Facebook 101 And 201 – Michael Delancey

It’s likely that you’re no stranger to the world of social media marketing, but did you know that Facebook is one of the most powerful social media tools you can use to market your business? As it stands right now, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, boasting upwards of 1.44 billion monthly users and more than 1.25 billion mobile users. In fact, Facebook is so dominant that the social media giant has more users than the total of China’s population. How’s that for impressive?

Thanks in large part to its overwhelming popularity and rapidly adaptive nature, Facebook has become one of the go-to social media platforms of choice for marketers who want to engage their audiences, build an online presence, introduce new products, or simply make their brand more visible. If you’ve been wondering what Facebook marketing is or how to break into this treasure trove of marketing gold, this post will tell you everything you need to know.

Why Is Facebook so Powerful?

In addition to boasting a massive user base, Facebook is also fantastic for virtually every type of content distribution – from long-form posts to images and auto-play videos. Because of this, it’s one of the most heavily-used social platforms in the world, with the average user spending about 40 minutes daily engaging with Facebook.

Additionally, Facebook is one of the forerunners when it comes to social media and mobile users. As it stands right now, Facebook’s users watch roughly 8 billion videos each day, which represents a marked increase from the 1 billion daily videos consumed just two years ago – in 2014. Of those billions of videos watched on a daily basis, a whopping 75% of them are viewed on mobile devices.

Over 581 million of Facebook’s users are “mobile only” users and, because of this, marketers who use Facebook for their marketing pursuits have the huge advantage of direct access to an ever-growing base of mobile customers.

5 Major Benefits of Facebook Marketing

While there are many advantages of using Facebook for marketing purposes, these five are the most pronounced:

1. Facebook ads allow marketers to narrowly target customers.

For marketers who want to run paid ads, Facebook ads are among the best in the business. Because Facebook ads allow marketers to target select customer groups, they’re an effective way to brand a company, drive traffic to your blog or website, and gain exposure.

2. Custom tabs allow for a unique page.

While Facebook is a giant social media platform, it does allow room for customization. To help your page stand out from the crowd, you can easily create custom tabs that allow visitors to navigate to your store or alternate social media profiles. This can help you direct the flow of traffic through your pages the way you want.

3. Facebook contests are perfect for engagement.

Facebook contests allow marketers to produce widespread visibility for their products or services. What’s more, since Facebook contests allow businesses to team up with third-party charities or other organizations, it’s easy for marketers to use Facebook contests to spread the word about their products while also building long-term business partnerships.

4. Facebook is the perfect platform for video marketing.

People who view a brand’s video content are a whopping 1.81 times as likely to make a purchase as those who don’t. In light of this, it’s clear that including video content in your marketing strategy is a critical step toward creating a varied, successful, and multi-faceted marketing plan. Luckily, Facebook is the ideal platform for brands who want to use video to engage customers.

One of the most exciting developments Facebook has made recently is the introduction of auto-play into its mobile news feeds. Now that mobile users have the convenience of auto-play, brands who post videos to Facebook can be sure that their video content will reach a wide variety of audiences across the social platform.

What’s more, the number of Facebook daily video views is currently sitting around 8 billion, which has doubled from the 4 billion mark in April of 2015, so there’s no question about whether or not Facebook video is popular or growing.

5. Facebook offers Audience Insights.

Audience Insights is a Facebook-specific tool that allows marketers to access metrics that help them learn more about their audiences. With Audience Insights, marketers can gain access to information about their customers’ gender, age, lifestyle, education, marital status, and much, much more. These in-depth insights are ideal for companies who want to enact more targeted marketing that allows them to cater to audiences at specific phases of the buyer’s journey.