steps your followers need to take to change their preferences:
- Visit your page
- Click on “Following” toward the top of the page and select “See First”
That’s it! Easy, right?
There is a silver lining to all of this changing landscape. The fans who decide to change their newsfeed preferences are more likely to “like” and share your posts. These are your die-hard fans. Successful Facebook marketing doesn’t happen without them.
Make Your Website Work
Being too heavily reliant on one source of customer interaction is a tried-and-true way to lose touch with your customers, a fact that is especially true when you don’t have complete control over who sees what. Facebook marketing is just one line that you can throw to followers.
Instead, link as much as possible (without being spammy) to your website to drive traffic. Every click you generate has the potential to become a sale, so keep track of where those clicks come from with analytics tools like Google Analytics. A business cannot subsist on Facebook marketing alone, so the sooner you begin tracking leads, the less likely your revenue streams will dry up. Not only will you be able to target followers who are more likely to convert—you’ll be able to save the money you would have spent on Facebook ads and reinvest in your business.
Get Followers to Subscribe
Continuing with the idea of relying less on Facebook marketing to stay in contact with your audience, it’s a good idea to encourage your followers to subscribe to your email list. Why? Just like your website, you own your email list. No change in Facebook’s (or any other social media platform) can take your audience from you when you control the way content is distributed.
It’s as simple as linking to your website. Create a few posts that encourage your followers to sign up for your newsletter and repost them once or twice a week. Then sit back and watch your subscriber list grow!
Need more convincing? According to online marketing company Constant Contact, businesses that take advantage of multiple channels to receive 73 percent more engagement, 57 percent more new customers, and 40 percent more revenue than businesses that only use one channel.
That’s not too bad, if you ask me!
Invest In Facebook Ads
Sure it’s what Facebook really wants you to do as a business, and it’s a bit annoying to be pushed in this direction but Facebook Ads are a relatively inexpensive way to reach a large audience, and certainly to help your great content to be seen. And with fewer business posts without ads showing up in feeds, it does make sense to allocate an ad budget to keep your business visible.
Use Facebook For Engagement
This is really key. Similar to how you go to networking events, you can use Facebook to network online. When you reach out, make connections, join groups, share and comments, you are engaging with your target prospects and referral partners is a way that is not impacted by the recent algorithm changes.
Want to push your Facebook Marketing to the next level?
If you’re ready to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level, get in touch with us today.