How to Advertise on Facebook for Free? | 7 Effective Practices

Today we’ll talk about how, without spending a penny, turn passive members of the Facebook social network into interested customers using organic reach and social engineering techniques. You can do this in seven ways that are accessible to every Facebook user and the development of which does not require any special knowledge and skills.

# 1. Invite friends and colleagues

Yes, this is trite and maybe not very ethical. But if you just created a business page and you need to recruit the first hundred subscribers, this is the best and perhaps the most correct way. Since this is not only free but also allows you to get the first feedback from interested people who will correctly indicate errors in the text, low-quality photos and other problems of your page.

To invite friends, click on the icon with three dots under the cover and then select the appropriate item in the context menu.

Who should be invited is up to you. For example, if you just want to gain subscribers, then invite everyone, if you need an audit of the page - friends and those who understand this, target audience - study profiles and invite only those who will benefit from your business. Consider hiring a social media marketing agency for a small business.

If you have a lot of friends and you’ll get 200-300 followers in this way, then there is a high probability that Facebook algorithms will add your page to the “friends' recommendations”. That is, you will have free advertising in the stream of friends of your friends.

# 2. Proper page layout

Another option on how to advertise on Facebook for free is to use it in the title and layout of your page. For example, you need to promote the French restaurant Ile-de-France. Usually, a page with the same name is created for this and several posts with a menu, photos of the kitchen, hall and cooking process are posted there. And then, at best, write a post once a week.

Now let's see how to do it right:

First, the title of the page should contain keywords that users will use to search for your products or services in your city or region. In the case of a restaurant, this is the "Ile-de-France French Cuisine Restaurant in Springfield" (or another city or area). If you are an accounting firm, the title should be “Accounting Services in Springfield”. At the same time, you need to change not only the name but also the URL of the page.

To change the name and URL, go to the “About” section under the page icon and click “Edit” next to the page name. Please note that the system allows you to change the name only once a week.

This method is so effective that our business page (the Ile-de-France restaurant doesn’t really exist) has already taken the fourth place in the search results for “French Restaurants in Springfield” (the first three positions are the top 3 real restaurants with address and visitor reviews).

Secondly, you need to add information about your business on the cover of your Facebook page, in its description and other similar fields. So, in the case of our restaurant, the cover can serve as a beautifully designed menu(not all, but key dishes), information about offers, prices or key advantages of your business. It's better to hire social media marketing agency rather facing with mistakes. If we are talking about an online store, then there may be information about promotions, unique offers, contests, sales and more.

To add text to the cover, click on it and then select “Add a description” on the right. Here you need to write about what is posted on the photo, and about other relevant offers. The text should contain keywords.

More business information needs to be added to the brief description of the page. And there you also need to use the keywords: service or product + location.

# 3. Publishing catchy content

Here you need to remember and use a simple rule: it is important not just to write, but to collect the reaction. If posts will not collect comments, likes and reposts, then Facebook will not promote them in a dynamic feed and, therefore, no one will see these posts. Therefore, you need to write not only about what you are selling, or about professional, but also about what is interesting for your target audience.

And here anything can go into play. From correctly designed quotes, as Free People did:

To beautifully arranged calls to share your post, as did Jim 'N Nick's Bar-BQ:

In order to add naturality to your posts, you can take pictures of your customers, as was done at The Bistro restaurant. This is not only a great post for your feed, but also free likes and reposts, as the photo hero is unlikely to refuse to share it with his friends. Online stores can use a similar trick, only in their case it will be a discount or a bonus for a live video of unpacking the goods - this is also, in fact, free advertising.

Facebook statistics also say that users of this social network really like watching videos: on average, each user watches at least one video per day, while organic video has 43% “full views”, while paid video has 31%. It's also worth using when posting short videos or using live streams.

In addition to the above, you can also ask questions, write guides, give interesting statistics or make funny memes (photos or gifs) where your business or field of activity has somehow been outworked. Such messages attract users and help increase the number of subscribers.

But here you need to strike a balance between:

• what do you want to write about in the post;
• what the target audience wants to read;
• what benefits your business.

You need to start with posts about what the target audience wants to read. In some of these posts, you need to add text or pictures with messages useful to your business (brand information, links and calls for the target action, etc.). In this case, direct advertising should be up to 20%.

At the same time, it is desirable that all images and texts be optimized for Facebook and Google algorithms (organic traffic can also come from here). For example, you can use Google Trends to find out what's on the trend, Keyword Tool - search for keywords, Canva or Crello - create and process photos and other images.

# 4. Unique offers and contests

This includes everything that benefits the visitor: promotions, discounts, bonuses, limited offers and more. All this can be used as free advertising on Facebook, if you tie the benefit to the like or repost. For example, everyone who likes will receive a 5% discount, and who reposted - 10%.

Such discounts may be temporary or permanent. For constant discounts you can ask for more: “1% discount forever for every 1000 invited subscribers, maximum - 10%. The promotion is valid until the New Year.” Such offers are marketing with elements of gamification, which further stimulates people to advertise your business for free (discount cards offer everything, but not everywhere you need to “pass the quest” and earn a reward).

Tips for Using Discounts and Promotions for Free Facebook Ads:

1. The reward must be valuable. The discount or benefit from participating in the promotion must be significant enough so that the user wants to become a participant.
2. Clearly indicate what needs to be done. Tell the user exactly what he needs to do to receive the prize: “Click here,” “Attach this image to ...” or “Invite 10 friends”. In this case, you should always make a note or give a link to the rules.
3. The process should be simple. A large number of steps repels people, even if the reward is worth the effort. For example, the condition “Bring 10 buyers” is simple, while “Invite 100 people who love kart racing to a group” is difficult.
4. Awarding rewards should be simple and quick. It is desirable that this happens automatically, for example, using the built-in Facebook functionality called “Offers”.

# 5. Promotion through specialized groups

Another way to advertise on Facebook for free is through groups. You can create your own group and use it to communicate with customers or use strangers to attract users to your page or perform targeted actions (purchase, go to the site, download the application, etc.).

To create your own group you need to go to the home page and click on the “Groups” icon on the left side of the screen.

Next, click “Create Group” and in the window that opens, indicate the name of the group, add those users from the list of friends whom we want to invite to the new group, and also indicate which group we need: private or public, visible or hidden (business needs public, visible all group).

Next, you need to add a cover and enter information about the group. After that, you can add posts designed not so much for sales as for the growth of loyalty and involvement of people. In fact, a group for business is another means of feedback, which is also useful for brand promotion.

In terms of promoting your business with the help of other people's groups on Facebook, the first thing to do is to determine which groups your target audience is following. To do this, you need to spend some time studying the groups according to the following criteria:

1. The group should include users who are interested in your products or services. For example, if you are repairing a car, then you need to look for groups where they discuss the purchase, repair and operation of a car. If you sell pizza, then you need groups in which residents of your region sit and, for example, discuss infrastructure, local elections, local business, fishing on a nearby lake and the like.
2. The more subscribers in a group, the better. But you need to understand that not every public will have 100 thousand subscribers. So, the Iowa Yacht Club can consist of 5 thousand people, and a group about the influence of the sun on the US electric grid can consist of 500 people (but they can also sell something, for example, a new neural network for processing solar wind data).
3. Facebook has many groups with tens of thousands of subscribers, where the last post was months, or even years ago. You need platforms where new posts are regularly posted that are actively discussed by people.
4. Here we are talking about the administration of the public, as well as about its subscribers. You should not use sites where in the vocabulary of posts and comments there are a lot of curses, insults and discrimination, even if all this is said for fun.

Advertising your business in such public places is cautious and unobtrusive, participating in discussions, creating non-advertising, interesting posts for users and giving useful tips. If your comments and answers are of interest to people, they will open your page where you can post the first post with advertising. You can also respond on behalf of your business page or use its name and logo in the avatar.

# 6. Mutual exchange of reposts

This is another not entirely ethical way to promote on Facebook (and other social networks). Its essence is quite simple: you repost someone’s post and repost your post in response. The effectiveness of such advertising is small, since friends and subscribers of the second side are not your target audience. But this is free advertising, and therefore the demand from it is small.

You can find those who are ready to change reposts in the appropriate groups and with the help of FbPartner, Bosslike, Fastfreelikes and other similar services. In the same way, you can share likes and comments, which is also one of the options for free promotion on Facebook.

# 7. Starting events

The last of the free and yet effective ways to advertise on Facebook is events that can be added to the Facebook calendar. An event can be anything: a sale, a webinar, a lecture, a concert, a meeting with a famous writer or musician, an exhibition, a fish day in a restaurant or some kind of charity event - all this can be entered into the venue’s calendar.

It is enough to go to the “Events” section and click “Create Event”, select the public option and then enter data about your event.

It is simple, free and effective, that's why everyone uses this method - from small restaurants in the wilderness to the largest corporations in the world.

How to Advertise on Facebook for Free? | 7 Effective Practices key takeaways:

1. # 1. Invite friends and colleagues
2. # 2. Proper page layout
3. # 3. Publishing catchy content
4. # 4. Unique offers and contests
5. # 5. Promotion through specialized groups
6. # 6. Mutual exchange of reposts
7. # 7. Starting events