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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
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.
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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.
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.
