Facebook marketing is the way of the future. If you want your business to succeed, you need to master it. If you aren’t Facebook savvy, don’t be afraid. Facebook isn’t hard to use, and the potential return on the time you invest is infinite. Read on to learn exactly what you need to do.

Update your Facebook page regularly. Do not hesitate to post a new update every morning if you find that your subscribers check Facebook at least once a day. If your subscribers are not likely to check Facebook very often, share a weekly update to avoid flooding them with too many updates.

Marketing through the use of Facebook tabs is an easy and efficient way to get the word out. Why not create a “Promotions” tab and highlight items you have on sale, coupons you’ve made available or even contests you’re running. It’s a great way to allow your followers to easily keep up with what’s going on.

Try having a contest to increase followers on your Facebook page. People love to have the chance to win something. If you offer incentives, like additional entries into the contest for sharing, then you will not only give your current followers something of value, but also increase your visibility when they share your contest.

Use a cover photo on your Facebook page that really shows off your brand. For example, show a picture of one of your bestselling products. You want to keep your products fresh in the mind of the public, and choosing the right cover photo can make this a lot easier for you.

Make sure you answer posts and comments on your wall. You should always dedicate some time to make contact with people who have taken the initiative to get in touch with your business. Think of Facebook like a phone call. If someone calls you, you talk to them and then answer their questions regarding your business.

Talk to your audience on your Facebook business page. If someone is taking time to write something on your Wall, you should answer them. It’s similar to someone calling your business. On the phone, you would talk to them and answer their questions to make a good impression. This concept is the same with email and web form submissions. It needs to be the same with your Facebook page.

Facebook’s introduction of their Timeline format is altering strategies for many business marketers. Timeline allows for the posting of larger photos that are more likely to grab reader interest. Successful marketers are posting these larger pictures, coupled with a targeted call to action. This can run the gamut from downloading coupons to encouraging product users to upload their own pictures of your product in action.

Try turning your Facebook fan activity into advertising for your business page. You can use Facebook Sponsored Stories in the Facebook self-serve ad tool to do this. It basically turns the fans’ activities into ads. It lets you promote your business via displaying positive updates from the fans that mention your business or promoting news feed stories about fans that “Like” your page.

Take advantage of the feature on Facebook that allows you to schedule your posts. It is important that you update regularly to keep up interest in your company. However, you might not have time to sit down each day and write a post. That is where scheduling comes in handy. You can take an hour or two one day to knock out a bunch of posts, and then schedule them throughout the upcoming week.

Be careful about how often you use Facebook Update. This option allows you to send a message to your subscribers. But, just use the feature for things that really matter. It should not be used for promotions, rather to show your concern for your followers and their ability to remain informed.

Have followers recommend your page to their friends. A good way to keep them interested and sharing is to give them a coupon, etc to share your statuses. You can also release a coupon code once you reach a set number of followers and inform your followers of that goal.

Keep your Facebook posts related to your the brand you are selling or at least to the relevant industry. You can discuss a related happening in the news, post a Youtube video that is about your topic or share interesting comments that have been shared by followers of your Facebook page.

You should be feeling a lot more confident now about your ability to use Facebook for marketing purposes. After reading this article, you now know that Facebook isn’t a big, scary monster — in fact, it’s easy to use! Choose at least one thing to do every day so you can jump-start your marketing campaign.

How To Use Facebook Marketing To Your Advantage was originally published on Spring