Getting the most from Facebook marketing

More than 100 Chamber members recently learned much more about applying best practices to their Facebook content and advertising when using the social platform to communicate about their business.

The February 7 edition of “60 Minutes to Success” featured experts Spencer Harris and Jarad Johnson of Mostly Serious, Kyle Drenon of Murney Associates, and Chris Jarratt of Revel Advertising, offering their look at how small businesses can get the most out of their experience with Facebook.

One of the primary objectives of the program was to help businesses understand that there are more options for effectively and strategically managing their advertising options than just using the “boost” button on a specific post. The panelists encouraged attendees to use Facebook’s ad manager, which offers many ways to reach an audience more successfully.

The program outlined how to develop effective Facebook campaigns, including knowing your audience, defining your desired outcome, and clearly communicating your call to action. The panelists also educated the audience about Facebook’s research and reporting tools and how to use them effectively for benchmarking and continuous improvement.

Ultimately, the cornerstone of a strong Facebook strategy is developing engaging content. Developing storytelling assets for Facebook posts is an important investment. For example, while most businesses can recite their core values—such as giving back to the community—routinely sharing photos or video of employees involved in charitable projects tells the story of those values in a much more authentic way. They offered a general rule of thirds for content: one-third is entertainment, one-third is educational information, and one-third is more directly about the business’s product or service.

“One of the things I see a lot is businesses that are using social media but only using it to push their own products or inventory,” said Drenon, who serves as Murney’s director of marketing. “Unfortunately, that’s not the way that people interact with content on Facebook all that much. We have to give them what they came to Facebook for; we have to give them content that people are actually going to want to interact with, share with their friends, and interact with to get to a point where they are closer to becoming our clients.”