Q3 • 2023


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We managed to pose some questions to Smith when she could spare time between consulting and training independent professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners on how to accelerate their business profits using an integrated social marketing strategy.


Q: Let’s start with strategy. Any basic advice for small businesses trying to build their own Facebook marketing strategy?


Mari Smith: Companies starting their Facebook presence can focus on a modest advertising budget and not worry about going through all the hoops to garner impressive public-facing metrics. These are all proxy metrics—number of followers, engagement, reactions, shares, comments, and video views. Sure, we need some proxy metrics, but don’t stop there. The business metrics are more important, and you can jump straight to those with properly deployed ad campaigns, even if you only have 10 followers. (See the sidebar for Mari’s more detailed


three-step plan for building your Facebook marketing strategy.)


Q: Facebook marketing seemingly includes a million tactics and content types (e.g., Reels, organic copy and video, groups, contests and giveaways, Messenger chatbots). Do companies need to use them all, or can they start with a few?


MS: I’m a big proponent of leveraging as much organically as possible. Of course, it can depend


There is one type of post that can do extremely well in terms of organic reach and engagement on Facebook, and that is plain text on a background color, especially when you ask a question.


on the size and age of your Facebook business Page, but I would tap into everything Facebook offers for free as well as deploy well-planned and well-executed ad campaigns. There is one type of post that can do extremely well in terms of organic reach and engagement on Facebook, and that is plain text on a background color, especially when you ask a question. Facebook provides this post format inside Meta Business Suite. Although it might look like an image post with large text, the algorithms read it as a plain text post, and it really stands out in the feed. I recommend using this format a few times a week with a compelling question to spark engagement.


Q: Are there any rules these days for what types of Facebook posts seem to perform the best for marketers?


MS: There are no real prescriptive approaches to identifying top-performing posts on Facebook, because what works for one Page doesn’t necessarily work for another. Typically, the lowest-reaching post type is the one marketers want to publish the most: straight link posts with the link preview. So, get creative here. Try an image post or video post and include your


WHAT’S HOT ON FACEBOOK Short-form video (or Reels) is currently


1 Meta’s mega focus for Facebook and


Instagram. Reels are Meta’s version of TikTok videos in a valiant attempt to compete head-on with the company. It’s defi nitely working for users and marketers alike; these vertical videos can run up to 90 seconds and obtain tremendous reach and engagement on both platforms.


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call to action and link in the description, or test putting it in the first comment. In general, be sure to add captions to video and speak in conversational tones. If you’re using stock images or video clips, strive to pick people who look like your customer personas. Don’t always think more is better when it comes to posting frequency of organic content. Focus on quality over quantity, and derive more ROI out of each post by going deeper with your audience.


Q: Meta seems to be rewarding marketers who consistently use its short-form, vertical Reels on Facebook and Instagram. What’s driving this?


MS: Yes, they are. This is a valiant attempt to compete as much as possible with TikTok and woo the younger demographics back to Facebook. Certainly, the more that marketers can embrace the Reels format on Facebook, the potentially greater reach and discoverability they can achieve. That is, their Reels content can be discovered by a cross section of their audience simply through Facebook’s AI- powered discovery engine that recommends content for users in their feeds.


Mari Smith tells us what’s new and exciting in the world of Facebook marketing.


With all this new short-form video content fl ooding the platform,


Facebook advertisers have a couple of new ad placement options: overlay ads, as either banner ads placed directly on Reels or image carousel ads, and post- loop ads—video ads shown after a Reel has looped twice.


Converting your personal profi le to professional mode is a relatively new feature that makes your profi le function very much like a public business Page. If you tend to keep your personal profi le locked down and only use it for connecting with true friends and family, professional mode may not be a fi t, but businesspeople who have made the switch are seeing tremendous growth in followers, reach, engagement, and Reels plays, so it might be worth testing.


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