Facebook as a marketing tool

Facebook is one of the most popular social media community services in Finland and worldwide. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Through it, you can create a visual user profile for a business or yourself, where you can share various types of content. Using Facebook as a tool for a business is very profitable, as it allows easy communication with people, organizing various events that other Facebook users can participate in, and arranging matters related to collaborations, for example. 

Using Facebook in tourism

In tourism, using Facebook is easy and profitable. A company can easily publish various marketing materials on Facebook for people to view and comment on. Such posts attract other Facebook users to explore and even purchase the company’s services. In these posts, the company can also, for example, share information about its activities and respond to various questions. Networking with people and possibly other businesses is also straightforward through Facebook. 

One of Facebook’s unique features compared to other social media applications and community services is the ability to organize event invitations, to which other users can sign up for. This easily brings all possible upcoming events to people’s attention. In addition to creating and announcing events, individuals also have the opportunity to buy tickets to events and utilize the services offered by the company. 

Since Facebook is one of the most well-known social media platforms, a company can also leverage it to promote its own website, Instagram account, or TikTok profile. This way, the company can easily get Facebook users to transition to other marketing platforms. This method potentially increases the company’s follower count across all social media platforms. 

Facebook’s target groups

The majority of Facebook’s user base consists of adults. Nowadays, fewer and fewer young people actively use Facebook. It is, therefore, more popular among the older population, which is not necessarily a problem for tourism, at least not yet, as individuals under 18 rarely independently purchase various tourism-related services. The most important target audience for tourism is families and older adults who are more likely to buy various trips and services from tourism-related businesses for themselves or their families. This target group is usually the age group that most regularly uses Facebook. 

Another target audience for businesses on Facebook is other companies. Negotiating various collaborations, for example, is an essential part of tourism, which is why companies want to reach potential businesses interested in collaborations. Facebook is also a popular platform as part of business activities, making it generally easy for companies to arrange collaborations with each other through Facebook. 

Content in Facebook

Content in Facebook can be shown in various ways. The use of stories, pictures and reels are good for marketing or even giving out glimpses of possibly existing experiences. In Facebook the creation and marketing of events has a huge role. Compared to other platforms, Facebook is one of the only to have a section for events.  

Releasing content should be done many times per week. It’s important to not let information get swarmed by the next rush of new content. In addition the timing needs to be taken into consideration. When do people have time to read posts? Of course there can be decisions that have effect on releasing content in Facebook. For example: 

• Wanting to use other social media platforms, 
• depending on the company’s plans and ideals, 
• and deciding which is the target group of the company. 

Use of ChatGPT

ChatGPT can be really helpful when posting. In Facebook, when making stories and reels it can voice over for the video or even be used to picture the videos. When it comes to pictures, ChatGPT can make them for you.  

For the text, ChatGPT can write the whole description of the text. It is able to find synonyms and even style the text for you. Basically it can create the whole post if you’re able to give it as much information as needed. Furthermore it’s able to check the grammar and translate texts if necessary. 

Communication

Facebook is an excellent platform for communicating with customers or potential future customers! It’s worth taking full advantage of it. Generally, on Facebook, people comment and react using their real names and as themselves, making it a more formal platform for many compared to Instagram or TikTok, for example. This can be both a threat and an opportunity. You can easily get close to customers, and communication is easy and fast. 

However, the workload of constantly monitoring comments and messages can be hard. On Facebook, businesses need to respond quickly to comments and messages because that’s what people expect. If you want people to contact you by phone, make sure to display your phone number is easy to find. It’s easy to track follower counts, likes, and shares on Facebook. If you create an event for your business and hope people will join, it’s an excellent but not entirely reliable way to gauge future attendance numbers. 

How to stand out from the crowd

Like on other platforms, be yourself. You can showcase your personality and attitude in your posts. However, it’s essential to remember that currently, Facebook’s user base tends to be older and perhaps slightly more conservative than on newer platforms, so be careful Think about how you want to be remembered. You can organize campaigns and contests to gain visibility and shares. Monitor your followers; consider the type of audience you’re currently reaching and the one you’d like to reach. Is it time to make changes? But ultimately, the most important factors are activity, openness, and honesty in Facebook marketing. That’s what people appreciate! 

Here are great examples of Facebook accounts, which follow the guidelines of good marketing: Facebook as a marketing tool

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Written by: Juulia Metso, Miia Haukilahti and Aapeli Kääriäinen.