Contrary to popular belief, Facebook marketing isn’t rocket science.
Marketing that works on Facebook is not some mystical unknown. In fact, whilst there are certain tricks and tips that a Social Media specialist can teach you, there is a lot of marketing principles that you likely already know. You can apply what you already know to your Facebook marketing strategy.
Don’t Be a Victim of Tunnel Vision with Your Facebook Strategy
Often when we encounter something new we tend to focus on that new thing and without thought we neglect what we already know. Facebook marketing is no different in that regard. Information overload and new experiences can make one feel overwhelmed.
This article will cover five marketing principles (that you are likely already familiar with) that you can apply to your Facebook Marketing strategy.
1) Relationship Marketing
Social Media, and indeed, Facebook is just a method of engagement with current and future clients – nothing more and nothing less.
Facebook’s platform is however better from a marketing perspective as it provides you with a means with which to communicate your message without an initial ‘filter.’ What I mean by a filter is an initial action such as the opening of an email or the opening of a letter.
In many ways, Facebook should be treated much like email marketing in which you attempt to develop engagement with your readership. Like ‘Word of Mouth’ marketing, Facebook offers you the opportunity to ‘amplify’ your marketing messages, beneficially it provides the means with which to statistically measure the success of your messaging.
Recap: Facebook is a platform that provides a potentially viral means to communicate messaging without an initial filter.
2) Relevance
It doesn’t matter how good the offer that you present is, if your message doesn’t cover something that the end reader is interested in then it’s not going to be effective with that reader.
Likewise, if the reader is interested but not interested at that particular time then your marketing message isn’t going to be that effective.
Just because it’s on Facebook doesn’t abandon the fact that in order for marketing to be effective (‘conversions’) it needs to be presented at the right time, in the right way that is relevant to the end user.
Recap: Marketing offers are most effective when relevant and presented to the end reader timely.
3) Call to Action
A call to action is when we tell the readers to do something: ‘download this’, ‘buy now’ or perhaps to ‘read more’.
Whilst we like to think of ourselves as intelligent, rational and independently thinking human beings, much of the time we also think on an emotional as well as rational level. On an aggregate level a call to action will have significant impact on desirable actions taking place by your end readers.
Recap: Tell those that you are marketing to what you want them to do with clear and concise communication.
4) Influence and Persuasion Strategies
Even though you may have not had formal training or even experience when it comes to social media marketing, you may have perhaps had experience in marketing or psychology in general.
Marketing principles that you have learned in other mediums are still effective on the world’s most popular social media network. So just for example: psychological pricing, niche positioning and scarcity.
Recap: Don’t neglect the marketing and psychology training that you have already had.
5) Conversion Rates
It is important to measure the effectiveness of your social media engagement. After all, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Conversely if something isn’t working then it is not worth wasting time or money on.
Just like you would with your direct mail, website changes or email marketing, it’s important to measure the effectiveness of your communication.
Conversion measurements enable you to understand whether social media is the best use of your time or whether there are more cheaply or easily attainable value opportunities available elsewhere. Engage in split testing.
As an example assuming equal cost, for the selling of a new 50 inch TV you might be better off spending your money on PPC (new custom) rather than on social media engagement to customers that bought from you last month (recent custom).
Split testing provides you with the opportunity to learn and understand what works best for your organisation. It’s OK to study up and know what works in theory, but practical knowledge is equally as important – if not more so.
Recap: Conversion and split testing metrics provides you with the opportunity to measure and improve the effectiveness of your marketing communications.
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Daniel Offer is a social media marketing expert and covers a wide range of marketing activities. His current social media project is that of promoting his Facebook cover creator.