As we touched on in our social media marketing introduction blog post, social media is incredibly for local businesses. For the most part, the social media sites that you should be using for your local business depend on what kind of business you run. Figuring out which social media sites you should use can be confusing, but luckily there are a few sites that you should use regardless of your industry. The most important social media site that you should be using is Facebook.
There are a lot of reasons why you should be using Facebook and you came to the right place to learn about them. In this blog post, we will be discussing features that Facebook includes that can positively affect your local business as well as the benefits of using Facebook for your local business. We encourage you to reach out to us with any questions you may have about using Facebook for your local business because we would love to help you.
Facebook features
Facebook Business
Over the years, Facebook has become an increasingly sophisticated platform to run your business on. This is especially true because of the Facebook Business functionality. Facebook Business allows you to create ads, edit your page, message current and potential followers, schedule your posts, and much more. The best part about Facebook Business is that it is absolutely free to start and utilize. If you are not using this platform, we highly recommend signing up for it and checking the features out. You will not be disappointed with these wonderful free tools!
Facebook Ads
In case you did not know, Facebook has billions of users across the world. With these billions of users, there are likely to be many in the area surrounding your business. It is a good idea to take advantage of Facebook Ads to help grow your business. The good thing about these ads is that they can work for any size of business, especially local businesses. These ads allow you to select your audience, customize the ad, set your ad budget, place it where you want to (geotargeting), and much more. If you are running a special promotion, we recommend using Facebook Ads to get the word out. You can also “boost” your post so that it gets in front of new viewers that may not have seen it otherwise.
Facebook Live
If you are a Facebook user, you have probably watched our at least heard of Facebook Live. Facebook Live is the part of the platform that allows you to create and broadcast a live video to all of your followers. You can do a lot with this feature and create various content including Q&A sessions, announcements, giveaways, and much more. After your live video ends, you can have it post to your page. You could also use third-party software to download the live video and upload it to your YouTube channel. This helpful resource from Facebook is something you should utilize as you are working on content for your local business Facebook page.
Facebook benefits
Collects analytics
If you have been thinking about getting into analytics, now is the perfect time to do so. Analytics have become increasingly important in today’s world because they can tell us so much interesting information. Facebook has their own analytics software built-in and it is called Facebook Analytics. This software can collect various information on your audience that will inform your digital marketing efforts and help you improve them. If you are brand new to analytics software, we recommend you check out Facebook Analytics’ resources section. This section has all you need to get your start with the software.
Ability to schedule posts
Being that Facebook is very important for local businesses, you will want to make sure that you are posting constantly. You may not be motivated to post every day because you will have to do it manually, but what if there was a way that your posts could be ready in advance. Fortunately, Facebook allows you to do just that with their built-in social media scheduler. This social media scheduler will help you save valuable time that you can put towards other business functions. Plus, if you plan on using Instagram for your local business, you can link your account to Facebook Business and schedule Instagram posts at the same time as Facebook posts.
High engagement
Due to the nature of the website and how easy content is to access, Facebook is known for their incredibly high engagement numbers. Even though this is true, you must make sure that your content is interesting enough for them to engage with. Once people engage with your content, you are going to want to engage with them right back. This will show that you truly care about your customers and will promote even more future engagement. Engagement can be a huge help with growing your business, so be sure to take it seriously.
Can help with customer service
Not everyone enjoys customer service, but it is absolutely essential for local businesses. Facebook is easily accessible for many people, so that means that they can voice their concerns directly to you. You can easily respond back to them and address their problems, which will make you look better to potential customers. We recommend downloading Facebook and Messenger on your cell phone to keep up with your business on the go as well.