Facebook started as a social platform for university students in 2004. Today its success as an open public platform can be attributed to a commitment to grow and evolve continuously.

Here’s a look at how your business can leverage this prominent marketing and advertising network:

• Strategy: Use all available tools and content options to push your brand message. Understanding your audience and communicating consistently are essential to crafting messages that deliver the best ROI.

• Publishing: While many brands post once or twice a day, others post 10-15 times per month. The right frequency for you is what your audience responds to. If there’s low engagement, reduce the number of posts or change the content type. Find your sweet spot that achieves a balance of quantity and quality.

• Creative: Facebook supports almost all content types. Your brand needs to establish a different “look and feel” for different types of messages. This is called templating. Create multiple templates to communicate multiple brand facets.

• Audience: Building the right audience is key for organic growth. Use custom communication and targeted advertising to grow a responsive, engaged audience.

• Advertising: Ads help with lead generation, reach, engagement, impressions and drawing traffic to your website. Consider having a monthly or annual advertising budget. Feel free to experiment but seek professional help to craft a winning advertising strategy.

(This is the second of eight Digital Digest articles, provided courtesy of the MPE Caribbean Report, which offers travel and tourism news weekly. It is published by US-based integrated marketing agency Marketplace Excellence, which has an office in Richmond Hill, Ont. www.marketplaceexcellence.com)

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