When talking about advertising on social networks, special mention can only go to Facebook and Instagram. Social platforms and, especially, these two owned by Mark Zuckerberg have revolutionized the way companies and, specifically, startups promote their products and services. Before you figure out how to promote a Facebook page or how to promote an Instagram page, you need to know, then, how Meta’s two platforms can help your startup get known.
Meta’s potential for startups
Describing Meta’s potential for startups was done in a few but effective words by Neil Patel:
“Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have transformed advertising for startups, making it more accessible, targeted and measurable.“
Facebook and Instagram provide startups (and companies in general) with various constantly updated tools, options and functions that enable those who use them properly to reach targets and increasingly precise and specific goals. Not only that: the increasingly sophisticated measurement tools make it possible to perceive the real and concrete value of all marketing activities put in place within these platforms, thus also giving the possibility to make more effective strategic decisions regarding investments and optimization of advertising campaigns.
The importance of Facebook and Instagram in the digital landscape
To understand the importance of Facebook and Instagram within the digital landscape in Italy (but not only) you need only take note of some numbers from WeAreSocial’s “Digital 2023” report, which examines the Italian population’s use of the Internet and social media.
Facebook and Instagram were the most used social networks in Italy, accounting for 77.5 percent and 72.9 percent, respectively (the third most used social network in Italy, i.e., TikTok, stopped at 37.5 percent).
Nowadays, therefore, despite the fact that it may be perceived as a social network in “decline” (and, for some age groups, this may even be true), Facebook, in Italy, is still widely used. Its uses are many: it can be used, in fact, to stay in touch with other users and to keep informed, but also as a messaging service and a virtual meeting place between sellers and buyers.
As for Instagram, it is another fact that jumps out at the eye in the “Digital 2023” report: in fact, Instagram ranks first among the most loved social networks (21.6 percent), ahead of its “brother” Facebook (15.8 percent). But why is Instagram so beloved? On this social network you can get inspiration and discover not only new trends, but also new places and businesses.
Creating and optimizing your startup page
It’s time to move from theory to practice: to promote your startup page effectively, of course, you must first create one. Meta itself provides you with best practices for doing this in the best way possible: a key step is choosing the right category.
Choosing the right category for your startup
You should know that when you set up your startup page on Facebook, you can select up to 3 categories. There is only one criterion that should guide you: you must choose the ones that best describe your startup and your brand, that is, the ones that are most relevant and specific.
You should know that categories can help your startup grow in a number of different ways: first, the main category appears below the page name and, therefore, can help ensure that users can immediately understand what you are about, without misunderstanding. Categories also make it easier for users to find you: in fact, your startup page appears in search results on Facebook when users search for the categories you select. But that’s not all: categories also help you organize similar pages for users to discover.
The art of selecting eye-catching profile and cover images
It will not surprise you to learn that users tend to consider more trustworthy companies that, within their Facebook and Instagram page, have a profile image and a cover image. Optimizing your startup’s page on Facebook and Instagram, therefore, also necessarily comes through the choice of an eye-catching profile image and cover image.
Regarding the former, Meta’s advice is to choose a simple visual representation of your startup (as can be, for example, your logo). The cover image, on the other hand, should show a recognizable part of your startup that will attract users’ attention.
Targeted advertising: how to promote a Facebook or Instagram page
The ability to reach specific targets and goals in a precise way is, as already pointed out, one of the distinguishing features of Facebook and Instagram. You are about to find out how this can be done.
How to get started with the Business Manager
Let’s start with some technical basics: you should first know that the Business Manager is Meta’s tool that helps you manage your business account permissions. Here you can find your Facebook pages, Instagram profiles, advertising accounts and other useful resources for your business. Meta’s Business Manager works in synergy with Meta Business Suite (the new hub within which Meta brings together all the tools and options for managing advertising campaigns on its social networks) and with Meta’s Ad Manager (the advertising tool for advanced advertisers).
To create an account on Meta’s Business Manager, all you need to do is confirm your identity, add your startup’s information, and submit the form. Pay close attention to the next step: when linking Facebook and Instagram accounts to your business account, grant permissions and access only to trusted people to avoid any unpleasantness. Another crucial step is company verification.
Select the right targets for your campaigns
We have come to the crux of the matter and, that is, how to promote a page on Facebook and how to promote a page on Instagram. We will focus on a few aspects in particular: before even creating an advertising campaign, it is crucial that you are clear about the business objective you intend to achieve. On the result you want to achieve, in fact, depends the choice of the advertising objective that Facebook and Instagram provide for their advertisements.
Obviously, the goals of a startup differ from those of an established company: in the beginning, you might be expected to need to make yourself known and acquire new potential customers, while later you might use Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns to encourage users to make a purchase.
The importance of specific and generic targeting
To be more likely to achieve your goal, your advertising campaign must be seen by users who are more likely to respond (positively) to it.
On Facebook and Instagram, you decide who to show your ads to and where to do so. To build your online audience, you need to think about the characteristics your current and potential customers have in common with each other, starting with demographics and ending with their geographic location and interests.
Meta provides advertisers with a very useful indicator that helps them understand whether the defined audience is too broad or narrow: keep an eye on it and, based on this, broaden or narrow your audience, so as to make the targeting of your advertising campaigns more effective. The advice, in any case, is to start with a broad audience.
Specific targeting, based on a relatively rigid set of parameters, is one of two approaches you can take; alternatively, in fact, you can also opt for broad targeting, relying on Meta’s publishing system to find even those potential customers that you might not otherwise discover.
It is difficult to say a priori whether one type of targeting is better than the other, but it may be helpful for you to know that broad targeting is better suited for those who do not yet have established certainty about their target audience.
Essential tools for promoting your Facebook and Instagram pages
To make the most of the potential of Facebook and Instagram you can make use of some valuable tools that are useful at different stages of your startup’s social promotion activities.
Canva: creating images for your Ads
Canva, for example, is a free and easy-to-use tool for creating images for inclusion in advertising campaigns. This tool requires no special graphic design skills, since it provides users with predefined formats and templates, as well as graphic elements to combine with the images they upload.
Likealyzer and Sociograph: competitor monitoring and analysis
Likealyzer is also free: this tool allows you to monitor the performance of your Facebook page and study the modus operandi of your competitors.
Sociograph is another useful tool for studying competitors: this tool allows for special analysis of groups and fanpages.
Ad Espresso: in-depth testing and analysis of your campaigns
Last, but not least, is Ad Espresso: unlike the other tools mentioned above, this one requires minimal experience with Meta ad management and has a cost that may be out of the budget for some people, especially beginners. It is, however, a particularly valuable tool because, among other things, it offers insight into which target audience you need to invest more in.
Conclusions and next steps for your startup on Meta
By now, it must be clear to you that Facebook and Instagram can give you a big hand in getting your startup and your products or services out to a wider audience.
You must keep in mind, however, that social networks (and Meta’s to a perhaps even greater extent) are constantly evolving. What applies today on how to promote a Facebook page or how to promote an Instagram page may not apply tomorrow and, therefore, you need to keep abreast of every little update in Social Media Marketing, so that you are always one step ahead of your competitors in the gold rush.
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