How to Advertise Your Business on Facebook in 2024

This guide will show you how to advertise your business on Facebook in 2024, from free strategies to paid ads. Whether you're new to the game or looking to up your marketing skills, this is your roadmap to reaching thousands of potential customers.

How to promote your business on Facebook for free

If you're a business owner pondering the question, "How do you promote your business on Facebook?" you're in the right place. With over 3 billion active users, the platform offers a massive opportunity to reach a larger audience if you learn how to market your business on Facebook effectively.

The best part is that you can showcase your business to potential customers without even spending a dime. Whether it's to complement your paid efforts or to maintain visibility during breaks in your paid advertising schedule, leveraging free promotion is key to maintaining consistency and relevance online.

So, how do you advertise your business on Facebook for free?

Create a Facebook Page

1. Go to your personal Facebook homepage. In the left-hand panel, click on ‘Pages.’ This opens up a dashboard to manage all your pages and profiles. 

2. Under ‘Pages,’ click on the ‘Create new Page’ button.

3. Next, add your Page name and choose a category. Ensure that this is your official business or brand name so people can find it. You can also add a short bio to tell people about what you do.

4. Once you’re done, click on ‘Create Page.’

5. To complete your setup, include your contact details, location, and operating hours. Afterward, click ‘Next.’

6. It’s time to customize your Page. Add your branded profile picture and cover image. Your profile picture is often the first impression people have of your brand. Therefore, opt for an image that not only represents your brand accurately but is also instantly recognizable. Logos are also a great option for a profile picture.

TIP 🔔: Profile pictures should be at least 180 x 180 pixels. The picture will be cropped into a tight circle, so center your details within the middle of the image. The cover photo size should be 820 x 312 pixels. Anything smaller will appear stretched and distorted. 

7. You also have the option to include an action button at the top of your page. This will guide page visitors toward the specific action you want them to take. Whether it's booking an appointment, contacting your business, sending a message, or purchasing something, select the most relevant option. Afterward, click ‘Next,’ and then ‘Save.’

8. Optional: Connect your WhatsApp account. This lets you add a button for people to message you on WhatsApp. Click on ‘Skip’ if you do not want to connect to WhatsApp.

9. Kickstart your new Facebook business page by inviting friends and family to join you. After all, many successful businesses begin with the support of friends and family.

10. Now, turn on your page notifications to keep up with important updates about your Page. You can also opt in to receive promotional emails from Meta. Afterward, click ‘Done,’ and you’re all set!

Post valuable content and interact with your followers

​​When it comes to content, prioritize quality. Keep your posts informative, entertaining, and inspiring to resonate with your audience. When your audience engages with you, respond to comments promptly. Acknowledge feedback, answer questions, and thank followers for their support. 

Nando’s excels in keeping its audience engaged, leveraging Facebook as a tool to humanize its brand. It's a unique platform where people can directly converse with you, so seize the opportunity to make meaningful connections.

Be active in Facebook groups and create your own

1. Join relevant groups. Search for Facebook groups related to your industry, niche, or target audience. Participate actively by sharing valuable insights, answering questions, and engaging in discussions. Avoid spamming; instead, focus on genuine contributions.
2. Build relationships. Interact with other group members. Establish connections, offer help, and showcase your expertise. Over time, you’ll become a trusted resource within the community.
3. Promote your content. Share your blog posts, articles, or special offers in relevant groups. Be mindful of group rules and guidelines. Aim for a balance between self-promotion and genuine engagement.
4. Create your own group. Consider starting a Facebook group centered around your business, industry, or specific topics. Invite existing customers, potential clients, and like-minded individuals. Use the group to share exclusive content, host discussions, and foster a sense of community.
5. Collaborate and network. Leverage your group to collaborate with other small businesses, influencers, or experts. Joint ventures, cross-promotions, and partnerships can expand your reach.

Initiate contests and giveaways

Contests and giveaways are still one of the best ways to capture attention and encourage participation. Create excitement by announcing a contest or giveaway of your products or services. 

This sneaker business used a contest as an opportunity to garner more followers. By asking people to follow their page, like the post, tag three or more people, and share the Facebook post on social media, they're maximizing their organic reach potential.

Judging from the 654 shares and 300 comments this post received, I’d say their strategy was a win.

Increase discoverability with hashtags

1. Strategic hashtag usage. Hashtags aren’t just for Instagram and Twitter; they work on Facebook too. Use relevant and specific hashtags in your posts. For instance, if you’re running an ergonomic furniture company, consider using hashtags like #HealthyWorkspace, #WorkplaceErgonomics, and #ErgonomicDesigns. These tags categorize your content and make it easier for users interested in ergonomic solutions to find you.
2. Create your own branded hashtag. Develop a unique hashtag for your business. It could be your company name, a catchy slogan, or something related to your niche. Encourage followers to use it when sharing their experiences with your brand. Branded hashtags create a sense of community and increase visibility.
3. Research trending hashtags. Keep an eye on trending topics and popular hashtags within your industry. Incorporate them into your posts when relevant. This can expose your content to a broader audience beyond your immediate followers.
4. Use hashtags in Stories. Don’t forget to add hashtags to your Facebook Stories. When users search for or click on a hashtag, they’ll see related content, including your Stories. It’s an effective way to reach new viewers.
5. Avoid overloading. While hashtags are beneficial, don’t go overboard. Stick to a few relevant ones per post. Too many hashtags can make your content look spammy and cluttered.
6. Promote events and campaigns. If you’re running an event or a special campaign, create a unique hashtag and encourage attendees or participants to use it. It amplifies your reach and creates a buzz around your activities.

Publish Stories consistently

Facebook Stories provide an excellent opportunity to engage with your audience more authentically and immediately. These short-lived visual snippets allow you to share behind-the-scenes moments, product updates, special offers, and polls.

This lingerie brand posted multiple Facebook Stories on the same day, showcasing their range and keeping followers engaged with interactive polls. It's a good strategy—posting multiple Stories is perfectly fine as long as the content remains engaging.

To make the most of Facebook Stories, consider the following strategies:

1. Frequency matters: Consistency is key. Regularly post Stories to keep your brand top-of-mind for your followers. 
2. Variety: Mix up your content. Share product demos, social proof like customer testimonials, or even a ‘Day in the Life’ of your business. The more diverse your Stories, the more engaging they’ll be.
3. Use interactive features: Leverage features such as polls, questions, and countdowns to encourage interaction. Ask your audience for feedback, opinions, or preferences.
4. Highlight events: Whether it’s a flash sale, a webinar, or a new product launch, use Stories to create buzz around events. Countdowns and sneak peeks work wonders.
5. Showcase user-generated content: Feature content created by your customers. It not only builds community but also provides social proof for your brand.
6. Include a call to action (CTA): Even though Stories disappear after 24 hours, you can still drive action. 

Leverage Instagram and Facebook Reels

Reels are a powerful tool that can significantly impact your creative investment. These are just some of the benefits of bringing Reels into your creative strategy:

• Engaging elements: You can encourage viewers to take action. Use call-to-action stickers, music, polls, or questions to engage your audience. The more people interact with your content, the higher the chances of conversion.

• Global reach: Facebook and Instagram Reels offer a global reach by leveraging sophisticated algorithms that connect your brand to new audiences worldwide.
• Leverage Meta’s demographics: Facebook’s user base comprises diverse demographics, including well-educated individuals with disposable income.

How to advertise your business on Facebook

Having discussed strategies for promoting your business on Facebook for free, it's crucial to understand the limitations of organic reach. While organic efforts are valuable, they often reach only a fraction of your potential audience. 

Paid advertising, however, offers a significant advantage, allowing you to reach a vastly larger audience with precise targeting options.

Boost posts

Boosted posts are the most basic form of Facebook advertising. It involves promoting existing organic posts from your Facebook Page to a wider audience by paying to boost their visibility. 

While boosted posts are straightforward to create and can be effective for increasing reach and engagement, they offer limited targeting options compared to more advanced Facebook ad campaigns created through Meta Ads Manager.

​​To boost a Facebook post, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Facebook business Page timeline and find the post you want to promote. Then, click on the ‘Boost post’ button at the bottom right of the post.

2. Choose a goal for your ad. You can either let Facebook automatically select the most relevant goal based on your settings or manually choose the goal. When you're done, hit ‘Save.’

3. If you want Facebook to automatically serve different ad creative variations to people, enable the Advantage+ creative option.

4. Choose a call to action for your ad. You can ask people to send a message, book, learn more, shop, sign up, get directions, send a WhatsApp message, call, or join a group.

5. If your business falls under a special ads category, select the category. If this part isn’t relevant to you, move to the next section.

6. Now, select where you’d like people to contact you. You can also create messaging templates for greetings, inquiries, and automated responses.

7. Fill in the details for your ad, including the audience, total budget, duration, and payment method.

8. Enable the Meta Pixel to measure the effectiveness of your ad and track the people’s actions on both the ad and your website. If you do not have a Pixel, we wrote this comprehensive article on how to set it up.

9. Once done, click on ‘Publish.’

Promote your page

Promoting your Facebook Page is about increasing its visibility and reach. 

One of the key features that Facebook provides for this purpose is the ‘Advertise’ button. Located prominently on your Page, this button allows you to create new ads.

These ads can appear on Facebook, including the News Feed, the right-hand column, and even in Messenger. They can be customized to suit your specific goals, whether increasing Page likes, driving traffic to your website, or promoting a particular product or service. 

We’ve covered how to boost existing posts so now I’m going to show you how to create brand-new ads:

1. Go to your Business Facebook Page. On the right-hand side, click on the ‘Advertise’ button.

2. Select ‘Create new ad’ to create one from scratch.

3. Under the goal section,’ click ‘Change’ to choose a goal. For the sake of this demonstration, I am going to select ‘Get more page likes’ as my goal as this will help people find and like my Facebook Page. You can of course choose any other goal according to your business objective. Bear in mind that your setup will look slightly different depending on your chosen goal. When you’re done, hit ‘Save.’

4. In terms of ad creative, you can either use an existing post or add a description and choose an image or video by clicking ‘Edit options.’ You also have the option of letting Facebook serve different ad variations to people by switching on Advantage+ creative.

5. If your business falls under a special ad category, select the category from the dropdown list. If this part isn’t relevant to you, skip to the next section.

6. Now, choose an audience or create a new audience based on specific traits. You can also specify your preferred age group and location.

7. Now, decide on your daily budget and how long you want to run this ad, and then select a recommended budget or provide a custom budget. If you opt to enable Advantage+ placements, Meta's algorithm will automatically select the most optimal placements to achieve your objectives based on your goal, audience, budget, and bidding. This eliminates the need for manual selection on your part.

8. As usual, enable the Meta Pixel.

9. Once done, you’re ready to hit ‘Publish.’

Use the Meta Ads Manager

Facebook ads are designed to target specific groups of users based on shared characteristics, appearing across various placements including Instagram and Facebook feeds, Stories, Messenger, and Audience Network. With a range of distinct sizes and ad formats available, you have the flexibility to tailor your ads to achieve very specific Facebook marketing goals.

Facebook also gives you six campaign objectives to choose from: traffic, leads, awareness, sales, engagement, and app promotion. These objectives define the purpose of your advertising efforts. 

If you're looking for new customers, for example, opt for the leads objective. For introducing a new brand or product line, select awareness, and tailor your choice based on what you want to achieve.

Before you begin your advertising on Facebook, you’ll need to set up two essential components: 

👉 First, set up a Meta Business Manager account. This centralized hub allows you to manage all your business assets, including Pages, ad accounts, and people with access. It’s like your backstage pass to Facebook advertising.

👉 Next, set up an ad account within Meta Business Manager. Think of it as your virtual wallet for running ads. Here, you’ll set budgets, choose payment methods, and track spending.

Your targeting options

To make the most of your investment in Facebook ads, it's crucial to understand your target audience. With Facebook, you can tailor your audience based on a range of customizable characteristics, including location, age, gender, language, interests, behaviors, and engagement with your Facebook and Instagram Pages. 

This allows you to pinpoint and reach precisely the right audience for your brand. 

Here’s how:

• New audiences: Define your audience based on demographics (age, gender, location), interests, behaviors, and engagements. Target broadly or specifically as needed.
• Custom audiences: These are your secret weapon. Upload your existing customer list, and with the help of the Meta Pixel, track your website visitors or app users. Meta will then match these to its users, enabling you to re-engage with people who are already familiar with your brand. 
• Lookalike audiences: Ever wished you could clone your best customers? Lookalike audiences do just that. Facebook identifies users similar to your existing audience and customer base, expanding your reach to potential new customers who are likely to purchase.

Crafting your ad creative

Now that you’ve set the stage and defined your audience, it’s time to create compelling ads. Here’s where your creativity shines:

• Ad types: You can choose from 5 main types of Facebook ads, including image ads, video ads, carousel ads, slideshow ads, and collection ads. Each format has its superpower. For instance, carousel ads let you showcase multiple products or tell a story.
• Ad copy: Write captivating headlines and descriptions. Keep it concise, but make every word count. Highlight benefits, create urgency, and include a clear call to action (CTA).
• Visuals: A picture is worth a thousand words. Use eye-catching images or videos that resonate with your audience. Show your product in action or evoke emotions.

Analyzing your ad performance

After your campaign goes live, your work isn't finished. It's crucial to monitor its performance to determine which ads are effective and which aren’t so you can optimize your strategy accordingly. 

Ads Manager Insights lets you track a range of essential metrics to evaluate how your ads are performing across Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network. 

These metrics include:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), which measures the revenue generated from your ad campaign relative to the amount spent on advertising. 
• Clicks and impressions. One indicates the number of times your ad was displayed to users, and the other represents the number of people who clicked on your ad.
• Ad spend, detailing the amount spent on your ad campaign.
• Reach, reflecting the total number of unique users who viewed your ad.
• Engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and shares.
• Conversion metrics track specific actions such as website visits or purchases.

On top of that, it allows you to break down and analyze demographic information like the audience's age, gender, location, and interests.

Facebook ad optimization

Creating a Facebook ad is easy. However, the real challenge lies in identifying weaknesses within your campaigns and transforming them from marginally profitable to consistently high ROI generators. To ensure your campaigns reach their full potential, we've created this comprehensive Facebook ad optimization checklist.

For those seeking a time-saving solution or effortless optimization, you can opt for Madgicx’s AI Marketer. Serving as your personal media buyer, it's available 24/7 to analyze your account, pinpoint optimization opportunities, and offer precise recommendations to enhance performance and prevent budget leakage. 

With everything prepared for action, all you need to do is hit the launch button, significantly reducing your time spent on tedious manual tasks.

Additionally, you can set rules to automate your campaigns. If your ads aren’t yielding the desired results, Madgicx adjusts on the fly. Curious? Try AI Marketer for FREE now.

How to promote your business locally on Facebook

Promoting your local business on Facebook can significantly boost your visibility and attract more customers. Here are some effective strategies:

1. Put your store on the map. Update your Facebook Page, Instagram business profile, or WhatsApp business profile with your store’s address, business hours, and contact information. This way, potential customers can easily find and visit your store.
2. Advertise to local customers. You can advertise directly from your Facebook Page to promote your business locally. Follow the ad creation steps mentioned previously, and when you get to the ‘Goal’ section, choose ‘Promote your business locally.’

TIP 🔔: Remember to personalize your ads to resonate best with local shoppers by highlighting community events, landmarks, or references familiar to your target audience, creating a sense of connection and relevance.

How to advertise your business on Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace serves as an online shopping hub, providing an eCommerce platform for users to engage in local buying and selling activities. 

Marketplace ads seamlessly appear in-feed while users browse, making them highly effective as they target individuals actively engaged in shopping. Positioned alongside other relevant products and services, your ad gains visibility and relevance to potential customers.

To access Facebook Marketplace, click on the store icon on the top navigation bar.

To advertise your business on Facebook Marketplace, follow these steps:

1. Create an ad in Meta Ads Manager by clicking on ‘Create campaign.’

2. Choose your campaign objective. For the sake of the demonstration, I will be selecting ‘Sales.’ Your setup may look slightly different. When done, click ‘Continue.’

3. Choose the manual campaign setup and click ‘Continue.’

4. Now, add campaign details such as the name, select a special ads category if applicable, enable A/B testing if desired, and activate the Advantage campaign budget if preferred. Afterward, click ‘Next.’

5. Add your ad set name and decide where you want to drive sales. I have selected ‘Website’ for the sake of this demonstration. You should also ensure that you have an active Meta Pixel.

6. Now, select a performance goal. As you can see, I have chosen to go with ‘Maximize number of conversions’ but you can choose any goal from the list. Enable Dynamic creative if you want Facebook to automatically generate ad copy and creative combinations optimized for your audience. Then, add your daily budget and schedule.

7. Choose your audience location and adjust the language settings if necessary. You can also exclude people who are already familiar with your brand to ensure your campaign only targets new audiences.

8. Advantage+ audience finds the audience for you automatically. When you select an existing audience as an audience suggestion, you allow Advantage+ audience to pinpoint similar audiences for you.

9. Select the manual placement and select ‘Facebook’ as the platform. Tap ‘Next’ when done. Opting for Manual placements means noting that Marketplace isn't available as a standalone ad placement. Your ad campaign should include Feed to accommodate this requirement.

10. Now, select the media and add the music, primary text, description, and headline text for your ad. You can also customize your media and text for the other placements.

11. Here, you need to select a call to action from the dropdown menu. I have selected ‘Shop now’ since we want to sell items ASAP. Under ‘Destination,’ select ‘Website’ and add your website URL. You can also connect your Whatsapp if you’d like people to contact you.

12. Lastly, add URL parameters to the end of your website URL to track where your visitors are coming from. Switch on the ‘Languages’ button to automatically translate your ad to reach people in more languages. Then, ensure that your Meta Pixel is set up so that you can track and measure user interactions on your site.

13. Tap ‘Publish’ and you’re done!

How to advertise your business on Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger ads come in several forms, including Click-to-Messenger ads, Sponsored Messages, Messenger Home Placement, and Messenger Stories ads. 

Click-to-Messenger ads are standard Facebook ads with a call to action button that initiates a conversation between your brand and the user.

Sponsored messages allow you to send promotional messages to users who have previously interacted with your business on Messenger.

Messenger Home placement ads appear on the Messenger home screen and can direct users to a Messenger conversation or a landing page.

Lastly, Messenger Stories ads pop up within the Messenger app between organic stories.

To advertise on Facebook Messenger, follow the same instructions as the above. When you get to the ‘Placements’ section, just check off ‘Messenger inbox’ in the Feed options.

For advertising on Messenger Stories, you would check off ‘Messenger Stories’ under ‘Stories and Reels.’

Lastly, to create sponsored messages, go to the ‘Messages’ section and select ‘Messenger sponsored messages.’

Wrapping up

Now equipped with the knowledge of how to advertise your business on Facebook, including how to advertise your company on Facebook for free, you’re ready to maximize your business's potential on the platform. 

Remember, mastering how to use Facebook to promote your business is an ongoing process. Keep exploring different promotion strategies, engage with your audience, and analyze your results to continuously refine your approach. 

Whether it's running targeted ads, leveraging organic reach, or engaging with your audience through your Facebook Page, there are endless opportunities to promote your business effectively on Facebook. So, go ahead with Facebook promotion, and watch your ROI soar 💥