There are several types of advertising your small business on Facebook - Ads, Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories.

Because Facebook have acquired vast amounts of personal details about its users - whether they have filled out their bio details or not - they are equipped to deliver extremely targeted demographic information which allows advertisers to pinpoint the tightest demographics and produce a greater likelihood of a like for their Facebook Business Page.

They are simple to use and economical.

If you bid for the initial high amount and you get a good response by clicking and liking, the ad cost will decrease. Often falling by 50c per click in a day.

Always split test your ads to see which versions of your ad are the most successful.

Promoted Posts

For business Pages with more than 100 likes the promote option will appear on individual status updates. Click this and you will see the option to spend a set fee to reach the newsfeeds of a set number of additional fans and/or friends of fans. These should not be confused with Page Post Ads which are ways to promote your status updates if your business has less than 100 likes on Facebook and are based on the interests and location of a chosen demographic.

Sponsored Stories

Sponsored stories allow the Page to target the friends of people who have already liked your Page and will begin with the phrase *Name of your friend* likes *Name of Business Page*. No, they don't require the permission of the person whose name is being used.

Facebook Advertizing

By retaining reports of the likes and interactions of their many users, Facebook has a massive database of personal details which allows advertisers to pinpoint geographic location, male or female, age, spare time pursuits and other demographic information.

If you can imagine the exact person to whom you want to market your business means that this technique of advertising can be extraordinarily useful, resulting in higher clicks and lower prices whether you're using Facebook Ads or Sponsored Stories. The latter allows advertisers to market to the friends of their existing fans.

Facebook is a unique marketing technique - friendly and social, not about products and product numbers. If you use your status updates to talk about niche topics, you can suggest products later. It's a conversation not a send out of your link to the affiliate link.

By making sure that you get their attention with an ad that addresses their pain point and sending them to a landing page that provides the solution in return for a Page like or email address, you are growing your list for future marketing opportunities. You can do this with a sweepstake competition where they can win a relevant prize or by offering an ebook with the answers to their most pressing question.

If you wish to utilise Facebook for business, you need to take off your marketing head and start making friends.