Facebook is too huge for a business of any size to ignore. There are no magic wands, no hidden tracks, and no secret handshakes that can bring you immediate success, but with time, energy and determination you can get there. Eight years ago, Facebook was just a coding project in Mark Zuckerberg’s university room. Currently, it has become a global business, which is used by 1/8 of the world’s population, with annual revenue of $4 billion.

Social media is a tremendous way to increase exposure and traffic for your business, create loyal customers, and generate leads and sales. Spoiler alert: Facebook remains King of Social Network. It is the social media platform of choice for the majority of marketers, and for good reason. Facebook has really changed the way people think and work in promoting their business. It’s never been cheaper to build your brand and create new demand for your products and services.

If you aren’t already promoting your business on Facebook, you’d be crazy not to. Especially if you want to make your business grow fast. People think that only by having a page or a group on Facebook is enough to help their company, which is not very far from the truth. With so many people with varied interests available on a single platform, there is something for everyone. All you need to do is find the right target audience and then market your business to them. When Facebook started, there were dozens of social networks that had the same opportunities. Facebook won. They lost. We can see that there should be certain reasons that Facebook can be successful and popular. There are some good reasons why every company should necessarily have a Facebook page and to know how to use it in an appropriate way:

1. Facebook is a low-cost marketing strategy

You do not need to pay for promoting your business or company through a Facebook page. You can pay a graphic artist to design a profile picture or cover photo but that doesn’t mean it’s necessary. Marketing activities that would cost thousands of dollars through other channels can be used on Facebook for a fraction of the cost. This makes it ideal for small to medium businesses with a limited marketing budget. Larger businesses can also trial marketing concepts and themes through Facebook before committing to bigger campaigns.

There’s no need for you to search for customers, they are already on Facebook. Facebook is a free website and app. If someone ends up liking your page then it appears in their profile as news. This makes it possible for your business to be in their eyes on a regular basis through status updates or content posting. What’s more, if they comment on your post or like them, their friends will also see your post and this will help in the viral promotion of your business.

2. Talk to existing and potential customers:

“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.”

You can use Facebook to ‘talk’ to existing and potential customers by posting and receiving messages. If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. So, the point is to make people happy, especially the ones who are online, and you have to make sure most of them spread good words.

Facebook allows you to give your business an image and then you can actually have live conversations with people who matter, who are interested in you. Nowadays being connected with your clients is important for any kind of business. The people who like or follow your business account or join your group are there because they like your business. They are there to know everything for you and your business, what you do, what you promote, a service, a product, something new and special, etc. You need to be able to grow your contacts and communicate with people.

Promoting your business on Facebook through a business page or a group is a good way to inform your clients and to learn more about what they like and what they don’t. You can know this by looking through comments or posts they make on your page, you will have direct feedback and conversations with your target audience. You should also listen as much as you talk. Paying attention to what the market thinks about your business, your industry, a product or a marketing campaign can provide valuable insights.

3. Finding a Targeted Audience:

Facebook has 1.9 billion users but you need to find the ones who are interested in your business or company. Facebook is much more targeted than you might realize. Businesses can target users with Facebook Ads by location, demographics, age, gender, interests, behavior, and connections. It’s important to know and to be guaranteed that people you targeted will give your page a Like and will always be active on it.

Facebook allows you to develop your own community. All you need to do is post links and content that is both relevant and useful. You can even have promotional campaigns and contests through your page and offer incentives as well. If you do it in a correct way, you will find that you can develop a loyal community for your business. Facebook gives you the opportunity to choose the set of people to whom these ads will be visible. It is also up to you to decide how often these ads will appear.

But Facebook can also help you get in front of specific, and often motivated, segments of your audience with some powerful ad targeting options you’ve probably never heard of. You can:

4. Facebook can bring traffic to your website

Clicking through to your website is like taking a peek inside your practice, seeing who is there, what is offered, and taking one more step towards booking that appointment. Many businesses report that the greatest benefit of Facebook is the extra traffic that it steers to their site. Facebook drives more website traffic than any other social platform. And to complete the cycle, more traffic to your website means a better ranking in search engine results. You can include a link to your website on your Facebook page. Visitors who come to the website can be exposed to stronger marketing messages and, often, the option of buying products and services. Customers who come to your website from Facebook are likely to be more receptive than the average visitor because they already know something about your business and were motivated to click the website link. The trick is to make it easy for people to end up on your website. This is 10 tricks to help you to keep the door open.

• Optimize your Facebook Page for website clicks.
• Make sure you’re posting often enough and varying the types of posts
•   Advertise. Invite followers from other social media channels
• Post content relevant to current events
• Optimize your content for shares.
• Engage with users
• Use big images.
• Offer exclusive info on your page, and always keep it updated
• Use Facebook’s Link Share view.
• Have a steady stream of fresh content on your website.

5. Spying on your competitors:

“The goal is not to copy-paste what your competitors are doing!”

You will never be successful in your business if you’re going to copy what others are doing. Just like a professional athlete will study the video footage from past games of their competitors. The purpose is not to steal their moves, but to understand the technique, rhythms, patterns, and behaviors of the competitor on the field. So that he can identify and leverage the weaknesses of competitors.

One of the biggest reasons why you should be on Facebook is that your competitors might already be there promoting their company or business. Also, this can be a very interesting strategy to spy on them. This doesn’t mean you will be 24 hours over their shoulders checking out their sales or results but it’s a great way to see how things in your business are growing on Facebook comparing to your competitor’s business. Nowadays, if you stay behind and ignore social media like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. by underestimating the power they have to change things, then you will make it really hard for your business to succeed.

Innovation needs to be part of your culture. Consumers are transforming faster than you are, and if you don’t catch up, you’re in trouble.