Facebook continues to boss the world of social media platforms. In terms of socializing, that is connecting with friends and family across the globe, Facebook is the best.
Facebook Business Page – Facebook Business Page Setup | Facebook Business Page Create
Read: How to Suggest Friends On Facebook
In terms of business and as a marketing tool Facebook is the best social media platform to use.
Facebook is more than just a social media platform. it is the number one social media marketing tool in the world.
 
Whether it is a small scale business or a large scale business, Facebook as a marketing tool has got you covered.
 
 
Ways to Market Your Business Effectively On Facebook 
There are many ways to put or market your business on Facebook. But not all the ways can be sometimes effective. To effectively market your business on facebook there are things and strategies to put in mind and place. Below are ways to follow to successfully market your business on the Facebook platform.

Mediums; 
1. You can market your business through your facebook pages and groups. As a business it is important that you have a business page platform on facebook, as this can be put to the most effective use. Facebook groups and pages do experience traffic and visitors. And the thing is that using these platforms is absolutely free and cost-free.
 
2. Another way to effectively market your business on facebook is through the Facebook advertising platform. Just in case you do not know, know now, Facebook has an advertising platform of its own that lets users advertise their businesses and products on the Facebook platform. These facebook ads appear on the side column of every facebook page. Always associated with a follow uplink. These links can either take you to a facebook app, a facebook page or an external website.
 
3. One of the ways to successfully market on Facebook is by hosting contents on facebook. Although contents can’t be hosted directly on Facebook, there are other third-party apps that can help with that.4. You can also market our business effectively on facebook by using the facebook open graph method. This method is used by millions of Facebook users daily.
I am going to be ending here, although there are other mediums or ways through which we can effectively market our businesses on facebook like the Facebook exchange (FXB), sponsored stories and others.
You have to carefully follow the above steps and methods to reach your targeted audience when marketing Facebook.
You probably know that Facebook is the number one social media platform, which most people use. If you are looking for the most effective Facebook Marketing Strategies you can do, you’re in the right place.
Apart from the fact that we are using it for chatting with our friends or sharing the things we love such as photos, videos, or even document files, some people especially business owners use it as their number one source of traffic and sales and a spot for branding.
Facebook has become one of the best drivers in terms of conversions and sales for most of my clients. See two examples below:
facebook-marketing-client
Facebook marketing client 1: This client approached me to do full social media marketing and management for them. Although Facebook is not the platform that best gives them the most traffic, I’ve found out that the social platform that best gives them conversions such as sign-ups and sales is Facebook.
facebook-marketing-client-2
Facebook marketing client 2: This client approached me to do Facebook marketing only for their new brand. Their goal is to increase sales, branding, and of course "following". Since they’ve hired me to do Facebook marketing, it is important to help them achieve their goals.
For most business cases, before you can use Facebook to gain sales and traffic or to produce conversions, you should let the people know that your business exists on Facebook’s platform.
In this list, I will be with you for a tour of the best, engaging, and the most effective Facebook marketing strategies for businesses that anyone can do. So, let’s start rocking and rolling!

Effective Facebook Marketing Strategies for Businesses

1. Leverage the Existing Traffic to Your Site

Remember that it is advisable to have a website for every business since it will function as your sales transaction hub or storefront where people buy your products or learn more about your services.
You can easily leverage the existing traffic on your site by putting social media icons that can be seen and clicked, which are direct links to your Facebook page and any other social media account pages you have. Refer to the picture below as an example.
social-icons-plugin
Hot Facebook Marketing Tip:
Most websites put their social media icons on their homepage or header since it is the area where these icons could be easily seen; thus, this move provides better click-through rate (CTR) placements.

2. Use Your E-mail Signature to Display Your Fan Page URL

If you’re using e-mail as one of the ways to contact or reach your customers, using your e-mail signature to display your fan page URL will be effective. Having your social media pages URL beneath your e-mail messages or at your signature will make your recipient see it easily and probably click it, which can convert into traffic or a following.
facebook-email-signature
Hot Facebook Marketing Tip:
If you have current events on your social media pages, you might want to include them in your e-mail signature with a call-to-action format.

3. Send Out an E-mail Blast

Letting people know that you are on Facebook is the first goal you should achieve. Sending an e-mail blast is just one of the best ways to do this.
Few of the great e-mail marketing tools are MailChimp and AWeber.
You might want to consider sending an e-mail blast between Monday and Wednesday mornings for most conversions. A study from HubSpot, The Science of Email Marketing 2012, stated that morning e-mails get high CTR.

4. Promote Facebook Page In-store

Do your customers come to your store? Promoting your Facebook page and other social media accounts in-store are just another great ways to let your customers know that you are on Facebook.
Remember that if you’re exerting efforts on your Facebook marketing online, you should also do it offline.
facebook-marketing-in-store
Bonus Facebook Marketing Tip:
You might also want to put your social media account pages links on your:
  • business cards
  • front mirror or doors
  • walls
  • packaging
  • … and more!

5. Determine the Best Day to Post

Perhaps my favorite feature that Facebook Pages have is the Insights. By going to your Posts Insights, you will be able to see the average time when your fans are online.
In case you’re planning to schedule three posts, you might want to check the best hours that your fans are online and select those hours on scheduling your post.
You can access your Posts Insights by following the steps below:
  • Go to your Facebook Page.
  • You will see “See Insights” above your Page, click it.
  • You will see your Insights overview from there, find the Posts tab and click it.
  • Hover your mouse on the day you want your post to be scheduled and you will able to see the best hours that your fans are online.
Alternatively, tools like HootSuite and Sprout Social will help you find the data and metrics you need including what type of post you should be using for your social media copies.

6. Create and Schedule Your Status Updates

The average daily active user on Facebook is 757 million, according to a January 2014 report. And a certain percentage of those millions of people could be your next potential customers.
If you want to use Facebook to maximum advantage, you need to post content for your target audience with consistency. Your goals should be either to educate, to entertain, or to empower them.
There are also some Facebook posting statistics that you might want to consider when creating your status updates:
  • Using emoticons increases comments by 33% and makes posts be shared 33% more often and get liked 57% more often than posts without emoticons (source: AMEX OPEN Forum infographic.)
  • Question posts get more comments (source: HubSpot).
Scheduling Your Facebook Status Updates:
Facebook has a built-in feature that allows you to schedule a post to appear on your page later. If you want to know more about it and the detailed steps on how to use it, refer to this link and continue reading below.

7. Use the Facebook Plugins

Integrating Facebook Plugins on your website will give you more advantages on branding awareness and followers increase on Facebook. For blogs or websites with sidebars, you may want to use the Facebook Like Box or Like Button.
For your website pages and blog posts, it is best to use the Like Button, although you can use them both! You may want to consider doing experiments on what’s the best Facebook plug-in for your website.

8. Use Facebook Ads

You may hate it, but investing on Facebook ads will give your business a lift especially if you’re a start-up or a small business.
Facebook ads aren’t expensive as you might think; you will love them once you tried to test them to get the best conversion that can impact your followers and your business growth. Consistent testing and experiments are necessary once you use them.
Facebook ads currently help you create your campaign depending on the results you want to gain:
  • Facebook Page Engagement— Ads that boost your posts and increase likes, comments, shares, video plays, and photo views
  • Facebook Page Likes— Ads to build your audience on Facebook
  • Clicks to Website— Ads to encourage people to visit your website
  • Website Conversions— Ads to promote specific actions for people to take on your website; you’ll need a conversion tracking pixel to measure your results
  • App Installs— Ads to encourage people to install your app
  • App Engagement— Ads that get more activity on your app
  • Event Responses— Ads to promote your event
  • Offer Claims— Ads to promote offers you created; you’ll need to use an offer you’ve created on Facebook or create a new one
The setup for each ad varies depending on what results you want to see. Below are few things you might want to consider when you set up your ads:
  • Target your desired audience (gender, age, locations). If you use Google Analytics display tracking, you can use the data from there and use it for retargeting.
  • Use an engaging picture if you’re planning to use Facebook ads for your page or external pages.
  • Use an easy-to-answer or an engaging ads description, here’s an example.
If you’re selling gift items, you might want to put something like this:
“If you think giving gifts can make someone smile, Like Us today!”
Since the text is easily answerable by Yes or No, those people who most likely say “yes” will be converted into your fans. Trust me, this is so effective.
Note: You can only use 90 characters for your Facebook ads text/description.

9. Think Outside the Box and Create Facebook Contest

A 2013 report stated that 35% of Facebook fans like a page so they can participate in contests.
People love contest and free stuff. Doing a Facebook contest for your fans will give you higher engagement scores and activity. A simple “caption-this-photo” contest can bring in 5.5 times more connects than regular posts.
If you sell products, you might want to give one of your products as a prize; whereas if you provide services, perhaps a free 1-hour consultation, designs, or any of your service can be used as the prize. Make sure that everybody can join and don’t forget to promote it!

10. Use the “@ feature” in Facebook

Using the @ feature for Facebook will let your fans feel that they are important and are part of your business page. The Facebook @ feature will let you tag people or even other Facebook pages.
Show gratitude and enthusiasm by using Facebook @ feature whenever your fans appreciate or ask something about your business because it can build a fruitful relationship and loyalty between your business and your customers.

11. Develop a Facebook Customized Page Tab or Apps

A custom page tab/app is a great option if you want to offer an exclusive advantage for your fans. It allows new visitors to see details of your events, contest, opt-in forms, or deals, which can help you gain more fans and likes.
An example of customized tab/app for your Facebook page is what I currently use to gain subscribers as well as likes in exchange for exclusive business and marketing tips.
facebook-custom-tab-apps
Bonus Facebook Marketing Tip:
Most businesses that used customized tab for their Facebook pages put exclusive discount coupons or free download such as e-books. My favorite tool for creating a Facebook custom tab is Woobox, which is free.

12. Integrate Social Media Sharing

Using social media plug-ins or integrating social media sharing buttons on your website makes it easy for your visitors and customers to share your website pages.
Once a person shares your content through Facebook and other social media sites, their friends can easily see those links on their Facebook profile and news feed.
You could also gain a share from them, which will make the process repeatable in a sense that it can also be shared by their friends of friends—possibly making it viral. This will also help increase your website traffic.