Keep Your Facebook Marketing Working Without Paying for Links
If you use Facebook to promote your business, share blog posts or send people to your website, you may have heard about Meta’s new restrictions on sharing links in social posts, although it isn’t common news yet!
Meta is slowly rolling these changes out, and for some Facebook pages the free allowance is limited to just two organic posts or comments containing external links per month.
However, there’s no need to panic. There are practical ways to keep your audience engaged, generate enquiries and encourage people to visit your website without relying on Facebook link posts.
So, here are some of the expert tips we’d recommend to keep your marketing working without paying for your links:
Make every link count
If you have only two external link posts available each month, treat them as valuable marketing opportunities.
Instead of sharing every new blog post, update or announcement separately, think about what will deliver the greatest value.
For example, you could use one link to promote your most important monthly offer and another to share a useful resource, campaign or helpful guide. The key is to prioritise quality over quantity.
Create a useful page that brings everything together
One of the most practical strategies is to create a dedicated page on your own website that acts as a central resource for your audience.
This could include links to things like:
- Your latest blogs
- Your products and services
- Current offers and promotions
- Upcoming events
- Booking and enquiry details
- Useful guides and downloads
You can then use one of your available Facebook link posts to direct people to that page, as well as adding the link to your profile. This means you can give people one useful landing page, with several useful links instead of just one.
So, just like Instagram, you’ll direct people to your profile for any links you want to promote.
Additionally, creating your own dedicated link page on your website instead of using tools like Linktree means that you’re always keeping your audience on your website.
Use Facebook to start conversations, not just send traffic to your website
Many businesses are so used to publishing a link and expecting people to click through to their website. But Facebook can also be used to build relationships with your audience directly as well.
These are a few things you can start sharing to create conversation with your audience:
- Practical tips and advice
- Behind-the-scenes photos
- Short videos demonstrating your expertise
- Customer questions and answers
- Stories about your business
- Polls and discussions relevant to your audience
Finishing with a natural call to action, asking people to share their experiences or tell you which topic they’d like covered next, will automatically create conversation.
Turn your Facebook posts into a series
Instead of treating every post as a separate link to your website, build a series of content instead, which you can post regularly without including external links in every post.
Over time, a consistent series helps people recognise your brand, understand what you can offer and look forward to your content.
Your calls to action don’t always have to send your audience to your website, directing them to send your page a message also forms that connection.
Use Facebook Events for registrations
If you regularly promote workshops, webinars, networking sessions or other events, Facebook Events could be a useful option, including all the relevant information about your event.
You can then share the Facebook Event with your audience rather than publishing a separate external link every time you remind people about it.
This is particularly useful if you want to promote any of the following:
- Local business workshops
- Community events
- Training sessions
- Product demonstrations
- Networking meetings
- Fundraising activities
Build an email marketing list of your own
This is one of the most important recommendations we can give to any business: make sure you have an email list of your own!
Facebook can help you reach potential customers, but your ability to reach them is very much dependent on the platform’s algorithms, however, an email list will give you another way to communicate directly with people.
You could offer useful free resources, such as guides or short email courses, in exchange for an email subscription. Once someone has signed up with the appropriate consent, you can use your newsletter to share:
- New blog posts
- Business news
- Special offers
- Product launches
- Helpful advice
- Invitations to events
Your Facebook content can show people your expertise, and your email newsletter can support and maintain the relationship, with as many links as you want!
Don’t rely on Facebook to drive website traffic
If your business depends on people visiting your website, this is a good opportunity to strengthen other marketing channels.
You should consider investing time in other areas like:
Search engine optimisation (SEO): Make sure your website answers the questions your potential customers are searching for.
Google Business Profile: For local businesses, keep your contact details, opening hours, services and photographs up to date.
Email marketing: Share your most useful content with subscribers, including business updates, upcoming event information and useful resources.
The objective isn’t to abandon Facebook. It’s to make sure Facebook is one part of a wider marketing strategy.
Consider paid advertising strategically
Paid advertising is a great option for businesses that need to drive traffic to specific landing pages. However, paying for advertising should be an appropriate business decision, not just a reaction to Meta’s changes.
Before spending money, ask yourself these questions:
- What action do you want people to take?
- How much is a new customer worth to your business?
- Does your landing page convert visitors effectively?
- Can you measure the results?
For some businesses, a small, well-targeted campaign may be worthwhile, but for others, organic content, email marketing and SEO may offer a more suitable starting point.
Audit your current Facebook marketing
Finally, it’s important to take some time to review how you’re currently using Facebook.
Look at your recent posts and the external links that you’re currently sharing, which posts generate the most meaningful engagement, and which links actually bring in enquiries or sales.
By doing this first, it gives you a strategy and helps you measure what is working, where you should be focusing your efforts, and what links to promote.
Should you pay Meta to share more links?
This completely depends on your business and how dependent you are on links.
If you regularly publish external links and those links generate measurable revenue, a subscription may be worth considering but compare the price of the relevant plan with the value you receive and check exactly what the plan includes.
If you only share a few links each month, you may be able to adapt your content strategy with some of our recommendations, without paying for additional allowances.
What we recommend
The biggest lesson here is that businesses should avoid building their entire marketing strategy around one single platform, as things can change so quickly!
Facebook is still a very useful place to connect with customers, share your knowledge and build a community, but the way we use it may need to evolve as its rules change.
Rather than simply posting links and hoping people click, think about how you can provide value within Facebook, bring people into your wider marketing strategy and build relationships that aren’t dependent on Facebook alone.
Do you think your business could benefit from a marketing audit to identify where your current marketing is working and where you could improve? Get in touch with our team at hello@weareshootingstar.co.uk.
