In summary, here’s the latest Facebook user stats:
With 1.35 billion users, 35 million in the UK , and 27 million users PER DAY, users are visiting Facebook an average of 14 times per day! And mobile is driving the growth with over 1 billion users viewing Facebook via mobile technology!
Facebook Bootcamp reinforced many things I knew about Facebook and targeted advertising. It also inspired me to “feel the fear and do it anyway!” Do what anyway? I’m talking about VIDEO!
Video is a huge growth market which showed a massive surge in June and July 2014, so I decided to put it to the test: I recorded and uploaded my own video the very next morning – with AMAZING results (I will share these with you in another video – coming very soon!)
“A picture paints 1000 words, a video paints 10,000″Ciarn Quilty Head of EMEA Facebook Small Business
In addition to invaluable information about the power and growth of video, I also took the opportunity to gain insights into the marketing strategy behind the 2012 games. Deborah Hale is the European Business Marketing Director for Facebook (she formerly headed up the Marketing strategy for 2012). Here are her 4 key principles to success:
Be audience specific
Market for them
market with them
NOT at them!
I also got a behind-the-scenes look at the McDonalds World Cup marketing campaign with Facebook, which was fascinating. We can learn an enormous amount from the “big guys” in terms of plans and targeting, but Facebook allows us small businesses to punch above our weight and connect with a targeted audience through Facebook advertising. This is something that businesses like Ruroc, Lost my Name, Yvolution and Zaggora – who were all featured – are doing extremely well.
WHY CAN’T EVERYONE SEE MY POSTS?
One question I am frequently asked is “Why doesn’t everyone see my posts from my Facebook page?” This is your organic reach. Facebook has stated that this position isn’t going to change, stressing that it’s all about writing relevant and engaging content that people want to read and share. To get to your target market and really make a difference online, targeted sponsored adverts with Facebook will allow you to achieve greater growth, although it requires patience and practice.
Advertising, just like anything else, needs to be tried and tested; every market is different, it’s about really understanding your ideal client and how you can reach them through targeting, then testing adverts to see which work most successfully.
The businesses that Facebook featured made some great recommendations; here are their top 5 pieces of advice for you as a small business owner:
TRY and TEST – EVERYTHING
BE YOURSELF ONLINE
KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOUR IDEAL CLIENT IS
COMMIT TO LEARNING
and….
DONT GIVE UP!!!
I will shortly be publishing a series of how-to videos and some quick 2 minute tips. To keep up to date with these (and much more!) sign up to receive my 52 Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business… Online!
