Not sure how to market your business on Facebook? In this guide, we’ll show you 11 powerful ways to make an impression on the social media platform.
When it comes to marketing your business, social media is one of the best platforms that allows you to reach thousands or even millions of people. With more than 190.9 million active users in the U.S., Facebook is the largest and oldest social media site, according to data published in 2024 on advertising resources by Facebook’s parent company, Meta. Global research firm Statista predicts this number will continue to increase until 2028. So if you or your company isn’t using a Facebook business page rather than a personal Facebook account to reach and engage with potential customers and customers, you’re likely missing out on 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’ Facebook page
First things first. If you don’t already have a Facebook business page, you need one. Just like yesterday. why? That’s because business pages, unlike personal profile pages, have access to tools like the Meta Business Suite, which includes data like demographics and clicks that you’ll never see on your personal Facebook page.
In our guide for small businesses on a budget, HostPapa recommends leaving no stone unturned when setting up or optimizing your Facebook business page. This means that you or a member of your social media marketing team must fill out information in your Facebook profile everywhere it’s asked.
For example, add your full contact information, including a link to your website and links to other pages like Instagram, use the About section to share your company’s story, and add a professional cover photo that’s different from your profile photo. Remember, every spot on your page acts 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 a digital front door to your company, and is often the first entry point for visitors and clients seeking your website and other information. It needs to stand out and look sharp.
2. Post consistently in different formats
Meeting people where they are, especially your clients, is so important that you need to post consistently across different platforms and formats within Facebook. After all, you want to appear in your potential customers’ newsfeeds, right? That means you can’t just snap a photo, slap a sentence or two, and call 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 pages to keep the lines of communication between your brand and the world open and positive.
3. Use a content calendar
There are many ways to communicate with your customers, so a social media content calendar can help you organize all your messages and keep them in one place. It’s important to find a medium that satisfies your posting schedule. That way, you don’t go days without posting anything, or end up posting too much and turning your customers away.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, offers a number of free online courses and guides to help individuals and business owners get the most out of their Pages. You’ll also learn more about Facebook ads, Facebook ad campaigns, and how to use audience insights to shape your marketing strategy.
4. Be brave: Use Facebook Live
There’s something about watching someone live on Facebook or other social media platforms that’s hard to resist. That’s why UpGrad suggests one way to grow your audience on Facebook is to go live on Facebook with everything from Q&As, interviews, product demonstrations, and even behind-the-scenes video tours.
This type of live video often gets higher engagement than static posts or placements. So if you’re nervous about pointing the camera at yourself or others and talking about your business and work life, consider this your sign to rip off the Band-Aid and go live, so to speak.
5. Conducting contests and promotions
There’s no getting around the fact that people like free stuff. Whether it’s a t-shirt, a koozie, or a fun sticker for your laptop or water bottle, we humans typically tend to want things that don’t cost money. To take advantage of this marketing psychology, WordStream suggests asking people to like, comment, share, or tag their friends to enter the contest. Be sure to read and follow Facebook’s rules regarding contests and promotions to avoid Facebook canceling your original contest or giveaway.
6. Increase your posts with Facebook ads
If you’re not buying ads and spending money on your Facebook posts and videos, it’s no exaggeration to say that you’re missing out on thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people who might otherwise engage with you, your brand, and your business.
HubSpot recommends using paid ads to reach a wider audience beyond the people you already follow. This means you should either post more to increase your reach or consider running a more advanced campaign. How do you do that? When you log in to your Facebook account, you can access Ads Manager to see things like lead generators, conversions, traffic analysis, and more.
Facebook has a complete guide to meta ads to help you create a new ad account and set up your ads. In addition to Facebook and Instagram ads, this guide also covers WhatsApp ads.
as a hint: If this seems too complicated or time-consuming, consider hiring someone to manage your social media accounts.
7. Use Facebook Messenger and Chatbots
That’s a fact. You can’t be in two places (or ten) at the same time. So, if you’re working from home and trying to run your own small business, it’s wise to use as many tools and strategies as possible to help you accomplish all your daily goals while delegating tasks. That’s why Sprout Social suggests automating responses to things like Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on your Facebook page to help you generate leads and guide customers through Messenger. The bottom line? This allows you to reflect on your day and helps with customer service, engagement, and retention. It’s a win/win!
8. Start or join a Facebook group
This is another way to get your name and business out there without having to push people hard 24/7. In its guide on “How to promote your business on Facebook,” HubSpot suggests creating niche communities within your industry or joining private and public Facebook groups where your target audience is potentially active. Remember that it is important to engage with people honestly. This means that all your posts and video content should not be a call to action that encourages people to buy your product or service. Try to find other ways to use some of your content to be helpful or educational.
9. Leverage Facebook Stories (and Reels)
When marketing your company, it’s important to meet your customers and clients where they are and keep them interested. That’s why you need to take advantage of all the features Facebook has to offer to find and keep a loyal audience. One way to do this is to consider using short-form content, such as images and videos that disappear after 24 hours (known as Stories), or more sophisticated short videos (known as Reels).
According to a guide to best marketing practices on Facebook published by parent company Meta, these specific formats are prioritized in your feed and help you reach more people. In other words, if you’re not creating videos through the Stories platform, you could be missing out on a ton of new customers.
10. Offer Facebook-only deals and deals
According to Social Media Today, another way to incentivize your Facebook audience is by offering promotions they can’t find anywhere else. In our guide to reaching your target market on Facebook, we explain that offering Facebook-only deals drives loyalty and motivates your customers and clients to share your posts and other content.
11. Encourage reviews and recommendations
There’s a saying in business (and life) that feedback is the breakfast of champions. This may be because you cannot successfully lead a company based on your own understanding. That’s why it’s so important to have satisfied customers leave reviews and recommend your business on Facebook and other social media platforms. After all, if you don’t ask, the answer will always be no. Another idea here, according to Surefirelocal.com, is that customer recommendations and reviews can help you build trust with new and prospective customers.
How to market your business on Facebook: Conclusion
There are many ways to use the social media platform Facebook to better promote your business to customers in your region and across the United States. Make sure you have a fully optimized Facebook business page, create a social media calendar to plan and track your posts, and don’t forget to consistently create new and engaging content to build your audience. Then consider posting more. Even if you use a small budget strategically, your daily posts and other content can gain hundreds or thousands of views.
