Many people these days discount Facebook when it comes to social media marketing. They see the platform as nothing more than a way to keep in touch with friends and family. But that not all the platform is good for. Facebook is a great place for marketers to grown their brands and showcase their products. With the right Facebook tools it’ll not only make your marketing strategy easier to execute, but more successful overall. The wrong tools, or lack of tools in general can make your Facebook marketing life a lot more difficult.
Generally a marketing strategy on Facebook will include things like analyzing your engagement and testing out Ad performance. Usually most marketers play a long guessing game of trial and error. This is why we’ve set out to share our top 10 Facebook tools anyone needs to help grow their brands on the platform. We hope this helps you narrow down what tools you should be using, as well as understanding how they work.
READ – Facebook Content Strategy Tips
Facebook Tools to Grow Your Brand
Facebook Native Publishing Tools
To execute a good marketing strategy, you need proper planning and time management. When it comes to planning content on Facebook they make that process effortless. With Meta Business Suite, they’ve built in native publishing tools to help marketers schedule and automatically post content for them. This allows you to stay organized and plan content in advance without having to worry about posting it on time.
There are two ways you can schedule content to be published on Facebook. First, is with the Publishing Tools within the Meta Business Suite. Here you can both publish live and schedule posts and stories on both Facebook and Instagram. You’ll also be able to see previously published content and review performance indicators such as reach and engagement. This is probably one of the most important native tools for marketers on Facebook.
The other option for publishing content on Facebook is to use the Planner. This method allows you to plan your posts by using a calendar format. In this view you’ll also be able to see previously published content on Facebook and Instagram, and get additional information on it’s performance.
Hootsuite Publisher
For those looking for a 3rd party tool to help with their social media publishing, Hootsuite is a great alternative. With this Facebook Tool you’re also given the chance to plan and publish content on other social networks. This helps you to keep your entire social media marketing efforts organized in one place.
Similar to Facebook, Hootsuite provides two different options for planning and publishing content. Planner, similar to Facebook, allows you to plan your social media content using a calendar view. This will help you to better map out campaigns, fill content gaps and even retract all scheduled post in case of emergency. Alternatively their Composer feature allows you to create and preview content instantly to either be published or scheduled in advance.
Facebook Insights
One thing that’s required for successful marketing on Facebook is understanding your performance. Facebook Insights is another native tool that allows you to understand how your audience is interacting with your content. Beyond that it also helps you to tap into information about your potential audience. This mixture of analytics will only enable you to create content that’s even more tailored to your desired audience. Facebook insights gives you a peak into your audiences demographics, interests and lifestyle so you can really get to know who you’re trying to reach.
Hootsuite Analytics
Image via Hootsuite
Similar to Hootsuits Publisher, their Analytics tool allows you to gather real-time information from multiple social media networks including Facebook. This is excellent for seeing how your Facebook content is performing both on it’s own and compared to other platforms. It’s especially helpful if you’re running a particular marketing campaign across multiple channels. If it’s performing better on one platform versus the other, you’ll be able to identify that immediately. You can then make any necessary changes live rather than waiting to see results at the end of a campaign.
Meta Business Suite Inbox
A big part of marketing is communication. So being able to manage your messages and comments on Facebook is vital. Thankfully Meta’s Business Suite comes equipped with an inbox management tool to help you not only reply to messages, but comments too. The Inbox tool allows you to manage not only communications on Facebook, but on Instagram too. In one centralized place you can check your Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct and comments on both platforms. This will help you make sure you don’t miss any questions, feedback or comments left by your audience. You’re also able to reply to all communications sent in Business Suite Inbox.
Facebook Ads Manager
Social media has always been known as a way to advertise for free. But platforms throughout the years have found a way to throw traditional advertising into the mix. Facebook Ads are one of the biggest ways advertisers are reaching the new generation of consumers. Their built-in Ads Manager allows you to create, manage and analyze all your ads. This is where you can build out your ad campaigns, set budgets and carefully target specific audiences. You’ll also have access to analytics about your ads so you can see how they are performing and optimize them as you go.
Facebook Ads Manager also allows you to sell products directly through an ad. So you can advertise products you have in your Facebook Storefront and your audience can shop them directly through your Page.
Hootsuite Social Advertising
It’s clear by now that Hootsuite is one of the top external Facebook tools out there, mainly because of how versatile their offerings are. Their Social Advertising tool allows you to take control of all your advertising campaigns across multiple social media networks. With Social Advertising you can analyze performance and engagement metrics across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for individual ads and campaigns.
Adview (Hootsuite Apps)
One of the neat things about Hootsuite is that there are many apps you can add to your dashboard to enhance your social media management. One of those tools is Adview. A blend between communications and advertising management, this app allows you to track comments made on your Facebook ads. You can manage ads from up to 3 different Facebook accounts so it’s a create tool for agencies and freelance social media managers. It’s also great for businesses that may have multiple Facebook Pages. You’ll also be able to create reply templates to your most asked questions, and track engagement analytics so you can see which of your ads gets the most comments.
Facebook Live
Did you know that watch times for Facebook Live broadcasts have gone up massively in the last year? If you’re not using Facebook Live as a part of your growth strategy you’re missing out on a major opportunity. Not only is going live a great way to market your brand, but it’s also a way for you to engage with your audience and grow your following. There are so many different ways you can use Facebook Live. You can host a Q&A, broadcast a special event or even showcase your latest product launch directly to your audience.
Meta Blueprint
If there is one of the Facebook tools that often gets overlooked it’s education. That’s right! Being successful with any Facebook strategy requires you to be in the know with all the latest features, updates and resources available to you. Meta Blueprint offers courses, guides and training workshops that you can use to improve your experience. Whether you’re trying to learn how to optimize Facebook Ads or better understand your insights there is something for you. All education tools in Meta Blueprint are free of charge, and allow you to learn at your own pace.
