Facebook

Simple Steps To Grow Your Facebook Audience

As of the second quarter of 2020, Facebook had over 2.7 billion monthly active users making it the biggest social network worldwide.

Facebook boasts of having an audience of around 9.50 million users in Kenya. Meaning that you have the potential to reach so many people on the platform and boost your sales.

This is why building a Facebook following is important for connecting with potential customers.

Here are Five simple steps to help you increase your following on Facebook.

1. Cover basics

Basic things are often overlooked simply because sometimes we focus on the bigger things forgetting the basics that can help us achieve the bigger things. Don’t start posting yet, start by first providing all your business information, call to action button ” Learn more” and link your website, WhatsApp or other social media pages.

When you have covered all these basics you can now start posting great content.

2. Invite people to like your page

The easiest way to begin building an audience is to start inviting your colleagues, friends and email contacts to like your page.

On Facebook, when a friend likes a page, it often pops to the newsfeeds of their friends too meaning that more people will see your page increasing your brand visibility. Also, you can invite your Facebook personal profile account to like your page.

3. Collaborate with and tag influencers in your industry

Tag pages of influencers in the same field and ask them to do the same for you, which will help you get your page off the ground. Gaining page likes from influencers or bloggers will also have a positive impact on your brand credibility.

4. Produce quality content

Start sharing quality content on a regular basis once your fan base begins to grow. But also avoid being overly-promotional, remember nobody wants to be sold to every time. People follow you to gain something so make sure you give them exactly what they are looking for.

This will help you increase engagement and traffic.

5. Carry out Page Likes Campaigns (Paid Advertising)

Page Likes Campaigns is a form of paid advertising which can dramatically increase your page likes on Facebook.

Facebook has great potential in helping you increase your brand awareness as well as increasing your sales in Kenya.

Check our article on how to advertise on Facebook

Also Read: How to pay for Facebook Ads in Kenya

 

New Facebook look

Recently Facebook has been giving its users access to its newly redesigned desktop experience which is less cluttered and uses brighter icons. The company said it will fully launch the new look this month, with it recently giving 48 hours for its users to switch to the old Facebook before switching back to the new look.

The new Facebook allows users to set their background to either white or dark-mode background.

When you visit a Facebook page, the About column appears on the left showing all the information on that section, unlike the previous one which showed a snippet. It is followed by photos, videos, page transparency and lastly creates page column.

On the right-hand side its where all the page posts appear. Basically it’s an interchange. On the topmost part just below the cover image is where you can access other page tabs.

All in all, it looks organized, very clear and less cluttered. The font is also very visible.

How To switch to New Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to switch back from the New facebook to old one(classic Facebook )

Facebook Marketing in 2020

Mastering Facebook marketing in 2020 is a must if you hope to see the success of your brand. Facebook monthly users are 2.4 billion people. This is a reason enough to make you start Facebook marketing Asap. Two-thirds of Facebook users say they visit a local business Facebook Page at least once a week.

Your potential customers are already looking for a business like yours, but how will they find you in the throng of other businesses?

Social media marketing in Kenya is a great way to start your outreach for more clients in 2020

Here are is the very first step of starting Facebook marketing in 2020.

Step-by-step guide on how to set up Facebook Page

It doesn’t cost you much time to set up a Facebook page. I want you to set it up like a pro to make sure you get enough returns and for you to be seen by potential customers.

1. Create your Facebook Page

Head to Facebook.com/pages/create, or you on the top right part of your Facebook you will see Create then click on Page. You will need to be logged in to your personal account although your personal information will not appear on your business page.

 

Choose your page type, Facebook will give you two options. Business/brand or Community/public figure

After you choose the type of page you want, enter your business details.

 

      2. Add Brand Images 

Upload your profile and cover photos. You can use your company logo as your profile picture. Optimize your sizes for Facebook so that they can look their best. You can use tools like Canva which has templates for Facebook cover photos and posts among others.

  3. Complete your Page info

Go to About then on the right click on the edit page info and fill in the sections.

Description: 255 characters to describe who you are and what you do.

Contact information: phone number, email and website url.

Extra options: If it’s relevant to your business, add your operating hours, price range and privacy policy.

4. Create your Facebook username (@ your vanity URL)

Your username helps people find you on Facebook. Click Create Page @Username to make one. You can find it below your Facebook page name on the left.

Facebook marketing ideas for your vanity URL:

• Choose a search-friendly Page name. In most cases, this will be your brand name or a name that people can search in relations to your brand.
• If possible, use a consistent username across social networks

   5. Add a call-to-action button

Under your cover photo you will see the Add a Button. This button gives people a quick and easy way to reach out to you or service. You can use a shop now and direct people to your website or call us and people will call you directly.

  6. Review your Facebook Page settings

Go to your Facebook page settings and review them. The settings will give you custom controls on who you want to see your Facebook page. In particular look at the privacy and security settings and make sure you understand them.

Also on the page settings, you can assign roles to your employees. Caution: Be sure of who you assign as an admin they can easily remove you from the page because they have the same right as you.

That’s it! Your Facebook Page is set up and ready to go.

Facebook Marketing in Kenya and social media marketing in Kenya is picking up real first, and guest what your competitors are already taking advantage of it. Don’t be left behind, you need to go digital if at all you want to get more sales because Facebook marketing in Kenya is here to stay.

Facebook ads vs boosted posts

Facebook ads vs boosted posts. Which should you use?

When it comes to choosing between boosted posts and Facebook ads, it will depend on the objective of your ad. We have already discussed the difference between a boosted post and Facebook ad, from these differences you can determine which you can use for your advert. I will try and simplify the differences to help you get a better understanding of when to use boosted post instead of Facebook ads and vice versa.

What are Facebook ads?

Facebook ads are an advanced way of advertising on Facebook and will require you to have a Facebook ad manager account. With Facebook ads, you have a number of options for your ad. These options include brand awareness, reach, traffic, engagement, app installs, conversions, catalogue sales, store visits, video views, lead generation and messages.

With Facebook ads, you can add a call to action buttons like ‘Shop Now’, ‘Download’, ‘sign up’ and ‘contact us’.

What are boosted post?

Boosted posts are the blue posts that appear on the lower right corner of each post you make on your page written ‘Boost Now’. You can only see it if you are a page admin. With a boosted post, your objectives are only three; engagement, messages and traffic.

Which one should you use?

If your objective is to get more engagement which means more likes, shares and comments on a post, then boosting a post is your to-go method.

If you want

to create brand awareness for your product or service, Facebook ads is your to-go method. Why? With Facebook ads, you have the option of

reating a custom audience, a lookalike audience; you can target the audience by language and so much more. However, with boosted posts, you can only target people who like your page and their friends.

So when should you use Boost Post in terms of audience?

You can use it when you have an event, making a big announcement like the release of a new product or service or a grand opening and sharing user-generated

content that you have reposted. With this, you are informing people who like your page and their friend who most likely will be interested because birds of the same feather flock together.

When you want people to talk to you via sending a message to you, use promote your send message button on boost post. When you want people to visit your website boosted post will do. When you want people to call you, you can promote your call us button and when you want more leads to b

oost post is your option. With Facebook ad you can as well promote them but it is easier with boosted posts if you want your ad to reach people who like your page and their friends.

If you want people to download an app, visit your store or website, view your video then Facebook will help you achieve that.

 

Summary

With boosted post, it is easy to create an ad unlike using Facebook ad, which is more advanced.

With the very many options that Faceb

ook ads provide you with, it wins over boosted post.

For you to choose which one to use, look at what you want to achieve and the people you want to reach. Like we have said, Facebook ads provide you with many target audience reach while with the boost post you can only target people who like your page and their friends.

It doesn’t mean that with boosted ads you don’t have a big audience, your ad can reach more than 7 million people, it is just that with Facebook ads you get to target people who will most likely be interested in your services or product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans to license WhatsApp and Facebook group admins

Kenyan social media group admins might be required to obtain licenses from the Communication Authority (CA).

Malava MP Moses Injendi has proposed a bill seeking to have administrators of WhatsApp and Facebook groups acquire licenses.

A WhatsApp group admin will be required to keep all the data of the group users and submit the data to authorities when required. The admin will also have to ensure that the members of the WhatsApp group are of ‘age of majority’.

If the bill is passed, Kenyans will have to notify the authority when they want to create a Facebook group. The group administrators will have to approve the members and content based on the law.

According to the bill, any person who fails to observe the required provisions will be liable upon conviction of a fine not exceeding Ksh. 200,000 or to an imprisonment of a term not exceeding one year. According to the bill, Kenyans will be faced with a Ksh.500, 000 fine or two years jail term for posting degrading or intimidating content online.

Content that is discriminative against gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, language and political affiliation will be flagged. Posting content that is seen as unfair, inaccurate and biased as per a court of law will also pose a risk of fine or jail term.

The bill will also affect Bloggers as it proposes that those who run blogs without a CA’s authority could spend up to two years in jail or pay a fine of Ksh.500, 000.

Critics have argued that the bill is ill-advised and is an attempt to limit freedom of expression. If the bill is approved, the proposed law will require that WhatsApp group administrators to approve members’ content using legal documents.

National Assembly Information, Communication and Innovation Committee chairperson William Kisang described the law as “unimplementable” saying that it is neither practical nor possible to register all social media administrators. He warned that the bill could be challenged in court if it is approved by the parliament.

 

Difference between Boosted posts and Facebook ads

We will look at the differences between boosted posts and Facebook ads. With this information, you are going to understand the importance of using either boosted posts or Facebook ads. You are going to see what is available in each category before you decide to advertise on Facebook. Both are important, it just depends on what your end goal is.

Facebook boosted posts

If you are a page admin on Facebook, you have seen the blue Boost Post that appears on every post on your page. That is the facebook boost post.

• Campaign objective

Ads – you can choose up to 11 campaign objectives (brand awareness, reach, traffic, engagement, app installs, conversions, catalogue sales, store visits, video views, lead generation, and messages)

Boosted posts – you can only choose between three objectives (engagement, messages and traffic. Engagement means likes, shares and comments.

• Audience targeting

Ads – you are not limited. You can use lookalike audiences, custom audiences you can target by language and you can add connection types. There is an option to let Facebook automatically expand your interests if it thinks people outside of your audience will engage with your ad.

Boosted posts – there is audience targeting but it is limited. You can only target people who have liked your page and their network of friends.

• Budget control

Ads – you are allowed to choose your daily budget or lifetime budget.

Boosted posts – you can only choose your daily budget and the days your ad will run.

• Ad scheduling

Ads – you can set a start and end date for your ad

Boosted post –your ad will go live immediately. You cannot schedule a start day but you can put an end day for your ad.

• Language targeting

Ads – you can target your audience’s by language

Boosted post – you cannot target audience by language

• Ad placement

Ads – you can choose where you want your ads to appear. You can choose to have your ad appear on a desktop news feed, mobile news feed, instant article, Instagram and many more

Boosted posts – your posts will appear on both desktop and mobile news feed. You cannot choose.

• Instagram ads

Ads- you can choose to show your ads on Instagram by ticking in the placement section.

Boosted post – you can only boost on Facebook

• Right column Ads

Ads – you can choose to show your ad on the right column on desktop computers.

Boosted posts – you cannot show your boosted ads on the right column

• Retargeting

Ads – you can retarget your ads by installing Facebook pixel on your website.

Boosted posts – you cannot retarget people.

•  Ad delivery

Ads – you can choose between accelerated delivery and standard delivery. To use accelerated delivery you need to set a bid that is if you need your ad to go live as soon as possible.

Boosted post – you cannot adjust your ad delivery time.

Knowing the difference between boosted posts and facebook ads, you can now create ads that will reach your target audience and convert.

Similarities between boosted ads and Facebook ads

• Interest and behaviour targeting

With both, you can target the audience’s interest and behaviour

• Geographical targeting

You can target specific locations of your target audience on both.

• Age and gender targeting

You can choose the gender you want to target for your ad on both.

How to get started with Facebook ads

What you need to know before starting Facebook ads

Wondering on how to get started with Facebook ads? There is always planning and thorough thinking before doing something. This goes for Facebook ads as well; you do not just start doing Facebook ads blindly. If you do not have a plan, you are going to achieve little or nothing. We are going to look into details what you should consider before going into Facebook ads.

1.Establish your goals

What do you need to accomplish with your ad? When you know this, you will be able to set an advert that will meet your goals. Otherwise, you are going to throw your money into a drain.

Examples of goals

Do you want engagement on your page?

Do you want brand awareness?

Do you want people to go to your website?

Do you want people to sign up or buy products?

Do you want people to download an app?

Do you want more video views?

With this kind of goals, you can set a message that will lead people into doing what you want them to.

There are different campaigns objectives that Facebook offers;

• Brand awareness
• Reach
• Traffic
• Engagement
• App installation
• Messages
• Catalogue sales
• Lead generation
• Conversions
• Store visits among others

2. Know your audience

After you know your Facebook ad goals, you need to know who your target audience for the ads is. With your target audience, it will depend on various things

• Gender
• Age
• Location

Is your target audience male, female or both? If you are selling women’s dresses, it is a definite fact that your target will be women.

What is the age group of your advert? Who are the people who are likely to consume your product or service?  Are they between 18 years to 35 years? When you know this then you will not be running your advert blindly.

What is the location of your target audience? Where is your target audience most likely to be found? Is it Nairobi or Mombasa? Do not just target Kenya if you are not targeting your ad to every person in Kenya.

This is usually the most important part of making an ad and it is where most people go wrong. If you cannot do it properly then hire an expert to help with it. Most of the advertising agencies will do market research to get your customer’s persona. With this, you will not be targeting blindly. There is no point in using lots of money to get fewer result

3. Know our budget

How much are you willing to spend on Facebook adverts? With a small or big budget, you can advertise on Facebook.  With Facebook, you can spend as low as 1$ a day.  When you spend a dollar per day your results will be limited. We usually advise our clients to spend at least 10$ in a day to get as many results as possible.

 You can try and create as many ads as possible using a different amount of money to see which will work out for you. When you get a winning ad, then you can know how to be placing your Facebook ads.

How to pay for Facebook Ads in Kenya

There are several means of paying for facebook ads in Kenya. Making facebook payments is usually the last step after you create your ad.

There are several facebook payments methods allowed in Kenya. This are;

1. Credit cards or debit cards which includes;

• Visa
• American Express
• Master card

2. PayPal

You acquire a Visa/Mastercard, load it with money according to how much you’d like to spend, then hook it up with Facebook. Facebook tests the card when you hook it up, mostly with 1 Dollar then reverse it, then it will charge when you spend around $5, $10 or $15. The more you run the adverts the more facebook increases your spending limit, allowing you to run ads at a certain period before asking for payment

You will follow the procedure that they will provide you which is filling your account information. Same as for PayPal you need to follow the steps for filling in your information.

Below are images that will guide you

Pay for facebook ads using Mpesa in Kenya?

Facebook has not yet launched an Ad payment method using Mpesa in Kenya. We will update you in case Mpesa is added to facebook payment methods. Mpesa recently merged with Paypal where you can send or receive money through both platforms, which will make it easier to pay for Facebook adverts in Kenya

How to pay for facebook ads in Kenya is a very commonly asked question and we always advise our clients to follow the steps provided and fill in the correct information.

Facebook Ads in Kenya

How Facebook ads work

With Facebook ads you can promote your page, posts on your page, your contact us button or even your website. Facebook ads can be simple or sophisticated depending on how you want them to be. There are over 7.90 million Facebook users in Kenya, thus your advert can reach as many people as you want.

With Facebook ads, you can also run adverts on Instagram and on messenger. Anyone can run facebook ads in Kenya though we will later see the kind of business categories that are not allowed to run facebook ads.

How to target Facebook ads

With Facebook ads, you need to think keenly on who you want to target in your campaign or you will fail. Facebook allows you to target your ads according to the following;

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Interests
• Behaviour

These are the most important fields you should concentrate on while carrying out facebook ads in Kenya or any part of the globe.

Location

It allows you to target your audience according to the country, counties or region, cities, postal codes or addresses.

Gender

You are given three options; Male, Female or ALL. If your products are specifically for men you target men and vice versa for women. If they are for both genders you use All.

Age

You need to know the age of the target customers who consume your products or services. With Facebook, the targeting age starts from 13 years to 65+ years.  You can start by targeting according to the age of your existing customers and then expand with time or target the general audience of your product.

Behaviour

Facebook gives you an option of choosing your audience according to their behaviours that are related to your advert. This could be their past purchase of items, pages they follow, devices they use, travel and pages they search for among others. This allows you to get the target audience that has an interest in your products or services.

Interest

This is the most powerful area that you need to consider keenly before making your advert live. Facebook gives you two options broad category or precise interests.

Broad category

When creating an ad, you are given various options like business and industry, entertainment, relationships, shopping and fashion, food and drinks among other categories. You choose the categories that fit your advert.

Precise interest

For example, you have chosen your category as shopping and fashion, you can go ahead and specify the exact people you want to reach in that category. You can specify if it is beauty, clothing, fashion accessories among others. From there you can specify if it is females, men or children’s clothes. You can go ahead and select if it is handbags, dresses, jewellery or sunglasses that you are advertising. With this, you are able to narrow down your target audience to the ones you want your advert to reach.

You are also given an exclude option, with this you can exclude people that you do not want your advert to reach.

There are several contents that are prohibited from advertising on Facebook, this includes, drug and drug substance, tobacco products, dating, gambling, discriminatory practices, unsafe supplements among others. We will discuss more on the prohibited content in detail in the next article.

Facebook Marketing in Kenya

Facebook marketing in Kenya is the most common form of digital marketing following the high number of users Facebook has. Facebook is the leading social media platform in Kenya with 80% users, this is according to the January 2019 digital reports from Hootsuite and We Are Social. The report showed that Facebook adverts in Kenya reach 7.90 million people. This shows that carrying out Facebook marketing in Kenya can help you reach so many people at the same time.

How to grow your business on Facebook

Growing your business on Facebook can be challenging if you do not have the necessary knowledge. We will guide you on how to get your small Facebook business page noticed.

Below are some tips that will help you grow your business on Facebook.

Build a custom welcome page

The first step of accomplishing digital marketing on Facebook is to create a Facebook business page.

You need to customize your page so that it effectively represents your brand or company. You can do this by putting an attractive profile picture, a call to action button, about section, contact, engaging timeline and links to your website or blogs.

Use photos and videos

Upload photos and videos of your products.  People always want to see visuals of what they are buying, you cannot sell to people without them seeing how the product looks like. Videos can help people understand how to use certain products or to display a product.

Relevant content and consistent posting

If your Facebook page is dealing with fashion let it be just fashion. Ensure that you post consistently on your page. Digital marketing always requires you to keep your page engaged. You can do this by ensuring interactions through replying to people’s enquiries and asking them relevant questions. Facebook advertising in Kenya requires you to show people that you are available and active.

Advertise on Facebook

Facebook allows you to advertise using Facebook ads and sponsored stories. This will help you target the people that are likely to buy your product this could be according to gender, age or location. Doing this will get your page out there.

Monitor your page

Facebook just like Instagram allows you to see engagements on your post, your post reach, your page review among others through insights. As you monitor you are able to analyze if your page is doing well or not. It will also help you know what kind of posts are attracting more people and which ones are not. This is going to help you achieve your Facebook advertising goals

Join Facebook groups

Join Facebook pages that are relevant to your industry and participate in them. If you are in the fashion industry, join fashion groups and be active on them, the more you participate the more people recognize you and they will start looking for your page to see what you do or sell. You can also promote your content there.

Start your own Facebook group

Start your own Facebook group if you find that there is none that suits your kind of business. Add members from your Facebook friends and ask them to recommend their friends. In the group create discussions, post articles and make the page lively. People will recognize you as the leader of that group and you can be advertising your business there from time to time so that people do not feel like it is an advertising group.

Reward your followers

People always want to feel appreciated therefore; you can be giving offers to your customers, discounts on items or gifts.

Facebook advertising in Kenya is important for your business if you want to reach more people. Facebook has the highest number of users in Kenya so utilize it to advertise your products or services.