You can connect with old friends, message your buddies, and share news and pictures with your connections all day without it costing you a penny.

But using Facebook for business is a very different proposition.

Labour Costs

To have success with a Facebook business account, you’re going to have to invest. Writing engaging copy & creating eye-catching imagery takes time, and every single post needs to tell your brand’s story, often indirectly.

If you’re already an expert on Photoshop and are blessed with the ability to tell a compelling story then you can do these things yourself.

But most people are not. This means you need to pay for stock images, as well as the fees of a copywriter and graphic designer and also the price of video production in Bangkok.

There’s also the marketing angle to consider. You need to make sure you know what your target market is interested in, and make sure that you are providing them with content that they’ll want to like, comment on and share.

There are also PR considerations.

Facebook provides you with a wonderful opportunity to  define your brand and ensure that core messages are getting out to your client base. You’ll need to reply to messages and comments, and also to deal with any negativity in a way that paints you in the best possible light and stays true to your brand values, tone and persona. Remember, this is all happening in public, and the internet does not forget a mistake.

Organic Reach

So you’ve got a clear sense of your brand values and core messages, and you’ve come up with a kickass social media strategy that combines images, thought leadership, quizzes and more. Now what?

Organic reach for Facebook business page posts is usually lower than 5%, and can be as low as 0.2%. These numbers have been called ‘catastrophic‘, and are a big problem if you’re looking to get your message out to the public and drive engagement.

You’ve spent all that time and money on getting quality content, and now Facebook is punishing you! #lifeisnotfair

This article explains the 42 factors involved in the Facebook reach algorithm, so you can see each step that filters your posts’ potential reach. Getting people to make your page ‘a favourite’ and getting everyone to like each of your posts every time helps a lot. But no matter what you do, you’re still not going to get 100% of your fans seeing each post.

So what can you do to drive engagement and sales through Facebook?

Paid Reach

If you’ve got a Facebook Business account then presumably you have a business objective for posting. I should hope so, after spending all of that money on graphic designers and content writers!

The bad news is that Facebook’s core business model is to encourage businesses to spend money advertising with them. Their profits increase in correlation with your decreasing organic reach.

The good news is that Facebook’s advertising system is the most advanced marketing tool in history, and allows for laser-targeting of specific client demographics, either from your own contacts list, by postcode, age, job title, industry, hobbies, and much more.

Using this advertising system, you can theoretically get your message in front of every single Facebook user in the world. But that’s going to cost you!

We were recently hired by a florist on Sathorn Road in Bangkok with the mandate of increasing sales during Valentine’s week. We came up with a demographic profile of around 100,000 ideal clients for this company, all based in the Sathorn/Silom area.

We designed captivating images which highlighted their location, quality products and satisfied customers, all tied around the theme of love, Valentine’s Day and surprising your loved one in their office.

For every 100 THB spent with us, the client earned 900 THB.

Our campaign also saw the firm increase their page likes by 50% – a whole new set of people who are now aware of the firm’s existence and may purchase from them in the future.

Conclusions

Each company requires a different social media strategy, which is determined by their business objectives. Our professional services clients need to convey a persona of expertise and thought leadership on contemporary topics, while our hospitality clients want to sell people on their concept: luxury, fun, etc.

To have business success on Facebook you’re going to need to invest time and money. If you get it right, the increases in brand awareness and profit you make will return your investment multiple times over. 

You also need a clear sense of your brand and services/products, as well as a content writer who can write in a tone that suits your company’s style.

Or you can outsource the whole process to us at Lexicon.

About the Author

David Norcross is an award-winning B2B marketing expert with over 15 years of experience in the industry. He’s the founder and CEO of Lexicon as well as the Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand Digital Marketing Committee.

Lexicon is an award-winning brand storytelling agency focusing on telling impactful stories for clients based in Thailand and South East Asia.