Not sure how to market your business on Facebook? This guide shares 11 powerful ways you can make an impression on the social media platform.
When it comes to marketing your business, social media is one of the best platforms out there to reach thousands – and sometimes even millions – of people. Among the biggest and oldest social media sites is Facebook, which boasts more than 190.9 million U.S. active users, according to data published in Facebook parent company Meta’s advertising resources in 2024. Statista, the global research firm, expects this number to continue to rise through 2028. Which means, if you or your company aren’t using a Facebook business page – and not a personal Facebook account – to reach and engage with potential clients and customers, you are likely missing a huge opportunity.
When it comes to Facebook marketing, here are 11 effective and low-cost strategies to engage with your target audience.
1. Create and Optimize your Business’s Facebook Page
First things first. If you don’t have a Facebook business page already, you need one. As in yesterday. Why? Because business pages are different from your personal profile page and allow you access to tools like the Meta Business Suite, which includes data like demographics, clicks, and more, that you won’t ever see on Facebook’s personal pages.
In its guide for small businesses on a budget, HostPapa suggests that when you set up or optimize your Facebook business page, leave no stone unturned. That means you or a member of your social media marketing team should fill out every single place where information is asked for on the Facebook profile.
For example, add your complete contact info, including a link to your website and links to other pages like Instagram, use the “About” section to share the story of your company, and add a professional cover photo that’s different from your profile picture. Remember, every spot on the page serves as a potential entry point for clients looking to learn more about you and your business.
Pro-tip: Your Facebook business page should serve as the digital front door to your company and is often the first entry point for visitors and clients seeking out your website or other info. It needs to stand out and look sharp.
2. Post Consistently in Varied Formats
Because it’s so important to meet people – and specifically your clients – where they are, you need to be sure to post consistently across a variety of platforms and formats within Facebook. After all, you want to show up in the news feeds of your potential customers, right? That means not just taking a photo, slapping on a sentence or two, and calling it a day.
WordStream suggests that when creating Facebook posts, you or your social media team consistently mix photos, videos, infographics, blog posts, and even memes on your page to keep the lines of communication open and positive between your brand and the rest of the world.
3. Use a Content Calendar
With so many different ways to communicate with customers, using a social media content calendar will help keep all of your messaging organized and in one place. It’s important to find a happy medium with your posting schedule so that you don’t go dark and post nothing for days or do just the opposite and post too much and turn off customers.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, offers a multitude of free online courses and guides to help individuals and business owners make the most of their pages. They also explain the ins and outs of Facebook advertising, Facebook ad campaigns, and how to use audience insights to shape your marketing strategy.
4. Be Brave: Use Facebook Live
There is something that’s hard to resist about watching someone who is live on Facebook or other social media platforms. Which is why UpGrad suggests one way to build your audience on Facebook is to get out there and go live for everything from question-and-answer sessions, to interviews, to product demonstrations, and even behind-the-scenes video tours.
These kinds of live videos often get higher engagement than static posts and placements. So if you have been timid about putting the camera on yourself or someone else to talk about your business and how the work happens, consider this your sign to pull off the Band-Aid, so to speak, and go live.
5. Run Contests and Promotions
There’s no getting around the fact that people love free stuff. Whether it’s a T-shirt, a koozie, or even just a fun sticker for their laptop or water bottle, we humans are typically wired to want things that don’t cost us any money. To tap into this bit of marketing psychology, WordStream suggests asking people to like, comment, share, or tag a friend to enter a contest. To ensure Facebook doesn’t shut down your very first contest or giveaway, make sure to read and follow Facebook’s rules on contests and promotions.
6. Use Facebook Ads and Boost Posts
If you haven’t been putting any money behind your posts and videos on Facebook by buying ads, it’s safe to say you are missing out on thousands – maybe even hundreds of thousands – of people who might otherwise engage with you and your brand and business.
HubSpot suggests using paid ads to reach larger audiences beyond the people who are already following you. That means you should boost posts to increase your reach, or consider running more advanced campaigns. How do you do that? When you are logged in to your Facebook account, you can access your Ads Manager and then take a look at items such as lead generators, conversions, and even traffic insights.
Facebook has a complete guide to Meta Ads, which will help you with creating your new ad account and ad set up. In addition to ads on Facebook and Instagram, the guide also covers WhatsApp advertising.
Pro tip: If this seems too complicated or time-consuming, consider hiring someone to manage your social media accounts.
7. Use Facebook Messenger and Chatbots
It’s a fact: You can’t be in two (or 10) places at once. So if you are working from home and trying to run a small business on your own, it’s smart to use as many tools and strategies as possible to help delegate tasks and still accomplish all of your daily goals. That’s why Sprout Social suggests automating responses for things such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on your Facebook page, to assist with capturing leads or even as a way to guide customers by using Messenger. The bottom line? It can give you time back in your day and help with customer service, engagement, and retention. That’s a win/win!
8. Launch or Take Part in Facebook Groups
Here’s another way to get your name and business out there without giving people the hard sell 24/7. In its guide on How to Promote Your Business on Facebook, HubSpot suggests creating a niche community within your industry or joining private and public Facebook groups where your target audience is potentially active. Remember, it’s vital to engage authentically with people. That means all of your posts and video content should not be a call to action to buy your product or service. Try to find other ways to be helpful or offer education with some of your content.
9. Utilize Facebook Stories (and Reels)
When marketing your company, it’s important to meet customers and clients where they are and then keep them engaged. That’s why you should take advantage of all that Facebook has to offer when it comes to finding and keeping a loyal audience. One way to do that is to consider using short-form content, such as images and videos that disappear after 24 hours (these are called stories), or more polished short videos (known as reels).
According to a guide for the best marketing practices on Facebook, by parent company Meta, these specific formats are prioritized in feeds and help with reaching more people. In other words, if you are not creating videos through the stories platform, you could potentially be missing out on tons of new customers.
10. Offer Exclusive Facebook Deals and Sales
Another way to incentivize your audience on Facebook is by offering them promotions they can’t find anywhere else, according to Social Media Today. In their guide to reach your target market on Facebook, they explain that offering Facebook-only deals encourages loyalty and makes customers and clients more willing to share your posts and other content.
11. Encourage Reviews & Recommendations
There’s a saying in business (and life) that feedback is the breakfast of champions. That may be because you can’t successfully lead a company exclusively through your own understanding, which is why it is so important to ask satisfied customers to leave reviews or recommend your business on Facebook and other social media platforms. After all, the answer is always no if you don’t ask. Another idea here, explains Surefirelocal.com, is that customer recommendations and reviews help to build trust with new and prospective customers.
How to Market Your Business on Facebook: Conclusion
There are a number of ways to more effectively market your business to customers in your area and across the U.S. using the social media platform Facebook. Make sure you are using a Facebook business page that has been fully optimized, create a social media calendar to plan and track posts, and remember to create new and engaging content consistently to build your audience. After that, consider boosting your posts. Even a small budget used strategically can bring in hundreds or thousands more views on your posts and other content every day.
