As a small business owner, CHEAP is great, but FREE is always best! This post will walk you through 10 free Facebook marketing tips and how to use them in your business. Please add your best tips in the comments below!
Top 10 Facebook Marketing Tips:
1. Use Canva to create an eye-catching cover photo
You don’t have to hire a professional designer to create a stunning and engaging cover photo. There are many great FREE tools you can use to create or edit your images. One of my absolute favorites is Canva. They offer layouts specifically for Facebook covers; meaning you don’t have to guess if your image is the right size or format. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for in their wide selection of free templates, you can choose from many, many others that will still only cost you a buck!
2. Be mindful of moving your fans to your email list
While Facebook is an extremely useful and powerful marketing tool, remember that you will never truly ‘own’ your audience. Your communications with your Facebook fans will always be limited by Facebook’s algorithms and filtered feed. For this reason, it’s important to make sure you’re always moving your fans to your email list. One of my favorite ways to do this is to promote a valuable free Ebook in exchange for an email address!
3. Ask questions to boost engagement
Some business owners are still using Facebook as a way to broadcast a one-way message to their fans. However, Facebook works best when you use it for two-way conversations. One of the best ways to do this is to use questions in your posts. Ask your audience for their thoughts and opinions, then be sure to respond to their feedback.
4. Consult Facebook Insights to find out which types of posts resonate with your audience
I like to think of Facebook Insights as my own personal Facebook advisor. You don’t need to guess at which types of posts are getting the most engagement with your audience! Regularly consult your Insights to see which post types and topics are resonating with your audience…and then post these more often!
5. Post image quotes
If you follow me on Facebook, you know I LOVE to use image quotes! They’re easy to create using a variety of free tools, and are amazing for getting likes, comments and shares. Simply overlay a funny, motivational or inspiration quote (your own or someone else’s) on an eye-catching background, and then share it on your page. Here are some of my favorite free tools for creating amazing graphics!
6. Use Buzzsumo to find new content ideas
Tired of posting content that gets no traction? Use a free tool like Buzzsumo to find the most popular content for a given subject. Plug in a relevant topic, and Buzzsumo will give you a list of the most popular content on that topic, based on the number of social shares.
7. Offer exclusive deals and promotions
42% of people like a brand page to get coupons or discounts. Overlay graphics with promotional content or coupon codes, and share it on your Facebook page. You can also create a Facebook offer from your page for free; I like to use offers to promote a free infoproduct like an eBook. This is a great way to move your fans into your online marketing funnel! (see #2 above).
8. Try posting link updates
Buffer wanted to know which types of posts worked best on Facebook, so they tested out a variety of strategies. After a week of sharing only link updates, their median reach increased by about 70%, and clicks increased by almost 10%. Try it out for yourself!
9. Integrate your website with your Facebook page
When you’re working with a small (or non-existent) budget, it’s critical that you find ways to leverage your existing audience to grow your Facebook page. For this reason, I recommend using Facebook buttons and badges to encourage social sharing and to grow your Facebook page likes. If you have a WordPress site, I’d also recommend using a plugin like Facebook Comments to add a Facebook comment box to your blog.
10. Be committed, and be consistent
The final (and perhaps most important) tip I can give you for marketing your business for free on Facebook is to be consistent. Don’t be like that annoying uncle who only shows up when he wants something; show up consistently, post content regularly, and respond to questions and comments promptly. This is the way to build relationships with your audience that are built on trust.
Wondering how to get FREE traffic from Facebook? You’ll love my post, Free Facebook Traffic Is Possible (And You Can Do It Too!). Or, you can also check out How You Make Money on Facebook.
There you have it: the top 10 Facebook marketing tips when you have NO budget!
What would you add to this list? Share below!
About Author
Kim Garst
Kim Garst is one of the world's most retweeted people among digital marketers. She is a renowed business strategist, keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media. Kim helps business owners grow their business using social and digital media.
She is the founder of KG Enterprises, LLC, a business strategy consulting company that helps business owners create more sales using the power of digital and social media.
Kim is also internationally recognized as a thought leader in the social media space. Forbes named her as one of the Top 10 Social Media Power Influencers. Her blog is one of the top social media resources in the world.
You can find more great content from her at www.kimgarst.com/blog.
Great tip thank you will put a few into practice to see if help generate more engagement.
I agree, Buzzsumo is great. Glad you enjoyed it!
Glad to hear it, Melissa!
It definitely can, Claire. 🙂
Thanks for dropping in, Michelle!
It is definitely a great tool, Josh!
You can use it in a limited way for free but yes, the paid version is a bit pricey. I would also recommend PostPlanner as an option for finding viral content.
Awesome Facebook tips, Thank You needed this.
Great post thanks for sharing this article with us nd keep up the good work always.
Nice article. Thanks for sharing this!
Excellent article, Kim.
This is a great inspiring article. I am pretty much pleased with your good work. You put really very helpful information. Keep it up. Keep blogging. Looking to reading your next post.
Great insights and a newbie friendly blog post easy to understand and implement thanks Kim Garst
These top ten Facebook marketing tips really informative and solve my many ambiguities. Many thanks for so much informative article.
you are educating people toward knowledge.
Wow Simply amazing post. Well researched and clearly described to understand each social platforms and how it works for your digital marketing strategy.. keep posting
We should always keep our eyes on facdebook updates and its algorithms. great content thank you for sharing.
wow, i have just learnt something really nice from your site concerning Facebook marketing. i have been thinking about running it on low budget but with your tips i would obly have to spend so little. Thanks to your site I now have what am looking for. I hope to see some more interesting content the next time i visit your website. this site was amazing,
Wow what a Beautiful fb Marketing tips.
Facebook marketing is the most important term in the digital era. Everyone wants to grow their business in a smart way and Facebook marketing is one of the effective ways. Facebook marketing allows small businesses to compete with a much smaller advertising budget.
You made a great point when you mentioned that While Facebook is an amazingly valuable and incredible showcasing instrument, recall that you won’t ever genuinely ‘own’ your crowd. Your correspondences with your Facebook fans will consistently be restricted by Facebook’s calculations and sifted channel. Consequently, it’s imperative to ensure you’re continually moving your fans to your email list.
Glad to see you got some value from the article, Markely!