Seven Steps to an Influential Facebook Presence
In today’s content-saturated world, there are a lot of things competing for our attention. Marketers are challenged with not only ensuring their clients stand out above the competition, but also keeping them relevant enough to produce engagement. Here are a few tips and tricks to meet these challenges:
- Analyze Your Results
Tracking results is key to developing what your social media content should look like. Within Facebook, marketers can use Page Insights, Audience Insights, and Ads Manager data to build a strong social strategy for their clients. Indicators from Page Insights allow marketers to drive down on what audience they are reaching, when they are engaged, and the type of content that engages them. Audience Insights lets marketers understand not only who their audience is, but also their lifestyles and purchase behaviors. These metrics help marketers better customize content to the audience they are targeting. With Ads Manager, marketers can dive into how well their campaigns are performing and optimize them, as well as manage ads and budgets.
- Pay to Play
Organic reach has been declining for Facebook Business Pages at a staggering rate. Brian Boland, VP of Ads Product Marketing and Atlas at Facebook, ties two key factors to this decrease. The first is that more content is being created, and with this increase, there is more competition for a page’s audience to see posts. The second has to do with the way that the News Feed works, which is designed to show users the most relevant content for them. In 2012, Facebook for Business began with an organic reach of 16%, which has since dropped to roughly 6%. According to a Facebook Newsroom article from this November, a new algorithm will launch in mid-January, whereby pages producing promotional posts without putting spend on them will have a reduced ranking in the News Feed.
- Listen to Your Audience
By listening to a client’s audience, marketers can get a feel for what they are hoping to see from the brand’s page, as well as deliver content that resonates with them. Marketers need to consider what excites their client’s audience. When talking about the brand, what is the audience saying? Facebook uses a ranking system to decide which content will be relevant to its users; just because someone likes a business’ page does not mean that he or she will see the page’s content. Understanding what fuels the brand’s fan base will increase the reach of the pages content, as well as drive more shares, comments, and likes.
- Nurture Relationships with Your Audience
Marketers need to follow up with those who check in and interact with their clients business. According to Social Bakers, up to 70% of questions are not answered on page walls. This portion of the audience cares enough about the brand to interact with it. Taking the time and effort to respond and give feedback will show them that they are valued, as well as help to build brand loyalty. Facebook lets brands understand how their audience speaks to one another. It is important that marketers listen to these conversations and speak to the page’s audience in a similar tone.
- Engage Your Community
When thinking about what makes a customer brand-loyal, things like exceptional service, a great product, and an overall pleasant experience come to mind. Brands have an ideal opportunity to connect with their customers in an entirely new way when they engage with their community. This can include hosting or sponsoring events or donating to a cause. For example, Search Optics supported a social media campaign that raised funds for Detroit-area school projects. This campaign showed the company’s commitment to the community, increased visibility for the brand, and improved page reach and engagement. At the end of the campaign, more than $10,000 was donated.
- Promote Company Culture
An article in Huffington Post by Zappos CEO Tony Hsiehv says it best: “Your culture is your brand.” A company’s culture says a lot about what it stands for, and in today’s saturated marketplace marketers are challenged with making sure that their clients stand out above the competition more than ever. Providing a behind-the-scenes look works to build a personal relationship with customers. Successfully promoting company culture can also lead to customers engaging with the brand long after they’ve made a purchase.
- Create Your Own Shareable Content
People go on Facebook to connect with friends and talk about current topics and events, which has led to News Feeds favoring relevant high quality articles. Creating and posting original content helps to build a brand’s SEO value and gain leads. Not only is it important to ensure that content is original and high quality, but also that it is shareable. When a piece of content is shareable, the potential reach increases greatly and leads to higher site traffic.
- Andrea Brown, Content Strategy Analyst
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