The Facebook Hustle

Facebook recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and let everyone see their “memories” on a one-minute lookback video. What a genius move! So many people were fed up with Facebook’s algorithms, news feed changes, but those lookback videos really made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Facebook is a popular marketing tool for small businesses these days. And with numbers like these, it’s not hard to believe:

• 71% of online adults are Facebook users
• More than 60% of Facebook users visit the site at least once a day
• 40% visit Facebook multiple times a day

How many times did you check your Facebook page last weekend? I confess, I probably checked Facebook about 25 times, which is low because people with smartphones check their pages about 14 times a day – so that would’ve been 42 times from Friday to Sunday!

So I bet you’re saying, “Okay Apryl, I hear you. We all know Facebook is popular, but how exactly do I get people to notice and engage with my business on Facebook?”

The truth is Facebook is a place where people go to catch up with friends, read amusing posts and find out stuff they didn’t know. This means posting day in and day out about your products and services isn’t going to cut it if you want people to engage with you.

Patience and a hustler’s mentality are two things you need to effectively market your business on Facebook. Your audience will not grow overnight and you won’t build your community if you don’t hustle for fans through post consistency and studying what works and doesn’t work for your audience.

I used to preach the 80/20 rule – spend 80% of your time sharing informative content, showing your audience that you’re an expert in your field and 20% on marketing your products (after all – you do need to sell your products/services).

But it’s really not that cut and dry. For example, a week or two ago I went on my Facebook business page and asked my audience for potty training tips (my son Alston has his own agenda and unfortunately, he is not on mommy or daddy’s timeline when it comes to using the potty on a consistent basis). Sure I could have asked this same question on my personal Facebook page, but sometimes, you just gotta break out of your circle. My audience stepped up and shared their wisdom with me and I was so very thankful.

Now that post didn’t land me any new clients or get people beating down my door, but it built awareness and recognition for free. And that’s important on social media.

New Rule

So I’m breaking up the 80/20 rule to 60/20/20. Spend 60% of your time sharing information that’s relevant to your audience, 20% letting your audience see your human side and another 20% promoting your products and services. Now this will surely shift depending on what’s important to your audience but it’s a good guide.

Your Turn

If you have a Facebook page, look at the insights of your page to see which posts are most popular with your audience. This will help you see what information is most relevant and interesting to your audience. Once you look at your past results, put together a schedule for the rest of February, using the 60/20/20 rule.

Now when I say show your human side, I mean share your human BUSINESS side. While you’re showing that you’re human, some things – like extreme profanity and having too much of a wild and crazy good time – really shouldn’t be shared on your Facebook business page. A good rule of thumb: if it’s not politically correct enough to share with co-workers at your most recent job (co-workers who you only saw at work), then you probably shouldn’t share it with fans of your Facebook business page.

Bonus Tips

Facebook’s algorithm on who sees what posts is ridiculous to say the least. Because of this, you’ll need to work a little harder to get your posts seen by your audience. Basically, the more people who engage with your posts, the more Facebook sees it as valuable content and shares it.

If you have a Facebook business page separate from your personal page, be sure to:

• Edit your profile to show your business as your employment information
• Go on your business page as YOU and share with those who are fans with your personal Facebook page (before doing this, I wasn’t seeing my OWN business posts in my News Feed).

If you DON’T have a Facebook business page, set a goal to get one up soon. People can say what they want about Facebook, but right now, it’s a marketing tool that small businesses really can’t afford to ignore.

Cheers,

P.S. I’m no Facebook expert, just learning as I go, so I want to hear from you. What ridiculously brilliant Facebook marketing tips do you have to share?