Whether you love Facebook or hate it, there’s no denying the fact that it’s a popular social media platform. Each day in the United States, an estimated 228.6 million users are active on the platform. Globally, that number reaches into the billions.
But just because Facebook has millions of eyes on it every day, is it the right platform for your business marketing needs? Let’s take a closer look at the ways that small business and nonprofits can use this platform to reach their audience.
Overview of history, users, and demographics
Facebook first launched in 2006 with a focus on social networking for college students. The platform grew quickly, and before long you only needed to be 13 or older and have an email address to set up your page.
About 73% of Facebook users log in daily, with up to 96% logging in weekly. (Source: SproutSocial) The largest age group on Facebook is still between 18 and 34 years old, despite lots of chatter about younger people abandoning the platform in favor of newer options.
Understanding the algorithm
Behind every social media platform is an algorithm that determines who sees what and when. At the end of the day, Facebook is a business that wants to make money like any other business. While Facebook doesn’t share the specifics of their algorithm, the basic idea is that they want to show relevant, engaging content to people to keep them on the platform longer and create more opportunities for ad revenue. That’s where the like, share, and comment buttons come into play and why creating quality and engaging content is so important.
For any given post on your business page, only a small percentage of your page followers will see it. Again, Facebook doesn’t share the specifics of their algorithm, but an estimate we’ve heard is fewer than 4% of followers will see any given post initially. If the post gets some engagement (likes, shares, or comments), more people will see it. You can also pay Facebook to show it to more people if you want.
Using Facebook for small business or nonprofit marketing
When you think about the algorithm and what it takes to reach your audience on Facebook, it can seem frustrating and overwhelming pretty quickly. But don’t discount the platform yet. With a strong content strategy and possibly a small budget for ads and boosted posts, Facebook is still an important part of your social media mix.
The first question to ask yourself is what you’re trying to accomplish with social media. For many of our clients, their goal is to simply have a basic presence on Facebook to share relevant content and connect with their audience by posting every other day or every day.
Boosted posts are an option to expand your reach a little further on the platform. It’s a good idea to see what posts get some engagement organically and then boost those posts to a targeted audience to get even more eyes on your content.
Finally, you have the option to run ads on Facebook, which can be focused on getting more followers on your page, driving traffic to your website, or selling a product. Developing a strategy for how Facebook ads fit in your social media plan and spending some time testing different target audiences is critical to get the most from your ad budget.
While the social media landscape is constantly changing, Facebook continues to be the most widely used platform, and that means small businesses and nonprofits shouldn’t overlook it as part of their overall marketing strategy. By defining your goals for the platform and then developing a strategy to move toward those goals, you can use Facebook in a way that makes sense for your organization.
Need help keeping up with consistent content on Facebook or other social media platforms? We can help! Reach out to us today to chat about social media packages.