How to Use Facebook Business Suite

Managing multiple social media accounts can be overwhelming at times which is why it’s important to consider tools that will make the job easier. New businesses that need to focus on growth can certainly benefit from streamlining their social media management efforts. Unless you plan to invest in other social media management tools, it’s worth looking into Facebook Business Suite as it lets you manage multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts from one central location.   

Meta’s Business Suite is the successor of Facebook Business Manager. For now, you can still use Business Manager, but there’s a chance it will eventually be discontinued, as will Facebook Creator Studio. For that reason, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with Business Suite and start using it. Below, we’ll look at what the platform has to offer. 

What is Facebook Business Suite?

Business Suite is a powerful tool for growing your presence on Facebook and Instagram. With features such as a centralised inbox for all accounts, and access to Ads Manager and analytics from the dashboard, businesses can easily create and track their ad campaigns, page performance, and customer engagement.  

The tool makes it easy for businesses to get the most out of both Instagram and Facebook. You can post to both platforms at the same time, receive messages and notifications in one place, and view insights on both platforms in one place. There’s also a Business Suite a mobile app which you will need to use instead of the Facebook Pages Manager app. The app contains most (but not all) of the same tools as the web version.

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Facebook Business Suite Features

The tabs on the main menu within Business Suite are:  

  • Home: Here, you’ll see an overview of the latest activity on your accounts 
  • Activity: This shows all your notifications about post interaction 
  • Inbox: Here, you can view and respond to messages from multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as messenger.
  • Posts: This tab lets you create and schedule posts, as well as view insights on published posts. 
  • Commerce: Here, you can view sales and inventory information.   
  • Ads: in this section, you can set up new ad campaigns, view existing ones, and boost posts. 
  • Insights: This section provides information on the performance of all accounts. 
  • More tools: Additional tools available under this menu include Ads Manager, Ads Reporting, Events Manager, and Media Library. You can also access your billing details and other settings from here.  

Facebook has a suite of features that you can use to track, plan, and monitor your marketing efforts, and these are integrated with Business Suite. They include: 

  • Ads Manager: Create and manage your Facebook Ads campaigns to drive the right customers to your business.  
  • Lookalike Audiences: Available through Ads Manager, this feature helps you find new customers who are similar to your current customers.  
  • Events Manager: A tool for tracking visitor actions on your website. 
  • Commerce Manager: Here, you can manage sales across Facebook and Instagram. 

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The Basics

The first thing you’ll want to do before you start using Business Suite is connect your Instagram accounts. You have to have a business account on Instagram to be able to do this. On your Facebook account, go to the page you want to connect the Instagram account to and click on Settings, then Instagram. You will then be asked to follow some basic steps to connect your accounts.  

To create and schedule posts and stories go to the Posts tab. From there, you’ll be able to easily create and preview your posts before publishing or scheduling them.  (If you manage multiple accounts, you can select which account you want to post it to at this stage.)   

You can organise your content creation with the content calendar which lets you view and manage Facebook and Instagram posts you’ve already scheduled. If you need to reschedule or edit scheduled posts, this is the place to do it. To access the calendar, select “Planner” from the menu.  

The inbox is also known as the unified inbox because it’s a centralised place to view all inboxes from all accounts. It allows you to set up automated responses such as appointment reminders and additional contact information, and you can filter messages which is helpful for keeping on top of how much progress admins and other uses are making with responding to queries.  

That brings us to the page roles. There are six page roles on Facebook: admin, editor, moderator, marketer, analyst, and customer service. Admins have the most power on a page and can add or remove editors, moderators, and marketers. Editors can add or remove moderators and marketers, but not admins, and moderators can add or remove other moderators and marketers. Marketers can only post content and interact with followers. Analysts can see insights about the page and its followers but cannot post content or interact with followers, and customers service agents can respond to messages from followers. To edit page roles, go to “All Tools”, then “Page Settings”, then “Page Roles”. 

Insights

The insights tab gives you summary of your business’s performance, such as statistics about your audience, Instagram insights, and recent post performance. The categories of insights you can view here include:  

  • Results: This shows the reach of your pages and Instagram profiles. 
  • Content: This provides performance data on your recent posts, such as reach, likes and other reactions, comments, shares, and clicks, as well as data on the cost per result.  
  • Audience: This lets you view the demographics of your current audience and potential audience, to assist you with targeting. 

Appointments

The appointments tool lets you set up meetings with clients and potential clients. Navigate to “All Tools” then “Sell Products and Services”, then “Appointments. You will then be able to view and amend any existing appointments as well as create new ones.  

Events Manager

The Events Manager tool lets you track actions on third-party websites and apps so you can see how people interact with your content and understand where your visitors are coming from. This tool can be used to track events such as page views, add to cart, and purchase. You can also use this tool to track custom events that are important to your business.  

To get started, click on the “Create Event” button. This will open the Events Manager tool. Next, enter the URL of the page where the event will occur, then select the type of event that occurred from the drop-down menu. You can also enter a name for the event to help you identify it in your reports. 

Finally, click on the “Create Event” button. Now, you will be able to see your event in the “Events” section of your account and view its data in the “Reports” section. 

Commerce Manager

Facebook Commerce Manager lets you manage your Facebook and Instagram shops. It allows you to create and customise shop pages, add products, manage orders, payment, and inventory, and track analytics. You can use it on its own or alongside a third party e-commerce platform.  

Integrate Third Party Apps

You can integrate a wide range of third-party tools to your account to make things even more efficient, such as e-commerce tools, social media management apps, reservation booking tools, and developer tools. To connect a tool, you need to use the desktop version. Go to the All Tools Menu, then Business Apps. From there, you can select the tools you want to connect and follow some simple set-up instructions.  

While Business Suite is a helpful way to manage your Meta social media accounts, it’s not as robust as social media management tools such as Sendible or Hootsuite. If you need to manage other accounts not owned by Meta, such as your business’ LinkedIn profile, then Business Suite isn’t going to be enough. 

Ads Manager and the Audience Network

Ads Manager is a powerful tool that businesses can use to create, manage, and optimise their ad campaigns. With Ads Manager, businesses can target specific audiences with laser precision, measure the results of their campaigns in real time, and make changes to their ads to improve performance. Find out how to run Facebook and Instagram ads.  

Another Facebook tool you can access through Business Suite is the Audience Network – a network of third-party apps in which Facebook can distribute your ads. It lets you extend your reach by taking advantage of pre-existing apps and websites that already have high levels of traffic. Data suggests that campaigns launched on the Audience Network can be very cost-effective – for example, Rosetta Stone reduced their cost per impression by 40%.  

To distribute ads on the Facebook Audience Network, create a new ad and select its objective. Not all objectives are eligible for distribution on the network. You can choose from: 

  • Traffic 
  • Conversions 
  • Reach (video only) 
  • Engagement (video only) 
  • Brand Awareness (video only) 
  • App Installs 
  • Video Views (video only) 
  • Catalogue Sales 

Next, add your audience and targeting information, and click “Edit Placements”. In this section, you have the options for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. Select audience network – after that, finish setting up by selecting devices and placements, adding budget and scheduling details, and publishing.

All in all, Facebook Business Suite is a convenient way to manage multiple Facebook and Instagram accounts in one place. It is a powerful tool for marketers, and it can be an excellent way for your brand to grow, especially for newer, smaller businesses. For more comprehensive needs, you can use it alongside third-party services such as other social media management and commerce tools. If you need help managing your social media, get in contact with me here – my team and I will be happy to help.

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