Facebook is the largest social network up to date. It has a large population of active users, giving marketers massive marketing possibilities and increasing their reach on Facebook.
Did you know that average Facebook users use Facebook for 50 minutes every day? The time spends on one network for an average user is enough for a brand to increase its opportunities to reach its audience.
It would be best if you adopted the latest Facebook algorithm to have a higher chance of generating more audience engagement. The goal here is not to simply beat the system, but to increase the odds of how you can make it into the exclusive feed of your followers.
Why Follow Facebook Best Practices?
Facebook best practices are critical for every social media marketing strategy. Relying on optimal posting times or great content is not the only important thing to consider in the Facebook marketing strategy. You have to focus on strategising and optimising more, and it will only be successful if you plan your end goal first.
It is not impossible to generate more followers and impressions on Facebook while managing more than 500 incoming messages a day. You can nail the goal if you grab the opportunity to use collaboration tools to schedule posts and respond to incoming messages faster and more efficiently.
A business can generate 30 million impressions for its Facebook Page and increase its followers by 80%. If you can put quality time and resources into the Facebook strategy, you can develop these results.
Follow the Following Facebook Best Practices
Sometimes, Facebook is ignored by social media marketers or seen to be “too hard of a platform” to generate pleasing results. It is critical to understand the needs of your audience and how you should address them. But, how can you see the results if you never put in much effort?
Facebook is the same as every other social media platform. But, if you are willing and determined to learn new methods and adapt them to your marketing strategy on Facebook, you will see success.
Thus, we are here to give you some insights into how you can uniquely market on Facebook. Grab the opportunity and adapt these Facebook best practices:
Use Facebook Videos to Advantage
In recent years, Facebook videos have grown popular, and it is because of the engaging content of why people are turning to Facebook.
The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has stated that video will be the most consumed content on Facebook. Facebook statistics show that Facebook video posts per person have increased to 80%. It means more people view and share video content on Facebook.
Moreover, video shares on Facebook grew by 100% over recent years. Utilising video content helps businesses flourish their content stream. Before, the trend was to use visually enriched images to drive further engagement. It may still be a good marketing strategy to use images, but it is best to combine them with video content.
Imagine this: Facebook videos gain 135% more reach than posts with only an image. So, combining both format content will give you more audience reach.
But, how will you start your video production if you are on a tight budget?
Do not overcomplicate
There’s no need to make Facebook videos any harder. There are easy-to-access video tools Facebook continues to add to their platform. It has been observed that businesses that use Facebook Live, a live video streaming solution, gain higher engagement.
According to Facebook statistics, there are three times more users who watch videos on Facebook Lives than those who watch pre-recorded videos. You can take advantage of Facebook Live is by hosting live chats or behind the scene at your office. You can encourage your viewers to participate and engage with you while doing the Facebook Live videos.
Another best practice for Facebook video is relying on subtitles. It is critical to apply texts to the video to keep the viewer’s attention consistently. A survey from Digiday discovered that some brands are watched without sound– marketers call it “silent” movement. It is likely due to mobile users scrolling through their feeds in public areas and avoid sounds.
Brands should use subtitles to keep their viewer’s attention. Do not overthink or overdo your video strategy, but make sure you have the essential elements needed to keep your viewers from watching.
KISS (Keep It Short and Specific) Post
There are several things you can do with Facebook. You can post unique content in images, videos, and short or lengthy texts.
However, several marketers have observed a trend of success on Facebook for those who post short and specific content. It is critical to keep your customer’s attention, and customers engage more with more concise content on Facebook.
Add a few extra words to your Facebook posts, and it can create a difference in how your audience reads and understands your message, or if they take time to read it all. Experts pointed out how to optimise post lengths for businesses on Facebook. Here are some of the critical statistics:
- Link titles with more than 100 characters are cut off on Facebook Business Pages.
- Facebook posts with 40 characters gain 86% more engagement.
- Posts with 80 characters gain 66% more engagement.
- Facebook posts with questions between 100 to 119 characters drive more engagement.
Ask questions to start a dialogue. As mentioned, Facebook posts with questions can generate more engagement rather than non-question posts.
Some brands are best at using short texts on their Facebook posts, giving them a greater chance to drive more engagement. You can do it too, post a visually enriching photo of your product or service, but ensure that your audience will understand the context of your post by adding short text descriptions.
Get to Know and Understand Target Audience
Facebook demographics will describe your customers. If you know and understand them well, you know who to target. Social demographics for each platform are not the same. It is not easy to keep track of the audience as they are constantly evolving unless you use automation tools to measure and report your demographics.
It is best to use third-party social media management tools to gain in-depth insights into user demographics that provides more data and not only on Facebook. Media management tools include paid search, advertising, and other metrics that will help social media marketing teams hone in on how they can attract their core audience.
You will determine whether or not you are targeting your audience or not. Try asking yourself some questions about who follows you– do you know them well?
Do you know the demographics of your audience? You have to know your target audience’s age, gender, education, income, location, and language. Demographic information is essential in marketing. Apply it not only on Facebook but on every social media platform you have.
What content works best with your audience? Determine which type of content your posts receive the most clicks, likes, shares, comments, and overall engagement. Replicate and test successful types of content. Testing is critical for publishing the best content on social media.
Do all of your Facebook ads have the same goal? If you do not have a goal, you try to target too many different demographics with separate content. Limit your plans and narrow down your ad strategy. Aside from Facebook, several social media platforms offer advertising options but ensure that you have a goal for each campaign.
How do you stand out against your competitors? Five years ago, 65% of online advertising revenue came from Google and Facebook. You have tons of competitors, and how can you make your brand unique and better than the rest? You can answer the question through paid ads.
Post Frequently and Timely Manner
Post frequency and subject matter may change for each social media network. Here are some additional best practices for posting:
Scheduled Posts
You might think you need to post every hour on Facebook. But, the truth is, you should limit your posting frequency. It might annoy your followers if they receive several posts per day. At least two posts per day will guarantee freshness, consistency, and a higher chance to reach your audience.
Most people tend to view Facebook at noon or the end of the day. Thus, it makes 1 pm to 4 pm the best time to post content. But, you do not have to stick to the exact time to post. Make variations. You can post at 2 pm today, then at 4 pm the next day. Do not make it look robotic. Moreover, you can use automation tools to schedule posts at the best time.
Trending Topics and Hashtags
“Trendjacking” is the social media term that refers to jumping on the trending topic to promote a brand. You have to be cautious about using this technique. It is hard to do it perfectly as the effort may backfire.
If you are not confident about it yet, you may use hashtag tracking tools. You will have an idea about what people are talking about you on social media.
Include Images When Possible
Visual content for Facebook marketing greatly works. 87% of the Facebook posts with images have an 87% interaction rate over plain-text posts. Use visuals wisely and set a high-quality standard. If you use pixelated and stretched images on your page, it will look bad and negatively affect your Facebook page. Your audience will think you have no care for real interaction or communication.
Always publish the highest quality content.
As we have mentioned, high-quality content shows your audience how you put effort into your posts and providing them useful information. It is quite often for business pages to be abandoned and become ghost towns. Thus, keep a social media calendar to schedule your posts. The social media calendar will push you to provide quality content. You become determined to create unique posts.
Highlight and Engage with Customers and Target Audience
Do not ignore potential customers and current customers on Facebook. You have to engage with them, reply to any questions they have, and highlight your best customers.
We have observed the following results when brands leave their customers waiting on social media:
- In 3 customers that get a late reply or who are ignored on social media, 1 of them decides to go to a competitor.
- Brands ignore 89% of the social messages they receive.
- 34.5% of the brand customers choose social media as the top option for customer service.
Users still use social media platforms for their sole purpose– communication. That’s why if your business is on social media, you need to respond and communicate with the users. A survey discovered that 90% of social media users have gone to a network to communicate directly to the business.
If you ignore your customers, you are wasting your opportunities and killing your social media traffic, which ultimately affects the purpose of your social media marketing. There are tools you can use so that you could not miss a social message again. Integrate Facebook management tools or social media automation tools so you can manage your messages no matter how many social media platforms you manage.
Always Understand Facebook Analytics
Facebook analytics is the backbone of your marketing strategy. You need to know the necessary metrics to have an idea of which strategies to improve further.
Impressions: Number of times any of your content from the Facebook Page was seen in the News Feed, or how many times users visits your Page.
Link Clicks: Total number of clicks on links with your content.
Net Likes: Total number of paid or organic likes minus the amount of unlike.
Organic Likes: Total number of new users who liked your Facebook Page by organic reach.
Post Engagements: Total number of comments, shares, or reactions to Facebook Page.
Total Fans or Followers: Total number of users who liked your Page. You can adjust the time stamp to determine the number of followers on the day you want to know.
Dislike: The total number of users who dislike your page. You can determine what’s wrong or lacking from your page or the specific reason why they unfollowed.
It is crucial to know your social media data. Thus, you need to have a Facebook analytics tool or use a reliable social media analytics tool to easily access data that can significantly help you with your competitors.
