Facebook started out as a networking channel way back in the 2004. It was meant to help you stay in touch with your close friends and family. No one ever imagined it to become the most populated social channels. No one ever even thought that it will one day become one of the best digital marketing channels. Heck, you thought you were on Facebook to catch up with your friends. You never anticipated that your favorite brands will catch up with you too on FB. Did you?!

Facebook is the most widely used digital marketing channels by various brands to reach, retain and engage customers. The channel is used to promote products, acknowledge repeat customers and reward through loyalty programs. There are other channels like Twitter and Instagram used too but the penetration of Facebook is deeper as a marketing tool. The way Facebook is primarily and the latest additions to it have made it a hit with marketers add customers alike. Let’s look at some of these brilliant features and benefits of making Facebook a solid chunk of your ad mix.

Facebook Live

A latest addition to the kitty of really awesome features of Facebook, the Facebook Live is a social video sharing application. This particular slide share research report says that a social video generates 1200% more engagement than an image or text. That’s a huge percentage to be ignored. Facebook has turned the whole customer engagement game on its head with Facebook Live. All you need is a laptop with an inbuilt camera and a good quality internet connection to go FB Live and reach out to the world.

It is a general observation that people would love to spend their time online watching a video than read text. Facebook Live gives that tremendous power of direct marketing to the most appropriate customer segment. You can read up on being effective at using Facebook Live here.

The amount of real time engagement and brand recall that happens with Facebook Live is unparalleled. It allows you to be live anytime between 10 to 90 minute ranges. That’s a lot of time.

Custom Target Audience

The custom target audience tool in Facebook is yet another marketing miracle for two reasons. First, it allows you to build ads around a specific target audience profile. Second, the budgets for the ads are determined by you. You are in charge of optimizing the ad spends; a boon for a small time entrepreneur to a large corporation. Who wouldn’t want to save dollars while going for maximum customer reach!

You need to have lists of your target audience. These lists can be phone numbers, email ID’s or UID’s. They are your main vehicles to move traffic for your brand using custom target audience. A very recent, powerful and popular example is that of Donald Trump’s Project Alamo database for winning the US elections against Hillary Clinton.

Messenger Bots

Messenger Bots have been the most discussed aspects of Facebook since Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the FB 10 year roadmap. The following image sums up the crucial elements of this ambitious plan.

Source: Facebook

Messenger bots will eliminate even the need to text via an app. A combination of conversation and UI will power the bots to deliver what is needed by a client. Businesses that can put this powerful feature to use will gain a whole new level of real time customer engagement. Just imagine if you have the power to convert a casual visitor on your FB page to an immediate buyer, wouldn’t that be great?

Shortest Turnaround Time for Feedback

A business that is responsive to customer feedback will go a long way. It is an age old experience. All businesses that have treated their customers with utmost respect and responded to them in time have become legends. The famous Ford and old lady demanding a replacement on car tires is a much discussed example in the marketing world.

Even in the digital space, customer feedback and the time taken by you as a business person matter a lot. All social channels provide the advantage of immediate customer feedback. Facebook takes it a step further by allowing you to post a simple status message and listen to what your customers have to say. It is quick, efficient and very directly personal.

New, Prompt and Relevant Solutions

A very important reason to have Facebook as part of your marketing strategy is its focus on coming up with new, prompt and highly relevant marketing solutions. Features/tools like Facebook Live, Uber/Lyft integration, Facebook Events, Facebook at Work, Improved search are really just a small set of a large pool of amazing developments at Facebook just in the last one year. Given the 10-year road map and Facebook’s focus on bringing the people of the planet together, this is one channel that will hold its sway in marketing mix of any organization.

If you are charting out your marketing strategy, not having Facebook as part of it is an expensive mistake!