How to Use Facebook: A Beginner’s Guide

How to Use Facebook: A Beginner’s Guide

Facebook has changed quite a bit since I first signed up for an account in 2008. Back then, the vast majority still asked, “What is Facebook?” and my bio literally said, “Look at my MySpace; It is Away better than that.”

Free Guide: How to Market on Facebook and Instagram

Over the years, the social media giant has evolved rapidly and will likely continue to adapt quickly for as long as it exists.

If you need a refresher on how to use Facebook to market your business or want to sign up for a personal account, Check out this detailed explanation how to use this most popular social media network in the world.

Here we focus on the basics.

Table of contents:

What is Facebook?

Facebook is a social media network that connects people worldwide through an online platform. By sharing content such as text status posts, images, videos, and external links such as blog posts, Facebook users can contribute ideas and participate in conversations with others who share the same or different interests. It also offers groups, events, a marketplace, and live streaming.

In addition to sharing their own ideas, users can also interact with the content others share on Facebook by leaving likes, comments, shares, and reactions such as laughter, disapproval, and even a hug.

Screenshot showing the reaction options on Facebook

Facebook works in a similar way when it comes to marketing, except that businesses have done this Facebook pages, not profiles like individual users. Businesses can use their Facebook pages to connect with existing customers, target new customers, and manage customer support.

Why use Facebook?

We all probably know the importance of Facebook, but does it live up to the hype? For marketers, this is certainly the case. Let’s break down some of its biggest benefits.

It is cost effective.

Anyone with internet and an email address can log in to Facebook and take advantage of Pages, Groups, Events, Marketplace, and everything else it offers.

It’s free and pretty easy, but optimizing for business requires a little more time and attention.

Screenshot showing the login form on Facebook

Learn more about setting up a Facebook page in The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Marketing.

You have access to a wide, diverse audience.

Since April, Facebook over 3.06 billion monthly active users worldwideThis makes it literally the most popular social media platform Millions. That’s about 40% of the world’s population. As a business, there is a good chance that your target group is represented on Facebook.

Chart from Statista showing the countries with the highest number of Facebook users

source

Our research shows that older generations like Baby Boomers and Generation X consider it one of their two most popular platforms overall. Now, younger consumers like Millennials and Generation Z often visit it for functions and events Facebook Marketplace.

It supports a variety of content media.

In addition to helpful connection tools like Groups and Marketplace, Facebook also allows users and businesses to post different types of content.

Different people like to consume content in different ways. Therefore, diversifying your content mix can be crucial to ensuring your marketing messages are heard.

Facebook supports sharing:

  • text
  • Photo/Images
  • video
  • Live video
  • GIFs

Since they belong to the same parent company, it’s also easy to share Instagram posts directly to a Facebook Page and incorporate conversations via Messenger into a marketing strategy.

Clearly, HubSpot Don’t be afraid to try out all the options:

Screenshot of HubSpot's Facebook page

There are robust advertising features.

Despite stiff competition from TikTok and even its sister network Instagram, Facebook remains the social media platform with the second highest advertising ROI for marketers. according to our latest report.

Marketers also said that Facebook advertising offers the second-best audience targeting tools among all social media platforms, trailing YouTube by just 1%. Given that, that’s no surprise lets you aim People based on behaviors on and off the platform.

As organic impact on social media becomes increasingly difficult, businesses need affordable and effective advertising options, and Facebook offers some of the best.

Learn more about Facebook ads and how to run them successfully with these resources:

But is Facebook still popular?

If so gigantic The number of monthly active users has not yet answered this question – yes, Facebook is still very popular.

While usage may be declining among younger generations opting for visually focused platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, Facebook is still welcome two billion users every day.

Many of these users are older and have more financial stability and disposable income than their younger counterparts, which is good news for businesses. Facebook is also the third most visited website in the world, just behind Google and YouTube.

But why exactly?

Why people like Facebook

Facebook is attractive to the general public for the same reasons it is attractive to marketers and businesses.

It is free and pretty easy to useand it enables them to do it Share and interact with a variety of content both from their loved ones and from people around the world.

Additionally, one of my favorite features of Facebook is the ability to get detailed information about the audience for every single post you post. You can create posts:

  • Private: Only visible to you
  • Public: Visible to anyone who visits the page on or off Facebook.
  • Visible to friends
  • Visible to friends, minus certain people
  • Visible to specific friends
  • Visible to specific lists you create

In my experience, it offers that Most customizable post privacy settings any social media network.

Screenshot of Facebook's audience options for posts

Of course, Meta itself will always be able to access your data – which is where things get messy over the years – but it definitely lets you control what other users can see.

Facebook terms you should know

To fully understand Facebook and how it works, you should familiarize yourself with the common terms used on the platform. Here is a list of the most important Facebook terms and what they mean.

profile

Even if you only want to use Facebook to market your business, you need to set up a personal profile.

Screenshot showing an example of a personal profile on Facebook

A profile stores a user’s personal information. This includes name, photo, hometown, place of work, educational history, etc., depending on privacy settings.

You can make your profile as public or private as you like using the same audience options we mentioned earlier.

pages

Screenshot showing what it looks like when creating a new Facebook page for a business

The pages are not individual Facebook users, but rather profiles created specifically for companies or organizations. This includes basics like yours:

  • Industry/Category
  • Business Overview/History
  • Contact information (e.g. website, phone number)
  • Business hours (if applicable)
  • Logo and branding

Depending on the category you selected When setting up your Page, Facebook recommends Sections (the tabs at the top of your Page). However, you can generally add or remove more as you wish.

Whether it’s a restaurant, an online pet blog, or a software company, all companies, brands, and public figures can set up a Facebook Page.

Like personal profiles, businesses can use Facebook Pages to post text updates, images, videos, links and events. You can also connect to Facebook for Business and carry out advertising campaigns.

Note: Already a HubSpot customer? Click here to integrate your HubSpot account with Meta Ads.

This allows you to:

  • Create targeted audiences that sync with your Facebook ads
  • Generate Facebook lead ads in HubSpot and automatically sync leads to CRM
  • Monitor ad performance and impact on your bottom line using various attribution views
  • By managing advertising campaigns alongside your other marketing efforts, you ensure your target audience receives a consistent message.

News feed

All posts from your friends or companies that you like or follow are displayed here. What is displayed here is typical determined by the Facebook algorithmtaking into account past engagement, post popularity and ads. (More on this shortly.)

Your posts also appear in news feeds where your friends and fans can see them.

Timeline

Often confused with a news feed, the timeline is a record of all the posts a person or company has made or specifically interacted with. It appears on pages and profiles as “posts.”

If someone else tags you, it will also appear on your timeline. However, if someone tags your business, it will appear in the Mentions tab on your Page.

By default, your friends can see your timeline when they search for your name, unless you set your privacy settings to the contrary.

algorithm

The algorithm is an elusive concept. Essentially, the algorithm is a series of calculations that Facebook’s servers perform every second to determine what content you want to see, interact with, and click Next.

The algorithm uses dwell time (how long you view a post), engagement, page likes, posts, and more to determine the type of content you want to see.

Over time, the algorithm supposedly gets better at determining what content to show you, but given all the hubbub on the platform, most companies find it best to show ads to content they actually want to see.

Post/Status

“Post” is the term Facebook uses to describe something you share in the News Feed. Text, images, videos, and location are just a few types of posts you can share in the news feed for your friends to see.

Screenshot showing the Facebook Create Post window

Posts grew out of “statuses,” which originally only allowed users to share text updates about what they were doing or what was on their mind.

Friends

These are people to whom you have either sent a request and who have accepted it, or people who have sent you a request and who you have accepted.

Unlike other social networking sites that allow someone to follow you without you following them, Facebook profiles require that both you and the other person be friends with each other in order to interact.

Screenshot showing how friends appear on Facebook profiles

An individual’s personal account cannot have more than 5,000 friends (and it’s not a good idea to create a second Facebook profile to get around this rule).

Trailer

Followers are people who have opted in to receive updates from a specific page or profile.

When you add new friends, you automatically follow them (and they follow you too). This way, Facebook will add this new friend to your news feed and ensure that you see their posts (at least for a short time, unless you stop interacting with them).

Screenshot showing how to unfollow or unfriend someone on Facebook

Facebook also allows you to “unfollow” individuals without unfriending them.

This action will simply remove that person’s posts from your news feed. If you do this, you’ll have to browse your friends individually and extend their timelines to stay up to date with their latest posts.

People who have more than 5,000 friends on their personal Facebook profiles can instead choose to follow them to stay up to date with their posts.

With business pages, anyone who connects to your page is a follower. In the past, these were people who “liked” your page on Facebook.

groups

Facebook users with similar interests might find it helpful to create or join a group on the platform.

A Facebook group is a community of users who interact with each other based on various topics set by the group’s administrators and other users.

Only individual users or personal profiles can join, not company pages, but companies can certainly create groups.

Members can share text updates, photos, videos, and more just as they would in their personal timeline, except that posts are only visible to other group members.

Screenshot of the Facebook group page

Events

With so much community happening on Facebook, individual users and businesses have the opportunity to post and promote events.

Events communicate the date, time and location of the event, as well as a description and ticket information if applicable.

You can also accept RSVPs, view a guest list, and allow users to invite their friends. Events can take place virtually or in person at a physical location.

Screenshot showing an example of a Facebook event page

messenger

Messenger is Facebook’s native direct messaging platform. It allows users to have private one-on-one or group conversations. Messenger can be accessed through Instagram or a separate app that can be added to third-party websites.

If you use Facebook.com on a desktop computer, it is accessible via a pop-up within the platform.

Screenshot showing where the Messenger app appears on Facebook

Companies can use Messenger to communicate privately with individuals, answer questions, provide customer service, or even post ads.

Story

Like Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories appear at the top of the platform on both mobile and desktop and are only visible for 24 hours. After 24 hours the contents disappear.

Screenshot showing how Facebook Stories are displayed

Stories can be created directly from the Facebook app or shared from existing stories on Instagram.

notification

A notification, represented by the bell icon in the third circle below, lets you know when a friend interacts with your posts, photos, videos, or timeline. They will receive a notification explaining what they interacted with and when.

You will also receive notifications about group and event activities as well as friend requests.

Screenshot showing how notifications appear on Facebook

Now that you know what Facebook is and how it works, here’s a handy guide on how to use it.

Note: If you use HubSpot, you can also link your Facebook account to the platform and track engagement in the social inbox.

You can also create keyword monitoring streams for your social media team and trigger email alerts to sales when someone mentions a specific keyword.

Soon you’ll also be able to use AI insights to understand market sentiment and stay up to date on your brand’s reputation straight from your inbox.

How does Facebook work?

Facebook is based on an algorithm that learns each user’s likes and interests. The algorithm then displays content such as images, status updates, and videos posted by friends and companies that the user might be interested in.

Facebook’s goal is to get users to engage with, consume and share content.

Additionally, Facebook runs advertising for businesses interspersed with the organic content your friends share in the news feed.

The ads are tailored to your interests, so you’ll see what the algorithm interests you based on the content you’ve interacted with in the past. That’s what it’s called Behavioral targeting.

This is how the Facebook algorithm works

In the past, Facebook used a chronological timeline. This means that the posts in your news feed have been listed in the order in which your friends last shared them on the platform.

If your mom posted three hours ago and your best friend posted five minutes ago, you’ll see your best friend’s post first, then your mom’s.

However, that changed in September 2011, when Facebook officially announced that the chronological news feed has been removed and replaced with a more personalized experience.

Instead of seeing your friends’ posts in the order they were shared, you’ll now see the content that Facebook’s algorithm thinks you’ll like the most. This news feed still exists today.

1. Open a Facebook account.

Follow these three easy steps to sign up for a Facebook account.

  • Visit Facebook website.
  • On the homepage, enter your first name, last name, mobile number or email address, new password, birthday and gender.
  • Click “Login”.

2. Set up your privacy settings.

After you sign up for a Facebook account, you can adjust your privacy settings to control who can see your profile and information. Follow these four easy steps to change your privacy settings.

  • Click the down arrow in the top right corner of any Facebook page.
  • Click on “Settings”.
  • Select “Privacy” in the left sidebar.
  • Control who can see your past and future posts. You can also control how others can find and contact you.

Screenshot showing where to find your Settings & Privacy options on Facebook

Chances are, there is probably someone on Facebook with the same name as you.

To stand out from these people and help your friends and family find you on Facebook, personalize your profile by adding a profile picture, a cover photo, and some personal information.

3. Personalize your profile.

Choose a profile picture

  • Go to your profile and click on your profile picture.
  • To choose your profile picture, select a photo you’re already tagged with on Facebook, one you’ve uploaded, or a photo from your computer. You can also add a decorative frame to your profile picture.

Screenshot showing profile picture options on Facebook

Choose a cover photo

  • Click the camera button on your cover photo on your profile.
  • To choose your cover photo, you can select a photo from your Facebook profile, choose Facebook’s own cover photo, create a collage, or upload a photo from your computer. You can also reposition or delete your current cover photo.

Screenshot showing cover photo options on Facebook

Updating your profile

On your profile page, click the “About” section.

In this section, you can enter information about your work and education, the places you have lived, contact information and basic information, family and relationships, and life events.

Screenshot showing the menu options in a personal profile on Facebook4. Like and follow public pages. On Facebook, you can follow and receive updates from your favorite brands, celebrities, sports teams, publications, and of course businesses, just to name a few.

The best way to do this is to search for them on Facebook and “like” or “follow” their public page, which will have a blue checkmark next to their name.

After you like or follow their page, you will see the updates in your news feed.

Screenshot showing page details for HubSpot

5. Review your schedule.

Your Timeline is a digital log of your Facebook activity in reverse chronological order. Your status updates, uploaded photos and videos, and the photos you’re tagged in appear on your Timeline.

Screenshot showing an example of a Facebook profile timeline

6. Add friends on Facebook.

There are three ways to add friends on Facebook.

You can either search for them, find them in the Find Friends tab, or import a list of contacts from your email, iCloud, or phone.

To find friends on Facebook, go to your profile, select the “Friends” tab, and tap the “Find Friends” button. You’ll see a list of friend requests from other people and a list of people you may know who you can add as a friend on Facebook.

When you upload a contact list to Facebook, you can add your friends as you sort through each of your contacts.

Screenshot showing where friends appear on a Facebook profile

7. Post on Facebook.

The main purpose of Facebook is to help friends and family connect with each other. And the best way to connect with your friends and family is to keep them updated about your life with status updates.

To share a Facebook status, go to the text box at the top of your news feed or profile.

Status updates allow you to share text with 15 different background colors, photos, videos, GIFs, stickers and links.

You can also share other types of posts such as:

  • Feeling/Activity: Share how you are feeling or what you are doing.
  • Check in: When you visit a city, town or location, check in and let your friends know where you are.
  • Tag friends: When you spend time with your friends, tag them in your status and let us know what you are doing.
  • Tag event: When you attend an event, you can mark it in your status and share which event you are attending.
  • Ask for recommendations: If you have just moved somewhere or are about to visit a place, you can ask your Facebook friends for recommendations on where to go.
  • Opinion poll: Ask your Facebook friends for their opinion on a particular topic.
  • Support Nonprofit Organizations: Select a nonprofit organization of your choice and share it via your status. Your Facebook friends can then click the “Donate” button to support the selected organization.
  • Answer a question: Select a given question to answer or create your own question to answer and share with your Facebook friends.
  • Lists: Select a given topic to create a list, or create your own topic and share it with your Facebook friends.
  • Facebook Stories: Any content you can share via a status update can be shared via your Facebook Story. You can also upload content to your stories by clicking the “Add to your story” button in the right sidebar.

Additionally, you can view all of your friends’ Facebook Stories by clicking on their pictures in the Stories section, also located on the right sidebar of your home page.

8. Add photos and videos.

In addition to text statuses, you can add photos, videos, albums and live video broadcasts to your profile.

Upload photos or videos

To upload photos or videos to your profile, follow these four simple steps:

      • Go to your profile.
      • Select the Photos tab.
      • Select “Add Photos/Video.”
      • Upload images or videos from your computer.

Screenshot showing where photos appear on a Facebook profile

Create photo or video albums

To create a photo or video album, follow these four simple steps:

        • Go to your profile.
        • Tap the Photos tab.
        • Tap “Create Album.”
        • Upload images or videos from your computer.

Screenshot showing where albums appear on a Facebook profile

Facebook Live

To do a live broadcast on your Facebook account, follow these three simple steps.

          • In the “What are you thinking?” box, select Live Video.
          • Once you select Live Video, you can write a description about your broadcast, tag people in it, add a sentiment or activity, check in at an event, support a nonprofit, or add a poll. You can also give your live broadcast a title or tag a video game when live streaming gameplay.
          • Select “Go Live.”

Screenshot showing the fields you need to fill out before going live on Facebook

9. Engage with friends.

In your news feed, you’ll see updates from your friends, family, or public pages you follow. You can engage by liking and reacting to their posts, sharing content on their timelines, and communicating with them via text or video chat.

Like, comment or share

If you like someone’s post, give them a thumbs up, comment on their post, or share it.

Screenshot showing the post engagement options on Facebook

Other reactions

If your Facebook friend’s post elicits a stronger reaction from you than a “like,” holding down the “Like” button can also be used to express that you love, laugh at, be amazed, sad, or angry about their post are.

Screenshot showing the reaction options on Facebook

Share content on your friends’ timelines

Anything you can post to your status, you can also post to your friend’s timeline.

Facebook Messenger

To chat with your friends or public pages on Facebook, use Facebook Messenger. You can access it by tapping the Messages button in the top right corner of any Facebook Page or selecting the Messages button in the left sidebar of the home page.

Screenshot showing what the Messenger popup looks like on desktop for Facebook

Next, select “New Message” and enter the name of the friend or brand you want to connect with. Facebook Messenger also allows you to create group chats by clicking “New Group.” After that, all you have to do is give your group a name and add the friends you want to include in the group.

Screenshot showing what it looks like to message someone on Facebook

When you message your friends or group on Facebook Messenger, you can upload pictures, videos, and files from your computer, upload stickers, GIFs, and emojis, and take pictures and videos from your computer or phone’s camera.

You can also view Messenger on its own page, where you can search for past conversations and manage your settings. To view Messenger on its own page, tap the Messages button in the top right corner of any Facebook Page, then tap the See All in Messenger button.

Screenshot showing the option to download a desktop version of Messenger

To instant message your friends who are logged into Facebook at the same time as you, tap the Chat button at the bottom of any Facebook page and start a conversation with your friends who are online

Phone and video calls

With Messenger open on its own page, you can search for your friends or groups, click their name, and tap the phone or video chat button to call them.

How to Use Facebook: A Beginner's Guide

10. Check your news feed.

Your News Feed is a curated feed of posts from your friends, family, and public Pages you follow that Facebook’s algorithm thinks may be of interest to you. You also see ads from brands that believe you would enjoy consuming their content or products.

To customize your News Feed, tap the down arrow in the top right corner of any Facebook Page, then tap “News Feed Settings.”

From there, you can prioritize whose posts you see first, unfollow people and groups to hide their posts, reconnect with people and groups you’ve unfollowed, discover public pages that match your interests, and apps Hide from your news feed.

You can also “mute” or “unfollow” individuals, groups, or pages directly from individual posts.

11. Discover additional Facebook features.

Facebook is not just a platform for viral content and connections. It is also a hub for community communication, video streaming, marketplaces and gaming.

Events

The Events page on Facebook displays all upcoming events that are popular with your Facebook friends or created by the groups you belong to. You can also search events by date, location and category.

To find the Events page, select the Home button. Then you will see the “Explore” section in the left sidebar where you can select “Events”.

Screenshot showing an example of a Facebook event

groups

You can see which groups you manage and belong to on the Groups page on Facebook. You can also discover groups to join based on Facebook’s suggestions and many other categories.

To access the Groups page, tap the Home button. Then you will see the “Explore” section in the left sidebar where you can click on “Groups”.

Screenshot showing where groups appear in your sidebar menu

Facebook Watch

On the Facebook Watch platform, you can watch videos from the shows you follow and search for other shows and videos.

To access Facebook Watch, select the Home button. Then in the left sidebar you will see the “Watch” button under the “Marketplace” button.

Screenshot of the Facebook Watch page

Marketplace

Facebook competes not only with Netflix in the streaming industry, but also with eBay in the marketplace industry.

Facebook Marketplace allows you to search for all types of products, join groups to buy and sell products with people near you or with similar interests, search for products sold in different stores, shop by category, and your own products sell.

To access Facebook Marketplace, select the Home button. Then you will see the “Marketplace” button in the left sidebar, just below the “Watch” button.

Screenshot showing what the marketplace can look like

games

Facebook Games is one of the best features of Facebook. They offer a huge collection of extremely popular games and you can browse the most popular games on the platform by top charts and categories. You can even play most games with your friends.

Screenshot showing what the games section looks like on Facebook

Make friends with Facebook.

Even if you don’t use Facebook personally, Facebook marketing can be extremely powerful for businesses of all kinds.

Use our guide to familiarize yourself with the platform and find out how you can use its various features and wide reach to connect with your target audience.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for completeness.

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