For Business: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners

FOR BUSINESS
The Ultimate Guide For Beginners

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Facebook for Business:

Why Should You be Using it?.................................. 03
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Facebook for Business.............. 04

1.1 How to Create a Facebook Business Page
1.2 How to Set Up Facebook Business Manager
Chapter 2: Creating a Successful Facebook Strategy.................. 11

2.1 Facebook KPIs
2.2 Defining Your Goals
2.3 Researching and Targeting Your Audience
2.4 Two Key Types of Content on Facebook
2.5 5 Types of Facebook Posts to Try
(And How to Optimize Them)
2.6 Giveaways/Contests and UGC
Chapter 3: Defining Your Posting Strategy..................................... 26

3.1 Create a Publishing Plan
3.2 Research the Best Times to Post
3.3 Maintain Your Brand Voice
3.4 Cross-promote Your Content
Chapter 4: Advertising on Facebook................................................ 31

4.1 How to Create an Ad on Facebook
4.2 Boosting Your Posts
4.3 3 Tips to Create Successful Ads That Work!
Conclusion ............................................................................................. 38
Appendix ................................................................................................. 39
FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS:
WHY SHOULD YOU BE USING IT
It’s not exactly news that Facebook is a key platform for marketing your business online.
With over 2 billion users worldwide logging on each month1, it offers huge potential to get
your business in front of your target audience. And not only does Facebook have the largest
user base of all social platforms, but also the most varied, spanning every generation.
In other words, people use Facebook, and they use it a lot.
75% of users are spending an average of 20 minutes per day on the social networking site2,
highlighting that Facebook is well and truly a part of our daily routine. With such a large
and diverse audience, it sounds like the perfect place to share your content and promote
your business – and to an extent, it is. But, if your business is already on Facebook, you’ll
know it’s not as easy as it sounds!
With so many brands utilising Facebook for the same purpose, it is already (unsurprisingly)
saturated with content – and our attention spans are getting shorter, which means us
marketers have less and less time to grab the attention of our potential customers.
Facebook is a community platform with a focus on sharing content that is relevant and
interesting for its users (as recognized by the ever changing Facebook algorithm), and
although there have been questions about the status of Facebook as community platform vs
a publisher or media outlet, one thing remains clear: Facebook isn’t going to show your posts
unless they’re interesting to its community, so you better have some tricks up your sleeve!
This book will show you how it's done. Together, we'll go through the basics of how to
use Facebook for business, target your ideal audience, and develop a Facebook content
strategy to turn likes into sales.
Sounds good? Then let's not waste time!
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CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED WITH
FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS
If you’re thinking “I know it’s hard to get noticed on Facebook, tell me how I can make
it worth it my while!”, you might want to skip ahead to Chapter 2, which delves into the
process of planning and executing a Facebook strategy.
For those just starting out, don’t be put off by the challenge ahead! It is possible to reach
your goals using Facebook. In fact, Facebook can be an extremely rewarding platform for
brand and community building, generating leads, and driving traffic and sales. But, before
we get ahead of ourselves, we’ve got to lay the foundations.
Let’s start at the absolute very beginning: creating a Facebook business account.
1.1 How to Create a Facebook Business Page
1. SET IT UP!
Chances are, you’ll already have a personal Facebook profile. You can set up a business
page simply by clicking on the dropdown in the navigation bar at the top of your personal
account and selecting ‘create page’. You’ll automatically own the page if you set it up
this way. If you don’t use Facebook yourself, you can go here to create a page using your
email address. Then, simply follow the step by step guide to confirm your page and select
your business category (Company, Organization, Institution, etc).
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CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED
2. PICK A NAME!
Choose a page name that is easy to search and as close to your business name as
possible. It might be the case that the one you want is already taken, but you can add
words that define your business to make it clear it’s you. For example, if you’re creating
a page for your women’s clothing store Lola, you might find that the brand name Lola is
taken, but you can opt for Lola Clothing or Lola Apparel as the next best option.
3. ADJUST THE SETTINGS!

Next step: check your settings and go to ‘General’, ‘Page Visibility’. You’ll want to keep your
page unpublished until you’ve finished with the basic setup, all the important info is filled
out, and your page is looking polished and professional.
4. GET PROFILE AND HEADER PICS!

Select your profile picture and header image, and don’t forget to optimize posts using the
recommended image dimensions. These dimensions are suggested by Facebook to ensure
your photos are displayed in the best possible way, without being awkwardly cropped or
distorted. The ideal dimensions of a cover photo are 851 x 315 pixels, and for your profile
photo, you’ll want an image of at least 170 x 170 pixels (though using slightly larger images
is fine, as Facebook will crop them to fit the square).
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PRO TIP
You can also use Canva, which offers design templates for a range of content purposes
including a range of social media posts. Canva has preset Facebook dimensions for your
profile and header images, which makes the process even easier!
5. FILL IT OUT!
Once you’ve got your images in place, fill out the relevant contact information,
such as your website, company email address, phone number (if you have a
customer contact line) etc., so that users can get in touch with you.
6. TELL YOUR STORY!

Your page should also feature a brief
description of your company, and share
a little of your backstory. Not only is this
a way to identify your brand or business,
but it’s a way to help the Facebook
community identify with your brand.
Discussing your values and your goals,
rather than just outlining the services or
products that you sell, is an opportunity
to change the way your audience see you
for the better. Take a look at this snippet
taken from the TOMS Facebook page for
inspiration:
7. ADD A CALL TO ACTION!

Next step: add a CTA to your page. Facebook has some standard CTAs to choose from,
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such as ‘Shop Now’ or ‘Learn More’. All you need to do is add the URL you want the button
to link to. It could be your website, online shop, or a download form, for example.
8. PERSONALIZE!
Go to Settings and ‘Edit
Page’ to personalize the
look of your page. Here, you
can reorganize your tabs
to reflect what is important
to your brand, or you can
go with one of Facebook’s
recommended templates
based on your business type.
Later on, when you have
plenty of great visual content
to share, you can decide to
put your photos or videos tab
at the top. Or, if you have a
special offer to promote, the
‘offers’ tab can be moved to
the top of your page. Easy!
Once your page has started

to gain some traction,
you can also pin your best
performing post to the top, so it’s one of the first things your page visitors see. We always
want to present our best selves first, and it’s no different when it comes to content
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9. GET THE WORD OUT!

Once you’ve ticked all the boxes for setting up your page, post some
content – the last thing you want is to kick things off with a sad, empty
page! Thankfully, posts can be backdated, so you share a few ‘weeks’
worth of content to bring your page to life before you begin with your
regular posting strategy.
IMPORTANT:
Although it might be tempting to post whatever you have to hand, make sure your content
is relevant to your audience and in line with your overall Facebook strategy, which we’ll
discuss in Chapter 2.
10: GIVE IT A BOOST!

When you have a few posts on your page, you can also boost the
posts to reach your target audience, or if you want to focus on gaining
followers first, run some targeted ads for page likes. For this, you will
need a Business Manager and Ad Account.
We’ll discuss how to do this in the next section of this chapter.
1.2. How to Set Up Facebook Business Manager
Now, setting up a Facebook page (as easy as it sounds) might have felt like a lot of work.
The thing is, however, that, as basic as this is, many brands still get it wrong. It's essential to
create a solid foundation for your Facebook page if you want it to be a success.
The next step is to give your page that little boost that it might need in the beginning, and
to do that, you'll have to set up Facebook Business Manager.
Setting up Facebook Business Manager is an important step in gaining visibility for your
business page. With the help of Business Manager, you’ll be able to boost your posts, increase
your reach and define target groups for ads. Here’s how to set it up in three easy steps:
STEP 1
Log in to your private Facebook account and go to this page: https://business.facebook.
com/overview/
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STEP 2
Click 'Create Account'
and fill in your company
name and add your
business email address.
STEP 3
You will be directed to your new Business Manager Account and prompted to 'Create or
Claim a Page to See It Here'.
To claim the page you just created, you need to:

∞ Go to Business Manager
∞ Click ‘Pages’ under the ‘People and Assets’ tab, and then click on ‘Add New Page’
∞ Select ‘Claim a Page’
∞ Enter the Facebook page name or URL. Because you are the page admin, your request
should be approved automatically.
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Once you have set up Business Manager,

you can create an Ad Account. To do this:
∞ Go to Business Manager
∞ Under the ‘People and Assets’ tab,
click ‘Add New Ad Accounts’
∞ Select 'Create a New Account'
You should see a screen where you can set the time, currency, etc. Be sure to set the
correct currency and time as you can’t change this later on!
Having a Business Manager account will empower you as a marketer to perform tasks that
ordinary Facebook users simply don’t have access to. You’ll be able to create ads, target
groups and boost your reach and visibility. (Head to Chapter 3 to learn how.) But before
you do, let’s proceed to Chapter 2 where you’ll learn how to establish your brand guide-
lines and lay the foundations of a successful Facebook business strategy.
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CHAPTER 2: CREATE A SUCCESSFUL
FACEBOOK STRATEGY
While Facebook remains one of the most popular platforms for marketers3, a significant
40% of marketers don’t know if their Facebook marketing is working and 53% have
seen declines in their Facebook News Feed exposure. These stats just go to show that
marketing success on Facebook is no mean feat – occasionally posting articles and
sharing photos won’t cut it. You need a well-researched strategy and a good deal of
commitment and patience before you get the pay off.
But where do you even start? You have limited time and even more limited resources,
and you’re already spreading yourself too thin, trying to master a number of other social
channels. It’s tough out there. We feel you.
The good news is, success on Facebook doesn’t require you to be a content machine.
It does, however, require you to test and experiment with different tactics in order to find
out what works best. You might not have the time or the resources to commit to posting
to and monitoring your page every day, but a clearly defined strategy is well within reach.
Knowing what and when you’re posting, and who you’re posting for, is half the battle.
To keep things simple and help you on the right path, we’ve created a list of the biggest
do’s and don’t’s of a successful Facebook strategy, which we’ll cover in more detail
throughout this e-book.
DO’S ON FACEBOOK
DON’T’S ON FACEBOOK
Define your goals
Buy Likes!
Research your audience
Post sporadically
Study your competitors
Post sales-oriented or spammy content
Stick to a posting schedule
Go off-piste with your branding
Post valuable content
Overload your page with stock imagery
Pay attention to your community
Be too formal - it’s a community platform
Cross-promote your content
Ignore comments
Track your metrics
Make decisions without looking at the data
Boost high performing posts
Waste your budget on low performing ads
A/B test your ads (and then do it again!)
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CHAPTER 2: CREATE A SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK STRATEGY
2.1 Facebook KPIs
First things first, you’ve got to start your Facebook career with setting proper Facebook
goals. We’ll talk about this a bit further on in this ebook. But before you do, you need to
get to grips with the most essential Facebook KPIs, i.e. those buzzwords that everybody’s
throwing around like confetti:
There are several essential KPIs to track on Facebook, and while Reach, CTR and
Engagement are ultimately the most important metrics to track, let’s go through the main
KPIs one by one:
IMPRESSIONS: In Facebook terms, impressions are the number of times a post from your
page is displayed. For instance, if a user sees your Facebook update in his/her own feed and
then later on sees it again when, say, his/her Mom shares it on her own feed, that will count
as 2 impressions for 1 user.
REACH: Reach, however,

is the number of unique
views your post receives.
The number of Impressions
on a Facebook post will
always be higher than the
Reach, because Reach
counts individual views,
whereas Impressions counts
numerous views by the
same person. Reach can be
of three different types: Paid,
Organic, and Viral (a dream
come true to us all).
Page Reach Evolution on Iconosquare
ENGAGEMENT RATE: Your engagement rate tallies up the total number of likes, reactions,
comments and shares on your Facebook post to give you an overall percentage of
engagement based on your follower count at the time of the post. Find out which kind
of engagement you’re receiving the most (whether it’s likes or comments or shares) and
even which reaction your fans prefer giving your content (is it thumb-ups or love emojis?).
You can also determine the type of post that gets the best engagement by checking your
engagement by post type.
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Engagement Per Post Type and Page Engagement Evolution on Iconosquare
CLICK-THROUGH RATE: Also known as a CTR, a Click-Through Rate is essential to track

so that you know how many of the people who saw your content actually clicked on it,
adding to your traffic on your website, store or blog. To work out the CTR of a post, divide
the number of clicks by the reach, and multiply by 100.
PRO TIP:
Your performance can be measured by tracking your clicks by post type, in relation to
the reach you achieved on each post. From this, you can gauge which formats of post
get you the best results.
Clicks History & Clicks Per Post Type on Iconosquare
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AUDIENCE GROWTH: You should also monitor your gained and lost fans on a regular
basis and keep tabs on when you’re gaining lots of followers (or losing them, but we hope
not!) to see if it coincides with particular types of content, etc.
Facebook Fan Growth & Gained and Lost Fans on Iconosquare
STAR RATINGS: Star Ratings can be a good indicator of how your business is received
in general. Amassing great reviews and hitting the 5 star mark shows your Facebook
followers that your service or product is of high quality, and can help convert visitors
to customers!
FEEDBACK: Keep track of the written reviews you receive to learn what is working with
your customers and what you need to improve on, whether that’s on or offline!
2.2 Defining Your Goals
The first step in defining your Facebook strategy is defining your goals, as they will dictate
your KPIs, the type of content you post, as well as its frequency, style, etc.
Do you want to ultimately increase your sales? Or are you aiming to increase your brand
awareness amongst a particular target group? Perhaps you want to use Facebook as a
means of connecting with your customers, and to provide personalized and responsive
customer service? It’s tempting to try and do everything, but you’re best off picking the
most important goals to your business, and then defining the KPIs that will allow you to
measure the success of your strategy.
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Below we’ve listed some of the most common goals for Facebook business accounts, and
the KPIs to focus on when evaluating each:
∞ Driving referral traffic back to your website or blog → Look at link

clicks and CTR to determine how much traffic your Facebook content is
generating.
∞ Increasing brand-awareness → Pay attention to Facebook mentions.
∞ Increasing leads and conversions, and driving sales → You can use
UTM codes to track the customer journey from Facebook to shopping
cart, which shows you exactly who bought a product or signed up for
a service directly from Facebook (conversion rate). However, potential
customers might not shop directly from a link they click on Facebook,
which makes tracking this a bit trickier. Your audience could see your
content, your offers or ads, or your page in general, and this could
influence them to purchase from you at a later date (hurrah!).
∞ Establishing a loyal and engaged community around your brand

or product → Pay close attention to engagement rate, reactions and
comments, particularly what is being written in these comments!
∞ Improving the customer service experience → Look at the feedback and

reviews people leave on your Facebook page (whether they’re positive or
negative) and also at your rate regarding how fast you reply to people’s
messages.
We’ll discuss exactly how you reach these goals on Facebook a little later on, but for now
we’re going to focus on the next important step in defining your strategy: getting to know
your audience!
2.3. Researching and Targeting Your Audience
Researching your audience is a very important step in the targeting phase of your
Facebook strategy. At this stage, you’ll probably have at least a general understanding of
your target audience, whether your understanding comes from personal interactions, data
from website analytics, or research into your industry and competitors (ideally you have a
combination of all three).
Now’s the time to delve a little deeper and create marketing (or buyer) personas, if you
don’t already use them.4
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A marketing persona is a character created by your company to illustrate a section of your

target audience. Once those are created, you’ll be able to keep these personas in mind and
target them when creating blog posts, emails, social content, and so on, so their usefulness
extends well beyond Facebook.
So, how do you create a marketing persona for Facebook?
It’s easier than you might think, if you follow these 3 steps:
STEP 1. DIG INTO DEMOGRAPHICS & INTERESTS

Interested in finding out who is following your Page on Facebook? With both Facebook
Insights and Iconosquare, we can now see the gender of our followers, which languages
they speak, and even which county or city they live in.
Is your audience female or male? Are they post-millennials (born in 2000s) or baby boomers
(born in 1950s)? Are they located in Europe or the US? Are they online at 7pm or 7am?
Gathering this information is the first step towards understanding who are the people that
follow your brand. The more you ‘get’ them, the closer a connection you’ll be able to
establish through content.
Age, Gender, and Language Demographics on Iconosquare
STEP 2. PLAY SHERLOCK HOLMES

Do you have similar competitors from the same industry?
Of course you do. We all do.
In this case, you can simply spy on your competitors and check out who follows them.
You want your competitor’s followers to follow you.
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Check out the Facebook accounts of the brands, businesses and influencers your existing
customers are following and take note of the style of content those brands post, from the
topics, tone of voice and regularity of their posts, through to the way they interact with
their audience in the comment section. If you can see that posts with short, snappy copy
and bold images are getting a lot of engagement from your target audience, why not apply
the same approach to your own Facebook posts and see if it works for you too?
Facebook makes this easier for you by providing the key data, such as engagement peaks
and troughs, in the ‘Insights’ section of the site. You can add ‘Pages To Watch’ to track the
performance of your closest competitors. It’s not copying, it’s just drawing inspiration!
PRO TIP:
Take some screenshots of
the posts you think could
also work for you, and collect
them all in a Google Drive
folder. Once you have a
range of posts from at least
a handful of competitors,
make a list of all the similarities
between these successful,
engaging posts that you can
refer to when it comes
to posting to your own page.
Think of it as a checklist for
your own content!
STEP 3. ASK A QUESTION

Once you’ve figured out who you’re dealing with, the next step is to figure out what they
want to read about.
To get a more in-depth knowledge of your audience members, there’s no better way
than by simply asking them about themselves. You can do this via questionnaires, quizzes,
surveys and polls posted to your Facebook page, where you can ask specific questions
about your audience, the groups they belong to, or even the influencers they follow. All
this extra info will allow you to build precise representations of your fans and customers,
which in turn will help you to target your posts to the perfect audience.
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PRO TIP:
Make a note of the way your audience speaks! It will be useful to you in the future,
when you are figuring out your own brand voice on Facebook.
2.4. Two Key Types of Content on Facebook
So, now you’ve got the key terms down; you’ve defined your goals, set your KPIs and
researched your audience. But what about the content itself? What should you be posting
on Facebook to see the kind of results you want?
Let’s take it from the top...
IMAGES
Visuals are an important part of success on Facebook. Images draw the eye because
they’re easier to consume than text, and therefore they should make up a fundamental
part of your Facebook content strategy. To capture attention in a user’s feed, choose high-
quality images that represent your brand well. It can be difficult to find this kind of content
on free stock photo websites, but you should never use copyrighted photos that belong to
other brands or photographers.
PRO TIP: If you wish to use non-stock images, you

should take high-resolution photos yourself or
If you wish to use stock images, reuse User Generated Content harvested from
check out Unsplash, Stocksy or your fans and followers. Always remember to
Pexels for great, royalty-free images! get permission before you use anyone else’s
content for your business page on Facebook.
Remember to optimize for mobile, i.e: don’t

use images with small text or minute elements
that will be difficult to see on a smaller screen.
According to 2017 stats, 90% of Facebook’s daily
active users access the platform via mobile.5
So it’s a good idea to keep this in mind!
FACT:
Visual content is more than 40 times more
likely to get shared on social media than
other types of content.6
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VIDEOS
Videos are one of the most successful forms of media for engagement across social
channels – if you’re utilizing video, make sure they are on-brand with the same feel
and identity that your company portrays.
How do you create a good video for Facebook? Here’s how:7
nd sparky
hort a
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y o u r vide
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∞ Kee o ur audien
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u c ate y
∞ Ed
seconds count
∞ Make the first few
∞ Choose a compelling thumbnail
∞ Schedule your videos for ma
ximum viewing
∞ Be entertain
ing
∞ Keep you
r online ex
∞ Don’t istence sta
forget ble
a call-
to-act
ion
Videos can be short or long depending on the content you’re sharing, however shorter
videos tend to have better engagement than longer ones which may not be watched to
the end. Quick, snackable content works extremely well on social media as a whole, so
posting videos to Facebook could also open the door to cross-channel publishing.
FACT:
Facebook generates 8 billion video views on average per day (a video view is counted
after 3 seconds of viewing).8
2.5 5 Types of Facebook Posts to Try (And How to Optimize Them)
There are so many types of posts you can try out, and we suggest mixing it up a little to
keep your page interesting. Here are 6 types of post every marketer should try at least
once on Facebook, to test which get the best possible results!
1. LINK PREVIEW
A link preview post is a detailed link of a blog post (for example), which includes the post
title, a meta description and a large image. These posts are great for storytelling as they
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allow you to describe the link in the post caption, while still showing a snippet of what’s
hidden behind the link you’ve shared on your Page.
There are in fact two types of link preview post: the thumbnail image preview and the
large image preview. In order to obtain the larger image link preview, Facebook says:
Use images that are at least

1200 x 630 pixels for the best
display on high resolution
devices. At the minimum,
you should use images
that are 600 x 315 pixels to
display link page posts with
larger images. If your image
is smaller than 600 x 315 px,
it will still display in the link
page post, but the size will
be much smaller. .
2. PHOTO POSTS
Another of the most popular and engaging types of
Facebook post is the simple photo post. Done well,
using a photo to illustrate your text can bring a post
to life and encourage your followers to engage.
Think about the kinds of images you can use to
represent your business in the best way possible!
Here are a couple ideas for you:

∞ A humorous photo or quote → Having a sense of
humor never hurt anyone! Making your community
laugh is a sure way to make sure they come back
to your Page to see what you’ll come up with next.
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Obviously, you don’t want to be over-the-top with the jokes, but the odd funny post now
and again can really lighten the mood of your business Page, keeping things fun and fresh.
∞ A backstage photo → Giving your fans a glimpse

into the people behind the brand can be a valuable
step in gaining their trust as your potential customers.
Introduce your team members as they join your
company or on special occasions such as a Christmas
party, a team building activity outside the office, or
even a meet-up with a social media influencer that
you’d like your fans to get to know! Your company
culture will help set you apart as a group of people,
which in turn will establish you as a brand.
If you’re a one-person brand, you can still offer

backstage sneak peeks to your followers by
posting your work in process, or ready-to-dispatch
products, or your current working environment, etc.
3. FACEBOOK LIVE VIDEO

Facebook Live video is an incredible little tool which allows you to share with your
followers instantaneously, instead of having to think about and write a post. Your Facebook
community won’t be expecting live videos which have been tailored to perfection: they’re
watching because it’s live, not because it’s premeditated, so they’ll be expecting to see
your brand spontaneously sharing a moment, an announcement, or anything that offers
an interesting insight into your brand. That’s the beauty of Facebook Live.
Your community will be

notified the second you
go live, and encouraged
to jump on to watch your
broadcast. But don’t worry!
Those who can’t be there
for the live event can
watch any time, as your
live videos are saved and
posted to your Page once
the live is over.
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4. 360° VIDEO
Video in general is a definite must on Facebook. But 360° video was introduced in the first
part of 2017 and has been all the rage ever since!
In order to broadcast a live 360° video on Facebook, you’ll first need a compatible
camera. Cameras like the Samsung Gear 360 or the Insta360 are some of the most highly
recommended for this use. But don’t worry, anyone can live stream 360! Even if you don’t
have one of these super-duper cameras, you can still stream 360° video live to Facebook if
you go to facebook.com/live/create.
From the broadcaster’s perspective, you’ll be able to see comments and reactions coming
in on screen directly just like a regular Facebook live video. When you’re 360° streaming
from a Facebook Page, as opposed to a normal Facebook profile, there is even an added
bonus. Live 360° streams through Pages can be edited after they’ve gone live, taking the
pressure off you as a marketer, and allowing you to share the best possible quality of
content to your audience.
6. FACEBOOK STORIES
A great tool for branding is Stories. Facebook Stories is one of the newer features to have
arrived on the platform and works in the same way as Instagram Stories, if you’re already
familiar with that. Although this feature has not yet become available to Facebook business
Pages, it is set to do so in the near future, and so it’s only prudent to have some idea of
how you’ll use it for the good of your brand.
Stories is the feature to use if you want to post quick moments captured throughout your
day without having to overthink the quality or the frequency of your posting. This content
is hosted on a different part of Facebook to your profile and feed. While your feed will
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continue to show your traditional content, Stories live at the top of the feed (when on the
mobile app). Traditional Facebook posts can be liked and commented on, but if the same
set-up for Stories is adopted for business Pages as for individuals, they can only be viewed
or replied to via private message.
Fun and quickly filters are available to spruce up your Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories were created with the aim of facilitating the sharing of quick and easy
pieces of content that showcase snapshots of people’s daily lives and activities, spruced
up thanks to the massive choice of filters and effects which can be applied to photos
and videos. The same approach can be used from a business’ point of view: showing
behind-the-scenes snaps of your company culture and colleagues can be a great way of
gaining and building trust among your customers and fans on Facebook. You can even use
Stories to showcase your relationships with social media influencers or any events your
team mates may attend for example. You should think about developing a Stories posting
strategy for your Facebook Page (even though for now, the option is yet to become
available to Pages) allowing you to incorporate temporary images and videos into your
marketing message, without ever leaving Facebook.
2.6. Giveaways/Contests and UGC
A huge topic in the world of social media right now is User Generated Content, and if
you’re not embracing it already, now is the time! Hosting a contest or a giveaway on your
Facebook Page is a fantastic way of harvesting UGC which can be repurposed and used as
brand content on Facebook. Images created and shared by influencers and customers can
be reused by your brand to promote your products and add authenticity to your overall
message.
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FACT:
UGC generally means content that everyone can relate
UGC is able to generate to, because the photos are taken from such a personal
690% the engagement a point of view. These are not professional snaps, they were
regular piece of content can. not premeditated or thought out to “sell” – merely to
share an experience with a much loved product.
Holding a UGC contest is a great way of getting genuine engagement on your Facebook
Page. Authentic engagement (and plenty of it) is believed to be the key to higher ranking
in the Facebook feed algorithm. So in fact, the more people interact with you, the more
visible to others you’ll become – all you need to do is get the ball rolling.
PRO TIP:
Be careful! This doesn’t mean you should buy likes and engagement, because Facebook
is cunning and will eventually be able to tell the difference, and possibly penalize your
Page for that. Look at this as a challenge: play by the rules and reap what you sow!
Let’s take a closer look at how to create your own Facebook contest. The two main things
you need to have covered are the rules of entry and the prize up for grabs.
1 2 3
Start off with a simple Ask your followers If the prize is tempting,
image post announcing to ‘like’ the post and your fans will be sure
the contest. comment on it with a photo to participate!
they’ve taken of themselves
with your product.
4 Don’t hesitate to get more 5
creative!
You could also ask your

followers to enter your
Make sure your rules
contest by recounting a At the end of
aren’t too complicated
personal experience or your specified contest
(sometimes brands ask too
describing a feeling on a deadline, it’s time to
much of their fans and this
particular topic for instance. select a winner.
can dissuade contestants
from entering).
I 24
PRO TIP:
There are online tools which can help you pick a contest winner, like Woobox, which is
directly linked to a specific Facebook post and can generate a random winner from likes
and comments.
By now, you should have a few ideas of how to move forward with your Facebook
strategy. We’ve covered the more ‘traditional’ types of posts that work well on Facebook,
and explored how to harness Facebook Stories, run contests, and utilise UGC. What’s
next? Well, it’s no good having great content without a great posting strategy! In the next
section, we’re taking a look at how to distribute your content on Facebook, as well as how
to get started with Facebook ads. Let’s dive in!
I 25
CHAPTER 3: DEFINE YOUR POSTING
STRATEGY
In an ideal world, you’d be able to post something (but not just anything!) on Facebook at
least once per day. It could be a range of content from photo gallery posts to a live Q&A,
with each post fully optimized for your end goal. However, creating quality posts takes
time, and once per day might be a push if you’re creating and optimizing your content for
a number of channels. Don’t post for the sake of posting – and this applies to every social
channel – as this can actually do more harm than good (e.g. people not engaging with your
content, not reading it anymore, and, generally, losing interest in what you’ve got to say).
As long as you approach posting on Facebook methodically, and keep track of your
activity and KPIs, you’ll actually be able to get better results from fewer posts. Here’s how
you can streamline the process:
3.1. Create a Publishing Plan
This will allow you to easily plan your

posts in advance, assign the post to
a team member (if you’re not doing
it all yourself!), keep track of your
posting days and times, and monitor
the performance of each of your
posts, such as click throughs, reach
and engagement. A simple excel
spreadsheet works well, but you can
also use tools such as Trello to organise
your content schedule.
An example from Iconosquare’s Trello Board
3.2. Research the Best Times to Post
Post at the same time for a period of at least a week and track the results – how many
likes, comments and shares are you getting when you post at this set time? How much
traffic are the posts bringing you?
I 26
CHAPTER 3: DEFINE YOUR POSTING STRATERGY
It’s a good idea to consider the typical daily routine of your persona based on your initial
research. Once you’ve tried out your selected time slot for one to two weeks, switch to
a new time and see what effect this has on the success of your posts. For the sake of
accurate results, don’t switch up your strategy during this testing phase. Even one other
small change, such as the kind of imagery you use, will mean you can’t know for sure if
your increased engagement or surge in clicks is down to the new posting time or the new
imagery. You can always test the imagery at a later date!
You can currently check

when your audience
are online either on the
Iconosquare platform,
or by going to Facebook
Insights and clicking
‘Posts’. A graph will
appear at the top of
the page to show you
the days and times
your audience is using
Facebook:
TOP TIP: Testing & Analyzing

Try out new post formats, targeting, posting times and frequencies and always keep an
eye on your metrics to figure out what resonates best with your audience! There is no
one rule, so this part is down to you and your community!
3.3. Maintain Your Brand Voice
Remember how we talked about researching your audience and the way they speak in
Chapter 2? Back then, we advised to take notes of the way they speak. It’s time to delve
a little deeper into those notes to refine your tone of voice.
You should always, no matter the reason behind your post, make sure that your brand’s
tone of voice is tailored to the particular audience you’re targeting (bearing in mind you
might be targeting a specific segment of your audience on Facebook). You may want to
come across more formal with some audiences, and more hip with others depending
on who you’re addressing (say an adult audience versus a younger target). However, it’s
important to be consistent when posting to Facebook, so be careful not to modify your
I 27
tone and style too much from post to post, to avoid confusing your audience!
It can be difficult to stick to one voice if there are multiple team members managing
the company’s social media accounts, but maintaining your well-researched voice on
Facebook will help to build rapport between you and your customers and reinforce your
brand identity.
Refer to your branding guidelines and share these with any newcomers before they take
over your Facebook page to ensure your communication is consistent. You want your
customers to recognise your brand and all the warm, fuzzy feelings they have about your
brand as soon as they see your post in their feed. Of course, warm, fuzzy feelings don’t
come about from rigid, overly formal language and ‘arms length’ approach. So, have a
personality, have a sense of humor, and have fun – even if you’re dealing with a topics
which are tricky to make ‘fun’, like taxes or level crossings…
The Level Crossing

Removal Authority:
It covers the latest news on – you guessed
it – level crossing removals in Melbourne,
Australia. Despite being viewed as a pretty
‘dry’ topic compared to say, travel or fashion,
the social team at the Level Crossing Removal
Authority maintain a distinctive voice and
create fun posts sprinkled with humor and
personality – and the occasional emoji .
3.4. Cross-promote Your Content
Cross-promoting your content doesn’t mean sharing the same post across every social
channel. Your Facebook posts should be tailored to the platform and to your goals.
I 28
Taking your well-thought out Facebook post, featuring a

snappy title, caption, meta description and slighter longer
The days of cross- copy, and simply throwing it into a scheduling tool for
distribution across your other channels, isn’t going to work.
posting are long
gone, and savvy On Twitter, you want a short and snappy caption that
content marketers isn’t going to get truncated. Instagram requires a higher
know that there’s no visual quality than Facebook (although it’s always good
‘one size fits all’ when to aim for quality visuals across all your platforms!),
it comes to social. Pinterest pins should be longer than the images you
share on Facebook and Instagram, with a different
format...you get the idea!
So what do we mean by cross-promoting? There are a few ways you can go about it:
firstly, by adding social media tabs to your Facebook page, providing followers a direct link
to your other social profiles. Apps like Iconosquare’s Instagram Feed Tab, Shortstack and
Woobox allow to you to add tabs and widgets to your Facebook page fairly easily if you
don’t have the help of a developer. It’s also a great idea to add social buttons to your email
newsletters, as well as featuring snippets of Facebook content that lead directly to recent,
popular posts.
Woobox Pinterest Tab Feature

I 29
A quick and easy way to cross-promote your content is to let people know about your
new Instagram account or YouTube channel in a Facebook post, and encourage your fans
to follow you on these platforms too. An incentive such as a competition run exclusively
on one other platform is a good way to get your Facebook fans to check out your other
social media pages.
Finally, another way to cross-promote your content is to collaborate with influencers or

partner up with suitable brands who have a similar audience to you but aren’t a direct
competitor. This can help you to reach a new audience and get your social profiles in front
of the right people.
I 30
CHAPTER 4: ADVERTISING ON
FACEBOOK
Speaking of promoting your content, let’s take a look at Facebook advertising. You may be
thinking advertising will be a long-winded or expensive process and something you don’t
really want to look into. Well, think again.
If you really want to see an increase in ROI from Facebook, you have to utilise Facebook
ads. With organic reach in decline, and an increasing number of users and therefore
content on the platform, it helps to set aside some budget to help you cut through the
noise. Ads allow you to target a specific market, to pique their interest in your products
or services before they’ve even heard of your brand, and when done well, they can be
relatively cheap.
This chapter will help you get started with ads, outline the various types of ads you can
try, and cover how you can create create engaging ads that actually work! So, let’s get
started...
4.1 How To Create an Ad on Facebook
1. Go to Ads Manager
2. Select ‘Create Campaign’
3. Choose your marketing objective (discuss marketing objectives - engagement, traffic,
conversions)
I 31
CHAPTER 4: ADVERTISING ON FACEBOOK
4. Name your campaign – the best approach to help you keep track of your campaigns is
item or page being promoted + objective e.g. “Insights Launch Post Brand Awareness”
5. You’ll be given the option to create an Ad Set for this particular campaign. An ad set is a
group of ads that share the same budget, schedule and targeting data. This is where you
can test a few different combinations of copy and imagery for your ads. You can name
your ad set depending on the targeting, e.g. Men & Women, 21-60, US, just to make it
easier for you when navigating your campaign.
You can track which of these ads are getting the best response, and deactivate those
which aren’t getting you enough bang for your buck.
6. Next, you’ll get to define your audience. You’ll already know who you want to target,
so it’s just a case of checking the boxes, so to speak. You can define your audience by
demographics such as age, gender, language, location and interests. Feeling stuck?
Once you start entering in general interests, such as content marketing or Instagram, for
example, Facebook will start to make suggestions based on your existing entries.
It’s also worth noting that you can also exclude a group from your targeting, which
is particularly useful if you don’t want to show your ads to people who have already
downloaded an ebook or an offer, for example. You can save this audience to use in
other campaigns later on down the line.
You don’t have to target

your audience using
demographics, though.
You can also create a
custom audience from
your customer email list
(you can also do this with
phone number of mobile
advertiser ID, but email
is probably the most
effective). It’s pretty quick
and straightforward, all
you need to do is:
I 32
Compile your customer data into a spreadsheet according to the example below.
The file should be a CSV or TXT format. Alternatively, you can export the data from
Mailchimp by providing your log-in details.
Next, go to ‘Audiences’ in your Ads Manager and select ‘Create New Audience’
Select ‘Create
Custom Audience’
and then simply
upload your file.
Facebook will take
care of the rest
and then guide you
through the next
steps!
I 33
Once you’ve uploaded

this info, you can create a
lookalike audience. To do
this, just select ‘Lookalike
Audience’ instead of
‘Create New’ and you’ll
be prompted to select
your previously uploaded
audience file from the
dropdown.
7. Once you’ve selected

your audience, you’ll
be prompted to choose
your ad placements. We
recommend sticking to
Facebook feed and right
column in general, but it
does depend on the type
of ad you’re running. For
example, if you’re running
a video view ad, you’ll
want it to take a prominent
position in the newsfeed
where it will blend in with
‘authentic’, community-
based content. Keep
in mind that some ad
objectives have restricted
placement options, such as
lead generation ads, which
are only shown in the feed
and on Instagram.
8. Choose your daily budget and enter a start and end date. The amount you’ll spend in
total will be calculated below. Alternatively, you can select ‘Lifetime Budget’ and enter
the start and end date. This will automatically calculate your daily budget, and it might
I 34
also be a safer option if you’re

worried about getting the date
wrong and overspending (it
happens!). To work out what
your budget should be, take
into account this tip from Social
Media Examiner9 and ask:
What budget do we need

to generate $X in revenue
with Facebook ads?
Establishing a revenue goal
for your campaign informs
the ad planning process and
helps you more accurately
report the ROI, or return
on ad spend (ROAS).
9. Now you’ve got all of your

targeting down, it’s time to
create your ad! You can either
select an existing post to run
as an ad, or you can create it
from scratch (which we would
recommend). There are a couple
of different types of ad that you
can choose from, depending
on your objective, which you
set at the start of the process.
Here, we set our objective to
impressions, so we’re given the
option of a single image, single
video, or slideshow.
I 35
These 3 are pretty self-explanatory, but on top of those, you’ve also got the carousel and
canvas posts.
Carousel posts allow you to showcase a number of images in one ad. Your audience can
scroll through your mini album, giving you, the advertiser, more opportunity to persuade
your audience to visit your site or engage with your brand.
You can also use canvas ads, which is the next step up from your usual ad. A canvas as
is full-screen, ‘immersive’ ad which is designed to help you tell your story more easily.
4.2. Boosting Your Posts
Boosting posts which you’ve seen are performing well can help you to reach your
objectives quicker. Applying budget to your posts will ensure it finds its way into the feeds
of your target audience. You can select those who already like your page and their friends
as a target audience, though if you want to draw in new followers you should select an
audience from your existing list based on demographics or lookalikes, or create a new one.
To boost a high-performing post, click the ‘boost post’ button in the corner of your post.
Fill out the objective, audience, budget and duration and payment method. Easy as that!
I 36
4.3. 3 Tips to Create Successful Ads That Work!
Creating an ad is one thing, but creating an ad that works is another. Here are 3 simple
tips to help you get a greater ROI from your Facebook Ads:
• As with posts in general, select bright and attractive images that speak for themselves
• Avoid placing too much copy over your images. It might be tempting to shout about
your offer in a bold CTA overlay, but even though Facebook has officially done away
with the 20% rule, you’ll still be penalised for having too much text over your image.
Plus, it looks spammy!10
• It should be clear from your ad what you sell or offer – be specific and succinct with
your copy. However, don’t lose your tone of voice in the limited characters you have
available. It’s time to think creatively to strike a good balance.
Daily Harvest use bold imagery with short, catchy captions for their ads.
I 37
CONCLUSION
Building your Facebook presence is hard. Nobody said it was easy.
In this ebook, you learned about all the key steps to achieving success on Facebook: from
basic how-to’s of setting up a page, to more in-depth points like setting goals and tracking
KPIs.
We hope we could provide you with some useful tips on how to get started, but at the end
of the day, do remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day! It’s okay if it takes you a while to
grow your following, reach higher levels of engagement, and grow your traffic to the site…
Your stats will climb slowly at first, but if you stick to your strategy, they will climb.
Good luck on the rest of your Facebook journey!
I 38
APPENDIX
1. The Anatomy of the Perfect Facebook Post

2. Facebook Success Stories from Leading Brands & Organizations
3. References
I 39
THE ANATOMY OF
THE PERFECT LINK PREVIEW POST
FACEBOOK 3
1
POST 4
TEMPLATE
5
1. Caption is short, engaging, and piques curiosity

2. Trackable, clickable link near the beginning of the caption
3. Posted at the optimal time
4. High resolution image (at least 600x315 pixels for large image display)
5. Meta description accurately reflects the content behind the post
I 40
FACEBOOK SUCCESS STORIES FROM
LEADING BRANDS & ORGANISATIONS
Take a look at some examples of brands who are leading the way in the realm of Facebook
marketing. There are plenty of pointers and ideas to take away from these posts that will
help with your own strategy, and you don’t need to be a big brand with a big budget to
implement them.
National Geographic
With over 40 million Facebook

followers at the time of writing,
National Geographic are
obviously getting something
very right. Below is a popular
post of theirs which exemplifies
their approach, receiving
close to 3,500 shares and 58
thousand reactions.
WHAT THEY’RE DOING RIGHT

• They engage with their
followers: National Geographic
invites its audience to actively
participate to comment and
be creative. This way, they not
only unite their followers as
a community, but also show
they care about what their
audience has to say. Always
a good approach!
• They use an extra-ordinary image: Showing something out the ordinary that stops you
from scrolling is what makes a post extremely shareable with potential to go viral! The
element of humor also helps!
• They keep it short and sweet: Keeping the caption short and to the point keeps the
focus on the image, which is a key aspect of this great post.
I 41
APPENDIX: SUCCESS STORIES
TOMS
Ethical shoe manufacturer and

retailer TOMS are winning at
the Facebook game with close
to 4 million followers and huge
levels of engagement on all
of their posts. The following
post is a great example of
how partnering up with
another brand, organisation
or influencer can enrich your
content and expand your reach.

• Staying true to themselves:
TOMS stays true to its
roots, raising awareness of
environmental and economic
issues with a post on World
Elephant Day. The brand
uses its visibility to make a
statement against ivory trade,
thus appealing to the ethos
of their community and using
the TOMS Facebook page as a
fundraising channel to support
the cause.
• They tag their partners: By
partnering up with the Wildlife
Conservation Society and tagging them in the post, TOMS ensures more eyes see the
content to the benefit of both parties (and the elephants, and the world in general...)
• They sell smart: Shooting and supplying their own product photos means the Facebook
fans can see exactly what’s on offer and how they can get involved with the initiative.
However, the post is by no means ‘salesy’: there’s an aspect of storytelling and a wider
context to this post, which is what makes it so successful.
I 42
Fitbit
If you check out Fitbit’s

Facebook page, you’ll find a
consistent feed of useful posts,
from training tips to recipes
and even ways to be more
successful at your job. They
really know their audience, and
they know how to put together
a post that works. Just take a
look at this post as an example:

• Being helpful: Fitbit are
focused on sharing useful tips
and information tailored to their
audience’s interests. They’re
not just pushing their product,
but providing real value.
• Being real: Displaying a product
in a real life environment,
particularly with a focus on
people, makes the post more relatable and engaging.
• They ask a question: Asking a question in the title of the post addresses the audience
directly, encouraging reflection and engagement. In fact, every aspect of the copy in the
post is written to appeal to the concerns of a section of the audience (perhaps potential
fitbit users, or those who have recently bought a fitbit to improve their lifestyle, but aren’t
yet seeing the results).
I 43
MAC
How does a brand as well

known as MAC keep their huge
Facebook following engaged?
Their approach is to keep on
top of comments, utilising
the platform as a customer
service and brand management
tool, and sharing relevant and
engaging content. The video
below shows how the lead
makeup artist for TV series
Orphan Black creates one of the
key character’s look:

• Going behind the scenes:
Giving a behind-the-scenes
look at how the character
look is achieved is a good
way to engage the audience
(everyone loves seeing a
Watch the full makeover here
before and after!) and shows
them what’s is possible with
MAC makeup
• Getting featured (big time): The fact MAC has been chosen by a leading makeup artist to
create looks for such a popular show highlights the quality of the MAC product. It’s a less
direct form of product promotion, and more effective for it
• They’re using videos: Video is growing in popularity, with 75% of marketers planning on
increasing their use of videos as part of their marketing strategy in 2017.11 MAC are riding
the curve with this post.
I 44
REFERENCES
1. https://www.facebook.com/business/measurement?ref=fbb_v3_footer
2. http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7832-social-media-for-business.html
3. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2017/
4. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33491/everything-marketers-need-to-
research-create-detailed-buyer-personas-template.aspx
5. https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-mobile-app-statistics/
6. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy
7. http://www.jeffbullas.com/8-salivating-tips-video-marketing-facebook/
8. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/top-5-facebook-video-statistics-2016-
infographic
9. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-ad-budget-how-to-set/
10. https://instapage.com/blog/facebook-20-text-rule
11. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2017/
I 45
ABOUT ICONOSQUARE
Iconosquare is the leading Analytics and Marketing tool for Instagram and, now,
Facebook. Trusted by brands, businesses, influencers, and individuals around the
globe, Iconosquare works with your Instagram and Facebook accounts to help you
grow a media-rich social strategy, effectively interact with your community and
measure your efforts with valuable metrics.
ANALYTICS: Evaluate your social media performance and benchmark

against your competitors.
CONTENT MANAGEMENT: Publish, manage, and schedule your posts from

one place.
INFLUENCERS: Find the best influencers for your business.
TRY FOR FREE TODAY
CONTACT ICONOSQUARE
help@iconosquare.com

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FOR BUSINESS

The Ultimate Guide For Beginners

Introduction: Facebook for Business:

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Facebook for Business.............. 04

Chapter 2: Creating a Successful Facebook Strategy.................. 11

Chapter 3: Defining Your Posting Strategy..................................... 26

Chapter 4: Advertising on Facebook................................................ 31

In other words, people use Facebook, and they use it a lot.

Sounds good? Then let's not waste time!

1.1 How to Create a Facebook Business Page

3. ADJUST THE SETTINGS!

4. GET PROFILE AND HEADER PICS!

6. TELL YOUR STORY!

7. ADD A CALL TO ACTION!

Once your page has started

9. GET THE WORD OUT!

10: GIVE IT A BOOST!

We’ll discuss how to do this in the next section of this chapter.

1.2. How to Set Up Facebook Business Manager

To claim the page you just created, you need to:

Once you have set up Business Manager,

2.1 Facebook KPIs

REACH: Reach, however,

Engagement Per Post Type and Page Engagement Evolution on Iconosquare

CLICK-THROUGH RATE: Also known as a CTR, a Click-Through Rate is essential to track

Clicks History & Clicks Per Post Type on Iconosquare

Facebook Fan Growth & Gained and Lost Fans on Iconosquare

2.2 Defining Your Goals

∞ Driving referral traffic back to your website or blog → Look at link

∞ Increasing brand-awareness → Pay attention to Facebook mentions.

∞ Establishing a loyal and engaged community around your brand

∞ Improving the customer service experience → Look at the feedback and

2.3. Researching and Targeting Your Audience

A marketing persona is a character created by your company to illustrate a section of your

So, how do you create a marketing persona for Facebook?

STEP 1. DIG INTO DEMOGRAPHICS & INTERESTS

Age, Gender, and Language Demographics on Iconosquare

STEP 2. PLAY SHERLOCK HOLMES

Of course you do. We all do.

STEP 3. ASK A QUESTION

2.4. Two Key Types of Content on Facebook

PRO TIP: If you wish to use non-stock images, you

Remember to optimize for mobile, i.e: don’t

How do you create a good video for Facebook? Here’s how:7

2.5 5 Types of Facebook Posts to Try (And How to Optimize Them)

Use images that are at least

Here are a couple ideas for you:

∞ A backstage photo → Giving your fans a glimpse

If you’re a one-person brand, you can still offer

3. FACEBOOK LIVE VIDEO

Your community will be

2.6. Giveaways/Contests and UGC

You could also ask your

3.1. Create a Publishing Plan

This will allow you to easily plan your

An example from Iconosquare’s Trello Board

3.2. Research the Best Times to Post

You can currently check

TOP TIP: Testing & Analyzing

3.3. Maintain Your Brand Voice

The Level Crossing

3.4. Cross-promote Your Content

Taking your well-thought out Facebook post, featuring a