Facebook has become extremely popular in developing countries, and the number of users has been dramatically increasing. For example, Cambodia currently has over 17 million population, but more than 11 millions of them are using Facebook actively on a daily basis. More importantly, those users are among middle-aged population with great consumer spending potential. That’s why using Facebook to grow local businesses should not be ignored by all of both brick-and-mortar shops and online shops. Today, I am going to reveal the most powerful strategies you can use to make use of Facebook for growing your business, and thus your profits.
1. Optimize Your Facebook Page
Ok, so the first step to get started on Facebook is creating a Facebook page for your business. It’s quite simple to do with some clicks of button. Before you can create a Facebook page, you need to have a personal Facebook account. You can follow free video tutorial on Youtube if you cannot create it by yourself.
After creating your Facebook page, the next step is building professional brand on it. Design a business logo for your page’s profile. You can use your existing business logo, or create a new one using Canva, the most simple-to-use design platform in the world. You can search for thousands of Canva’s logo templates. On your business page, you may write your business name in both English and your native language (Ex. Khmer). Then, design a page cover photo using Canva’s templates. On your page cover photo, show your business’s products/services.
Moreover, don’t forget to provide contact information on your new business page such as your phone number so people can call you directly, your Telegram/WhatsApp (Telegram is a must-have for Cambodia.), and set your business map location so people can find your business at a physical location. Last, set the Action Button to Message, Call Now, or Shop Now.
2. Leverage Facebook Shops & Marketplace
Facebook is progressively moving itself from a social network only to connect users socially to a business-oriented platform as well. Inside your Facebook page, you can set up a free Facebook online shop to list your products or services. Facebook has made it easy for viewers to enter your page’s shop.
Another way to take advantage of Facebook shopping feature is Facebook Marketplace, a free listing marketplace that any user can list their products or services for selling based on catalogs. Some local sellers or businesses use this marketplace alone to boost their sales massively because Facebook can help target local Facebook users and let users search for products very easily.
For Cambodia case, most online users are on Facebook and they use Facebook more than they use Google search engine; many users with lower technical knowledge rarely use Google to search. They use Facebook search bar. It’s no doubt they are shopping online on Facebook. Nowadays, many Cambodian users use Facebook shopping more than a normal e-commerce website. After users have found the products, they can directly message the seller through Facebook messenger, which is very convenient, and order confirmation can be done there too.
3. Consistent Content Marketing
To sell using your Facebook page, it’s not just about setting up a page and post selling ads on your page daily to get sales. This method won’t be successful. The best approach is to create new content consistently for your page by highlighting your products or services with your content. The content can be as simple as daily quotes, videos, blog articles, and other useful information to help your readers solve their problems related to your niche. It’s also a good idea to use the right language that fits your audience. For example, in Cambodia, most speak Khmer so content in Khmer language will get more reaches. You can also share customer testimonials on your products, behind-the-scenes, and tips for building trust. If you are selling products such as clothes, cosmetics, and electronics, running Facebook live sales events is very popular. The key to successful content marketing is the focus on useful content for your audience and consistency in doing it.
4. Leverage Facebook Groups
Local Facebook groups are goldmines for businesses. Especially, in Cambodia Facebook groups are very popular for people who want to promote their products or services to targeted audience. Although the reach can be limited, local businesses can still promote to the right audience on Facebook. Instead of spamming, it’s recommended to engage meaningfully on Facebook. This is the right approach to leverage Facebook groups. First, join groups relevant to your city or neighborhood. Then, engage actively in those groups by sharing useful advice, answering questions, and subtly introduce your services. Last, you can consider creating your own branded group to build a loyal community for your business. For example, a fitness trainer could create a local “Healthy Living in Phnom Penh” group to share workout tips and softly promote personal training.
5. Use Facebook Ads with Geo-Targeting
Facebook ads has become a major source of customers for local businesses in Cambodia. Facebook ads involves paying Facebook to advertise your business to local audience near your place. Advanced Facebook algorithm and artificial intelligence allow advertisers to promote their products or services to precisely target potential customers so that you will achieve the most efficient budget expense for maximum return, avoiding wasting money on the wrong audience.
Facebook allows local targeting by location; you can exactly set the radius in kilometers around your shop. Moreover, you can target them specifically based on their interests, behaviors, and their age. You don’t promote a car to a boy under 15 years old, right? You can do that effectively with Facebook because Facebook app tracks users when they open location feature on their phone, monitoring users’ activities and interests based on the way they use Facebook app through artificial intelligence, and through birthday information given to Facebook. You don’t need to use Facebook ads all the time; you may choose to advertise only during high seasons or on any special occassions. Facebook is a good way to drive targeted traffic to your business website as well.
For a practical example, A coffee shop could run a morning ad targeting office workers within 2 km offering “20% off before 10 AM.”
6. Encourage Reviews and Recommendations
In doing business, customer trust is superiorly important for them to spend their money on your products or services. As of now, word-of-mouth marketing has also gone digital and Facebook reviews can build trust and convert customers faster than any ad. To gain positive reviews on your products/services, it’s not recommended to buy people’s reviews. You can just try to provide the best to your customers and politely ask them to leave positive reviews. Whenever there are reviews, you should respond to all reviews, both positive and negative. Another nice idea is you can highlight positive reviews in your posts to build more trust. For example, A spa with 200+ positive reviews will always attract more new customers than one with no feedback.
7. Engage Through Messenger and WhatsApp
To use Facebook with maximum benefit, you shall never miss Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp features. People love instant communication. Messenger and WhatsApp help you respond quickly. You should set up automated greetings on the chat feature. Set up frequently asked questions and answers on the chat if the customers need immediate answers to their doubts even when you are not online. Quick reply to customers’ message shows that your business cares for them. Sometimes, with quick replies, a customer may decide to buy your products or services without you even needing to talk to them. Facebook now allows you to create product order or service booking on chat directly. For example, A property agent can instantly reply to inquiries with available listings using Messenger, saving time and closing deals faster. Besides automated replies, your quick replies to your customers’ messages is even more important to secure the product/service sold fast. In today market are full of competitors; most new customers do not tolerate on slow replies and they may choose to buy from other sellers that respond to them faster.
8. Track Insights and Optimize
Do not just post and forget. You can use Facebook insights to measure performance of your posts and ads. You can track the posts that get the most likes, comments, and shares. This serves you the key information to optimize what types of content you will create more and what content you should create less in the future. For ad campaigns, you can track what ad offers the best return on investment, what ads that get the most views and engagement, especially the most sales, so that you can optimize your budget expense towards the ads that yield the most results. All these requires monitoring and analysis and Facebook can give you all the necessary insights to optimize your business expense on ads and your page’s content. For example, if you notice video posts about your products get twice the reach of photos, then focus more on short videos.
Final Thought
Facebook is no longer just a place to connect with friends—it has become a powerful growth engine for local businesses. By combining consistency, community engagement, and smart use of Facebook’s tools, you can transform your page into a customer magnet that builds trust and drives sales. The key is not to treat Facebook as a side task, but as an extension of your business strategy. With focus and creativity, even small local businesses can stand out, compete effectively, and grow sustainably in today’s digital-first world.
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