Without question, Facebook has become deeply entrenched in people’s everyday lives and has a strong influence on their social interactions, which in turn influences their buying habits. Therefore, the potential for using Facebook as a marketing tool and understanding how it can improve your business is essential.
The more you know and are willing to learn, the greater the ability you have in acquiring new business, retain your followers/customers and ensure you have repeat and ongoing revenue. Apply these Facebook marketing fundamentals to drive traffic to your website, help you connect with your customers and ultimately improve your business.
What content should I post to Facebook and why?
Facebook is continually trying to improve their users experience by displaying posts which they think are more likely to be enjoyed and interacted with. They determine this by analyzing what individuals are clicking, sharing, commenting on, following, hiding in their news feeds and promote populate posts accordingly.
You may already understand the importance and necessity of posting content that is both interesting and engaging and know the type of content your customers want to interact with. But not realize why or even how posting business-related advertising is different to just posting personal content and how it is perceived by others reading those posts.
On a Facebook business page, it is not good practice to solely focus on promoting your product or service, but instead build your business through publishing creative and strategic content which promotes your business positively. The primary goal is to keep your followers engaged, rather than constantly bombarding them with information about your product or service and continually pushing hard-sell type marketing messages.
If people follow or like your page it’s because they recognize and genuinely like your businesses product or service. Keep their interest and satisfy their enjoyment by posting content that retains their loyalty and enables you to continue to communicate with them and grow your following through them sharing your content with their friends and family.
When you only have a short space of time to capture someone’s attention, as they scroll through their news feed, it’s important that you post something which will appeal to their emotions. Popular and large businesses have capitalized on this because they have learnt that when their Facebook marketing is successful, they receive recognition through their posting or sharing short videos, funny pictures, humorous articles, special promotions, exciting news on their Facebook page. They know that this range of content is far more interesting and likely to satisfy their eager fans.
What content should I not post?
When posting content on behalf of your business on Facebook, it very important that you keep your content on topic and related to your business. Some business owners fall into the trap of inadvertently publishing their personal views on topics which are unrelated to their business. There is nothing more off-putting and distracting than seeing a business who has decided to weigh-in on a heated topical issue and push their own agenda which has nothing to do with their business. The same goes for posting content on your Facebook business page, it should be a platform for you to provide a running commentary on the state of current affairs – this type of content if you still feel like venting, is more appropriate on your personal Facebook page.
Instead, post and share things which will engage your customers or excite debate in a positive way, one that is directly related to your business. Learn how to identify what engages your fans the most and plan to publish future posts accordingly. Look at the posts which have received the highest engagement rate and analyse why that post may have received so many interactions and plan to publish more of that same type of content.
When and what time of day/week should I post?
Knowing this, is just as important as knowing that you need to post regularly. But knowing the right time of day to publish can have a significant impact on the amount of interaction and engagement that your post receives. There are peak times when everyone logs in during the day and certain days of the week which are more popular than others.
One great benefit of having Facebook business page over a Facebook personal page, is the functional ability to schedule content publishing at a certain time of day and week which you set. So, if you are busy running your business, you can pre-load your content and Facebook will automatically publish your post on your behalf at the time and day you have planned.
Unfortunately, there is no one-sized, fits-all rule on the optimal time of day for publishing on Facebook – you’ll just have to use trial and error until you find what works best for your business, product or service and when you think when the majority of your customers are most likely to be sitting down logging into their Facebook account.
How often should I post?
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to posting frequency either – the key is to strike a balance between being informative and posting too often and becoming just plain irritating. This balancing act will vary from one business to another. There are many variables like; the size of your business, the time you have to think up fresh content, the industry your business is in. Perhaps only one post a day (or week) may be all that’s necessary. Try to refrain from over-sharing and sacrificing quality over quantity. When it comes to posting on your Facebook wall – less may be more.
When you make the time to write content for your Facebook fans, you need to produce content that is worthy of your fans time – anything less, you risk being ignored and losing their interest in the long-term and they click to ‘un-follow’ you. Try breaking up the quantity of content into a weekly time cycle, say: the first day of the week post a weekly promotion you are running, the third day post something informative, the sixth day post something current or inspirational. In between posts about your business, share others links that are relevant to your business. As soon as you have been competently mastered these fundamental Facebook marketing tips, take the next step and learn some more sophisticated marketing techniques to enhance your delivery and improve your business.
