Social media marketing has become increasingly important for B2C businesses. It allows them to engage with and gain the trust of consumers in a personal way that was never possible in the past. It also provides an excellent top-of-mind marketing opportunity, given the vast amount of time the average consumer spends on these sites. Social media now accounts for almost a quarter of the time Americans spend online, and nearly three quarters of users say they are more likely to purchase from a company that they follow on a social networking site.
Despite these facts, a recent National Small Business Administration study found that 27% of small businesses are not yet using social media, although that percentage is dwindling. In 2010, 53% of small businesses were not active on social media sites. This growth in use demonstrates that small business owners are developing an increasing awareness that social media engagement is an easy and inexpensive way to dramatically increase visibility and share information with targeted markets.
The Power of Facebook
Among social media platforms, Facebook is the towering giant. In fact, a 2014 study by the Content Marketing Institute revealed that B2C marketers rate Facebook the single most effective social marketing platform out there. According to 2014 statistics, Facebook now has 1.4 billion users worldwide who spend an average of over 15 ½ hours per month on the site. Its U.S. audience spends a combined 114 billion minutes per month interacting with Facebook, compared to 8 billion minutes on Instagram and 5.3 billion on Twitter. Mobile use has contributed heavily to the amount of time users spend on Facebook. The 250 million smartphone users with Facebook profiles check their accounts an average of 14 times per day. The frequency and regularity with which users engage with the platform presents an outstanding and unprecedented opportunity for top-of-mind advertising.
Furthermore, because the average Facebook user is connected to around 130 friends, any engagement with your business on the site has the potential to reach an exponentially broader audience than the initial reach of your posts. For example, if you post content on Facebook, and just one person who reads that content interacts with your post by liking, sharing, or commenting on it, your audience is expanded by an average of 130 people. The more people who interact with your content, the broader your reach becomes.
You can encourage users engage with your Facebook posts by providing compelling content that speaks directly to your audience. High quality, interesting, and relevant content will naturally earn more likes, comments, and shares. If you have a blog on your company’s website, Facebook is a good place to highlight the outstanding content you’re providing there and direct traffic to your site. Posting eye-catching photos, survey questions, or requests for audience input can be productive ways of encouraging engagement. You should avoid directly asking for likes and shares, however. Users typically do not like being told what to do. The best way to get them to engage is to post content that they will genuinely like and want to share with their friends.
You can further target the audience of your social media content with Facebook’s paid tools. You can target Facebook ads according to profile information, including age, location, education, relationship status, likes, and interests. With the advanced audience tool, you can upload your email database to send specific messages to your focused audience.
Blue Frog Marketing can help your company devise a Facebook campaign that is specifically tailored to your goals. We provide professional content writing to help your business generate material that gets people talking about your company. Our detailed analytic reporting will demonstrate the progress you are making toward your goals so you understand the return you are receiving on your investment. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business take advantage of the marketing power of Facebook.