Facebook for your business

Facebook for your business – are you there? If not, why not?

To choose which social-media platform your business should be on, and how to work that out – by subtracting those options that are less likely to work for you and your business – there are three main ways to do this:

• knowing who your ideal clients are (their demographic, likes and buying habits)

• knowing what social-media platform best suits your products or services

• examining the resources (e.g. time, people and money) that you have to put into your social-media efforts

The good & the bad

With 95% of Australia social-media users (that’s 81% of the total Australian population) using a Facebook account, it is by far the most widely used social-media network – the average Aussie spends more than seven hours per week on the site.

Facebook is by far the most widely used social-media network – the average Aussie spends more than seven hours per week on the site.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good in the fact that your audience is more than likely already on Facebook in good numbers and spending considerable time there, bad in the fact that this platform is already widely used by lots of other businesses: 30% of all small businesses currently use social media and spend nearly 14% of their marketing budget on social media, so you’ll have to work to stand out from the crowd.

Demographics

The demographic of Facebook users is fairly consistent across Australia, with 6% more females than males on the site. In the past 12 months 18% of Australian social-media users have left Facebook; this is mainly the younger age brackets who nolonger want to hang out where their parents and grandparents are, and have gone to platforms such as Instagram and apps such as Snapchat.

Current users log on an average of 24 times per week with 20–29-year-olds leading the charge, logging on an average of 33 times per week.

Of those on Facebook, 25% of people use it to follow or find out about particular brands or businesses in general, 20% to research products/services they want to buy and 15% to follow particular brands to access promotions or special offers. Remember, those percentages are of a total pool of over 12.8 million people!

Changes to Facebook and saturation levels mean that getting your message to ‘cut through’ is more difficult these days without the use of Facebook ads. Facebook ads if done well can be quite cost-effective but without being targeted enough you will not get a good return on investment.

The verdict

Facebook is suitable for most businesses, be they product- or service-based. I have seen fantastic use of Facebook by industries you wouldn’t normally assume would be there because of what they sell – such as funeral homes and accountants – so don’t write it off just because what you sell is not ‘fun’. Facebook is also a great tool to reach a wider audience that you will not touch with local marketing.

If you have the resources to create good content, the knowhow to build a relevant audience and the time (and money) to spend on it, Facebook can be a fantastic source of marketing, PR and lead generation, even replacing business websites for lots of businesses. The fashion and beauty industries are leading the way for doing e-commerce straight from their Facebook page, but anyone can sell straight from Facebook.

For most businesses, Facebook is the number-one platform to start on, purely because the audience is the largest; most people have used it personally, so feel some level of comfort with the functionality. This is important – 82% of business pages are managed by the small-business owner or manager.

Social media is just that – it’s social – so use your personality, make it a two-wayconversation and maximise the opportunities for your clients or potential customers to ‘talk’ to you there.

Top tips

• Do your homework – look for best and worst practice from similar businesses and industry leaders.

• Set yourself goals just as you would with any marketing activity in your business.

• Track what works and doesn’t work, tweak and try again!

• If you’re not sure, get some good advice or training, your local BEC can assist you.

• Set up your business page correctly.

• Always follow Facebook policies and guidelines.

To be kept up to date with tips, advice and opportunities for small business, connect with BEC Australia by liking ‘BEC Australia’ on Facebook or on Twitter.

Lara Kilborn, Owner, Ellara Business Consulting, Coaching & Training