Facebook marketing has gotten kind of a bad rap for being a controlling and difficult marketing platform to use. I think this reputation comes more from the fact that Facebook is a separate platform with separate rules you need to take the time to learn, and less about it actually being a difficult or confusing system.

Facebook marketing tip #1 // Go with the flow

One of the most important things you need to keep in mind if you are trying to succeed on Facebook is that Facebook is not an objective platform. It is a subjective platform that has opinions on how you advertise.

Like Google, it will reward you if you follow the rules and post things that their algorithms like. But Facebook even takes this a step further and pushes certain content based on the trends and objectives that Facebook is trying to achieve as a business.

What does this mean for you? It means that to be successful on Facebook; you need to know what Facebook likes and then deliver content that meets those requirements.

Facebook likes live video, so do live video.Facebook likes clean, clear images with little text, so make those.Facebook likes viral video shares, so make a viral video share (because it’s sooooo easy, right?!).Facebook likes inspirational quotes, so share quotes. Facebook likes interactive content, so make sure you promote comments and likes.

Remember that Facebook likes these things because its users like these things. So in a way, by having these restrictions and preferences, Facebook is really helping you out and getting you to better target the people you're trying to reach.

Facebook Marketing tip #2 // Use the Tools They Offer You

Another Facebook survival key is to use the tools that Facebook is offering you, often for free, on their site. As soon as you make a business page, you have access to certain tools that Facebook has set up so you can be successful.

Facebook has recently made a “Call To Action” button option for the very top of your business page. This is a very useful tool that you can cater to the CTA you want based on your objective: engagement, conversion, growth; and then offers you options to promote the CTA with paid advertising.

Facebook also offers you a "Pages to Watch" tool under the "insights" section which pretty much serves as a competitive audit and a content idea tool in one. You can get inspiration from successful posts in your industry and also compare your post success to see how you're doing compared with your competition. (Check out my post on Why Competitive Analysis is Awesome here.)

Facebook also organizes your data into pretty awesome graphs and charts that make it easy to analyze. The way that they group your followers by region, age, etc. is basically providing you with a free buyer persona study. The way that they track your likes, comments, impressions, everything sets you up with pre-determined, automatically recorded KPI's to analyze.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning that the concept of "engagement" in and of itself is huge!. By seeing what posts your audience is engaged with you are getting immediate feedback on where your customers are at and how well you are resonating with them. “Likes” is a vanity metric, as are “followers”. We pay attention to those, but usually only in the context of overall engagement.

Facebook is helping you out with these things, so use them.

Facebook Marketing tip #3 // Take advantage of the cheapest marketing out there while it's around

The last key to making the most of Facebook is to use the super cheap and super targeted advertising options that it provides you with. Honestly, it's sort of shocking how inexpensively Facebook allows you to market to the billions of people that use their site. Take advantage of it.

Also keep in mind that Facebook allows you to market for free in a lot of ways: live video, posts, shares, etc, and so you don't need to spend money on advertising if you don't want to. But also keep in mind that you can run a paid, targeted marketing campaign on Facebook for about $10.00 a day and actually get some results. So it's worth a try.

Don't hate

Don't hate on Facebook. They can make you a lot of money and get you a lot of exposure. Take the time to learn their rules and use their resources. You'll be glad you did.

OH! And, for the love of everything that's holy. Do NOT buy Facebook followers. One of my clients did, and it messed up data analysis making it impossible to recognize what was real and what wasn't. And, authenticity went down the drain.

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