With the ability to reach 5-6 million people in Sri Lanka alone, Facebook is no doubt the perfect channel to target the population for your business and engage with them directly.
This reason is one of the vital sources for you to give thought to consider marketing your products and services through Facebook. Other reasons include the ability to build brand loyalty, increasing your web traffic and lowering your marketing expenses.
“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.”
– Beth Comstock
Ready to try Facebook Marketing? On your Marks, Get set, GOOO!!!🚀
You can’t eat “Likes” ☹.
If you sell products and services which cannot be provided online, reaching customers and building a loyal customer base is vital, attracting “Likes” is the best way to do it. This option is quite suitable for a business which merely works on building brand awareness. For example, corporate companies such as Munchee, Maliban and Dilmah establishing the sale of products or services online might not be the best strategy. The best way to attract customers is to build their brand image by creating posts which would lead to company’s page on Facebook when clicked and resulting in an increase of “Likes”.
However if you want sales and are a part of a corporate,small or online business, attracting “Likes” may not be the best way to do it. Reaching potential customers should be your main motive. Many businesses today tend to follow the traditional “Like matters” method, where they focus on getting many likes as possible which is certainly not gonna be of any use to the business. They seem to forget an important question which every business owner and entrepreneur should ask themselves,
What is our Return On Investment (ROI) in Facebook Marketing?
If nothing is generated from the money you spent on investing, it is pointless. Social media marketing is not about likes but instead a path to reach customers and educate them about your product and services by activities such as polls, contests and other campaigns. If a customer has sound knowledge on your products and services he/she will surely consider purchasing from you and also will recommend your merchandise to others. A “Like” however would not do the same. A mindless click by a person on the like button will give you a “Like” and afterwards the person might forget what he/she liked, therefore the chances of the individual becoming a potential customer are low. When spending for digital marketing focus on increasing sales and not attracting “Likes”.
“These days, people want to learn before they buy, be educated instead of pitched.” – Brian Clark
Marketers Ruin Everything 💣.
Facebook advertising is the most cost-effective form of advertising in 2018, and able to reach a large audience in no time. You can spend about $5 to reach at least 1,000 people (these figures depend on the audience and competition in the respective field). Another pro of Facebook advertising is that you can measure the results of an advertisement. The number of clicks, conversions and impressions you are receiving are at your fingertips. This is not available in other means of offline advertising (newspapers ads, television ads etc).
When newspapers came into existence in 1566 they were without advertisements and contained only news relating to events taking place at that time. In June 1836, the French newspaper La Presse introduced paid advertisements to its pages. As paper advertising proved to be very useful in marketing more companies opted to have advertisements and thus newspaper companies increased the price of an advertisement to increase their revenue. Now newspaper marketing has been squandered so much that readers usually don’t bother to have a look at it. The same fate has occurred for advertising on the television. TV- viewers have a peek at other channels when advertisements are running between the shows they watch, because of the large number of commercials played during each interval.
Unsurprisingly this squandering has already begun on Facebook. Many of us who use Facebook simply scroll down when we come across an advertisement. We have become very good at scrolling past that we don’t have to check twice if it is an advertisement or not. Moreover, with Ad Blockers growing to be one of the most downloaded application in recent years, advertisements have little or no chance of being seen by people.
We should always keep in mind that people use Facebook to go through their news feed when free to enjoy a bit of humor, to check on their friends and family (or to even stalk a new comer to their office or college.) Like mentioned above, Facebook marketing is a two-way platform where you can engage directly with individuals and know what they think about the product, thus making it easier for you to build an audience around your brand, unlike newspaper advertisements or television advertisements where you will never know what an individual thinks about the product.
The Destiny of Marketing 🎯.
Digital marketers often consider content marketing as the future of marketing. Content marketing in Sri Lanka is relatively new and growing. In simple terms, content marketing is the formation and sharing of online data such as blogs, vlogs, videos and social media content. This does not directly advertise a product or service, but helps arouse interest in the merchandise.
“The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say ‘This was written specifically for me.’” – Jamie Turner
Content marketing is similar to giving a person something and expecting nothing in return. A content marketing article is given to entertain the reader while expecting them not to be a customer. However this form of marketing is very efficient and will increase the chances of an individual in becoming a potential customer. Humor,“Did you know?” facts or quotes in content marketing creations are the most effective in attracting an individual’s attention.
Still confused? Wondering what the difference between an advertisement and content marketing post is?
Conclusion
The above methods are those you need to consider in order to have a successful marketing campaign on Facebook. If you have trouble in choosing which option is right for you, consulting a digital marketing company in Sri Lanka would be useful.
A few useful tips to remember:
- Never force advertisements.
- “Likes” will not give you sale.
- Always calculate your ROI.
- Never forget that people use social media for their personal purpose. Try to suit their mindset.
- Never post or publish anything that might harm anyone.
To know more about Facebook’s beginnings and transformation into a multi-billion dollar venture: http://old.www.domedia.lk/blog/story-facebook-harvard-dorm-room-billion-dollar-company/
From our Blog: http://old.www.domedia.lk/blog/facebook-marketing-sri-lanka-try-right-now/
Cheers,
Tony Jesuthasan
