Facebook is a low-cost marketing strategy

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.

Talk to existing and potential customers

You can use Facebook to 'talk' to existing and potential customers by posting and receiving messages. But don’t use Facebook to aggressively promote your products or services. You'll have much greater success if you share information related to your business that is actually useful or interesting to other users. This increases your credibility and promotes your business by building long-term relationships with other users. 

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.

Targeted advertising

Facebook can analyse all the information that millions of users enter into their profiles. As the owner of a business page, you can pay to use this information to deliver targeted advertising to a specific group.

Provide customer support

Customers can post after-sales questions on your Facebook wall, and you can answer them there. This is often more efficient than answering phone calls, and allows other customers to read common questions and answers without having to approach you individually.

You can increase your business's profile on Facebook by encouraging existing and potential customers to click the 'Like' button on your Facebook page. Once they like your page, your customers will receive your updates on their wall, where their friends will also see them. This helps to build awareness of your business, and to associate your friends with your brand. Customers can also post positive messages about your products or services, shared on their walls for all their friends to see.

Offer deals through Facebook Places

Facebook Places allows users to 'check in' on mobile devices at a particular place, so that their friends can see their location on Facebook. Facebook Places also identifies popular places close to where a user checks in.

Businesses can use Facebook Places so that when a user checks in to a neighbourhood, street or business, they receive a list of nearby businesses offering deals (e.g. discounts, freebies, loyalty rewards).

Businesses that have a Facebook page are automatically included in the Facebook Places directory.

Share pictures and videos from your business

As well as allowing you to post text, Facebook lets you upload pictures and videos from your business. This can be a powerful way to communicate with customers and potential customers, allowing them to see your product or service without having to visit your premises. This will make marketing much easier.

Facebook can steer traffic to your website

You can include a link to your website on your Facebook page. Indeed, many businesses report that the greatest benefit of Facebook is the extra traffic that it steers to their site. Visitors who come to the website can be exposed to stronger marketing messages and, often, the option of buying goods 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 to learn more about what they have already previewed from Facebook.