You want to develop a successful business, reaching millions? You have to get on social media! This isn't debatable. Your engagement on various social media channels will have a heavy impact on your SEO. In other words, you can use all the right keywords in your copy, your site may be mobile optimised and you may update your content regularly, but if you are not active on social media, that First Page and high organic searches will stay in your dreams.
Does this feel harsh? I'm sorry, I don't mean to discourage you or whittle down your efforts. Exactly the opposite. I want to help you build strong and sound social media marketing strategy and today we start with pro tips for your Facebook Page in 2018.
Do I Need to Be on Facebook?
Yes, you do. Despite the recent data scandal and some algorithm changes, Facebook still remains the largest social media channel. It has more than 2 billion active users in pretty much every corner of the world. If you want to learn more about Facebook user demographics and behaviour download our Social Media Cheat Sheet. It will also help you decide which channel to focus your efforts on based on your target market.
Content Marketing Tips for Your Facebook Page
As you know, the quality of your content is crucial for engagement. And you need engagement for potential high conversions. Here's what you need to be doing to build a nice, clean and engaging Facebook page for your business:
Use Video
Include video in your content marketing on Facebook. There are several ways you could do that and you should combine them all.
Post native videos to your page - avoid external links to improve your reach. Videos are the best performing type of content due to the auto play feature. This easily catch the attention of users.
Go live - live Facebook videos are an amazing content marketing tool. Provide value to your fans and target audience by answering their questions. Make them feel part of your brand by letting them in your world here and now.
Update the cover on your Facebook page by adding a video. This makes it interactive and catchy.
Follow the Content Rule
The right formula for content on social media is 70/20/10.
70% original value posts. - Fill the most of your Page's content with posts that are educational, inspirational, entertaining or solving problems.
20% shared content. - Share other people's content to your page. Try to keep it native. This means avoid sharing links from YouTube, other blog posts or any other website. Not at all costs, of course. If you think a piece of information will be particularly beneficial to your follower base, do share a link, even if it is external.
10% promo posts. - No one wants to read constant sales posts, so be sure to tone that down as much as possible. Only 10% of all of your content should be promoting directly your products or services.
Make Use of Facebook Insights
The Insights are the best indicator of what type of content works best for your audience. Check what posts had the most reach and engagement and create more similar content. Also keep an eye on your main competitors posts and what kind of posts get the most attention. Replicate it in your content marketing activities.
How to Grow Your Facebook Page
Again, there are several ways in which you can add more likes to your Facebook Page.
Grow Organically
Invite all of your friends.
Invite all the people who have liked your posts to like your Page if they haven't already.
Invite the people who have liked your posts that have been shared by other people (if their settings allow you to see the shared post engagement).
To do this you can use the the Invite buttons you will see when you open the list of all reactions on your posts. I recommend you message these individuals directly and ask them to like your Page. It makes it much more personal.
Grow by Optimisation
SEO for Facebook? Yes, that's a thing. It works just like SEO for your website.
Use your keywords in the About section of your Page. This is your Facebook Page meta description.
Make sure your Page has a username. It is easier for people to find you this way.
Link to your Facebook Page from external sources. Build your backlinks.
Grow by Paid Ads
You can buy likes to your page and it doesn't have to cost you a fortune. Here's a list of countries from where Facebook Likes are the cheapest. Note that they might not be your ideal target market, but can give you very good following and possibly engagement for a close-to-nothing price.
How to Create Successful Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads can be extremely beneficial to your business. There is so much data for billions of users that you can use to your advantage. The trick is to know how to do that.
Select the Audience You Want to Target
You can do this by analysing your Insights and choose to target the most engaged groups. You should also add specific interests and behaviours when you build your audience. This will help you reach new people who are most likely to be interested in what you offer and take the action you want them to take. For example, if you are a travel agency target people who are interested in travelling, holidaymakers and those with higher disposable income.
Use Local Ads
If you have physical outlets, Facebook Local Ads are the best way to bring people to your shop, restaurant or office. Set it to be shown to people who live or currently are within 5 to 10 miles away from your outlet. You can still use the behaviour and interest parameters to create a successful ad.
Split Test Your Ads
Split testing is a fairly new feature of Facebook Ads. It allows you to test specific features of your ad sets against each other. This is done to completely optimise the ad settings before you commit a larger budget to it.
Example: Create split testing for a Traffic ad. In the first set choose for it to be distributed to men and women, between the ages of 18 and 35, interested in your services or products. Create your ad copy and select an attractive picture.
In the second set change only the age group. Leave every other variable the same. This is very important for accurate results of split testing.
Run the two ads on a minimal budget for a few days. When the campaign finishes, check which set performed better, this way you will know what is the optimal age group for your ad. Then you can split test other variables until you find your best killer ad.
Install Facebook Pixel on your Website
The best way to encourage conversions through Facebook Ads is to install Facebook Pixel on your website. It gives information about who has visited your pages and who has put items in the basket just before checkout. When you have that data you can use it in your ads creation and easily remarket to someone who has already bought from you or those who have visited your site but haven't converted yet.
It's impossible to cover all the things you should be doing on Facebook to grow your business in just one blog post. Moreover, this month we want to explore many more social media channels and help you use them correctly. If you have any questions about your Facebook Page, its content and how to create good ads, pop them in the comments below. Or message us on Facebook!
