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Facebook has become essential for any organisation looking to increase its presence online and achieve its marketing objectives. When used correctly, Facebook as a marketing strategy can deliver huge engagement and reach. In this blog article, we'll explore how to harness its power to drive growth.
Deep Dive into Facebook Audience Insights
A key component of usingFacebook as a marketing strategy is understanding your audience using Facebook Audience Insights.
Available to any advertiser, it offers a comprehensive analysis of two key areas: the general Facebook audience and the specific individuals connected to your Page.
It shows your audience’s demographics, location, interests, purchase behaviour, and much more. By understanding this data better, your marketing strategy will be more comprehensive and well planned. You’ll be able to tailor your content, advertisements, and engagement strategies, leading to increased conversion rates and a stronger online presence.
For instance, you can discover not only that a significant portion of your audience is, say, women aged 30-40, but also what other pages they like, where they shop online, and even what kind of gadgets they mostly use.
Imagine being a fashion retailer and finding out that a substantial portion of your Facebook audience has a penchant for outdoor activities. This information could inspire a new line of outdoor-friendly fashion items or a partnership with an outdoor gear brand, thereby leading to increased sales.
Facebook Audience Insights also has sophisticated algorithms to determine potential trends, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the curve and piggy backing trending content.
A few years ago, Coca-Cola leveraged Facebook Audience Insights to gain a deeper understanding of their Facebook followers. What they uncovered was a surprising interest in soccer among a significant segment of their audience. Seizing this opportunity, Coca-Cola initiated a tailored marketing campaign during the FIFA World Cup, tying their product closely to the sport's excitement and passion. This delivered a highly engaged audience and a campaign that resonated deeply.
Being Authentic on Facebook
Leveraging Facebook as a marketing strategy is not just about sharing content or selling a product; it's about establishing genuine relationships with your audience.
Establishing an authentic bond with your audience on Facebook requires consistency, transparency, and, most importantly, engagement. Brands that succeed on Facebook understand that it is not a one-way street and go out of their way to have real conversations and build genuine relationships.
By sharing behind-the-scenes looks, addressing customer concerns openly, celebrating community stories, and even acknowledging mistakes, brands can show their ‘human side’, building trust and brand loyalty.
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At the core of authenticity is ‘engagement’, which refers to the interactions that users and brands have with each other, most notably writing and responding to comments.
It’s not enough to post content and wait. You need to active watch out for comments and write responses quickly.
It’s also important to acknowledge user-generated content that portrays your brand in a positive way. A simple tactic to do this is to share / repost their content, and @mention their account. This recognises and rewards your brand ambassadors – the everyday users who champion your brand.
A great example of building authentic relationships on Facebook is Airbnb. They used Facebook as a marketing strategy to share heart-warming stories of hosts and guests. This emphasised the unique experiences you can only get by booking through Airbnb, whilst also building Facebook connections.
In one particular case, Airbnb highlighted the story of an elderly host who found purpose in life by welcoming guests into her home. The posts achieve high engagement and massive free organic reach, but also positioned Airbnb’s brand as one that values human connection.
Airbnb’s marketing strategy on Facebook wasn’t about selling rooms. It was about people, stories, and experiences that occur when they do sell a room. Consider how you leverage this yourself, by sharing stories of the outcome people have received from your product, service or message.
Ad Targeting: Ensuring Your Content Reaches the Ideal Audience
Facebook as marketing strategy is unique because of the platform’s unmatched ad targeting capabilities. At its core, ad targeting ensures that your content is only seen by those who are most likely to resonate with it. This increases the likelihood of people taking an action that you want.
The real power of Facebook’s ad targeting is the huge amount of data it has on its users. Personal information, as well as every like, share, comment, and interaction is aggregated together and provided to advertisers, allowing them to pinpoint their ideal audience.
The targeting includes age, gender, location, behaviours, interests, online activities – even life events. For instance, a brand selling maternity wear can target women who've recently announced their pregnancy or engaged with other pregnancy-related content.
An example of the power of Facebook's ad targeting is that of COCO & EVE, a beauty brand that launched its hair masque product. The brand deployed video ads targeted towards women aged 18-34 who showed interest in beauty and wellness. Using Lookalike Audiences, they reached a larger audience with similar characteristics to their existing customers. This ensured that only people with a high likelihood of purchasing their products saw their ads. This resulted in a 5x return on ad spend and a 50% decrease in cost per purchase, highlighting the power of Facebook advertising.
Key Facebook Marketing Strategies
To use Facebook as a marketing strategy, brands need a clear plan. Here's some key strategies to follow:
Content is key: Create content that resonates with your audience. Your organic content should add value by educating, entertaining or inspiring. Encourage likes, comments, and shares. Posts with high engagement are rewarded with more reach, spreading your message further without any additional cost.
Consistency is also key: Consistent posting is crucial — it shows you're reliable and trustworthy, and keeps your brand top of mind. The algorithm will also reward consistent content with additional reach.
Build a community: Facebook should be a platform to talk with your audience, not just talk to them. Encourage open dialogue and spark conversations. This fosters loyalty and can provide helpful feedback.
Advertise smartly: Beyond just choosing who sees your ads, think about where they appear and in what format—carousel, video, or others. Also, make sure they look good on mobile devices. Unlike your organic posts, your ads can be more promotional and give the right prompt to buy, at the right time.
A company with a great Facebook marketing strategy is LEGO. They show amazing designs in various formats, such as a time-lapse of LEGO constructions and completed creations from users.
One campaign used carousel ads to highlight LEGO sets made for major global events. This strategy didn't just sell products; it reinforced LEGO's image as a brand that sparks creativity. LEGO not only reaches its audience but also engages and inspires them.
Conclusion
Utilising Facebook as a marketing strategy is now essential for any organisation aiming to build its online presence. Harnessing the platform’s huge audience and great tools can significantly enhance brand visibility and customer engagement. With the right approach and strategies, Facebook can be a major driver of growth and brand awareness.
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