Facebook marketing is not a should-do, it’s a must-do. But with what seems an ever-changing shift in how Facebook shows posts to page followers, analytics, and new trends, how do you know what is best to post? Here are five tips to help!
1. Check Your Insights
Facebook’s organic reach has hit a new low, with 1% of the total of your page’s audience actually seeing your non-paid posts. So to ensure that what you are posting is reaching the maximum number of people organically, check your page’s Facebook Insights.
You can find the Insights tab at the top of your page. When you click it, it will take you to a page that may seem overwhelming at first, but once you spend just even a little amount of time on it, you’ll find a wealth of information on the people connected to your page. From gender to age groups, to where they are located, and even what devices they use to access your page, it’s all there and at your fingertips!
While posting at the best times as shown through Insights is a good bet, even better is to have a budget for advertising on Facebook. There is a fallacy that social media is free. That may have been true years ago, but not anymore. While we don’t have time to get into promoted posts here, they are an effective way of reaching your current customers—and new customers as well!
2. Always Use a Photo or Video
You may think this is a no-brainer, but you would be amazed by the number of pages we see posting without photos or videos. Think about the time you spend scrolling through your timeline. What catches your eye first? Great copy or a compelling photo or video?
And with Facebook’s quickly-growing fondness for video, and the analytics to support viewership of those videos, it is becoming a necessary part of your Facebook social media strategy.
3. Check Your Spelling and Grammar
So, we just emphasized the importance of photos and videos. But your copy is important, too! There’s nothing worse than having someone call out a misspelling or grammar error in public, right on your page. When you’re writing your copy, regardless of how short or long it is, remember to write it, step away for a few minutes, and then re-read it. You can even use online programs like Grammarly to check spelling, grammar, and readability.
4. Sign up for Industry Newsletters
There are a lot of great resources online can help you keep up with the ever-changing best practices of Facebook (or you can give us a call)! Try sites like Mashable.com, SocialMediaExaminer.com, or eMarketerDaily.com. You can even set up a Google Alert with keywords such as Facebook Analytics, Facebook Organic Reach, Facebook News, or Facebook Pages Change.
5. Test, Test, Test
Here is one of the best things about social media. If something doesn’t work, you can try something different! There’s no long-term commitment like a billboard or newspaper ad. Test pushing out posts at noon, then try one at 8 pm, and look at the Insights. What was more popular—the noon or 8 pm posts? Then switch your strategy to the most popular.
Are photos of your product more popular if they are paired with cute kids or fuzzy animals? Or just straight on beauty shots? Try a variety and gauge what the response is. Your Facebook page followers will tell you everything you need to know with their Likes, emoji, comments, and shares.
While there is no magic recipe for the best, most effective post on Facebook, keeping these five key points in mind and trying different types of posts at different times, will help your brand page break through into an already crowded feed. With patience, that will translate into customers.
Is Facebook a bit overwhelming? Give us a call at 856.327.4141 and we would be happy to help you get your social media under control.
