Red Massive Blog
Facebook Content Best Practices
Featured Post
All because The Zuck
had a dream.
Remember when Facebook first launched? It was just for college students. There were no ads, no Farmville. There was no messaging. No poking or notifications. No walls or status updates. Only one photo was allowed. Remember the good old days?
Today, Facebook operates on a completely different scale and mission. If you want to be successful as a business owner on Facebook, you have to learn and play by a specific set of rules (or guidelines) that will assure that you get the best return on your efforts.
Keep reading to learn some helpful Best Practices for producing highly successful Facebook Content.
Post what interests your audience
Don’t solely rely on JUST your organization’s needs. Share or post relatable, meaningful content from other pages or things that support the work you do. People get bored easily and assume they know everything. Not only does this make you seem like you have a more robust and comprehensive timeline, but by sharing from other places and tagging other resources, you capitalize on their digital audience as well.
Use the Stories feature
- It’s the entryway to your business/group page. Most people will consume your Stories, not your Feed/Timeline.
- It’s highly customizable.
- It’s temporary. Great for events, limited time offers, product sales, etc.
- Stories are great for authenticity. People want the real you, behind the scenes. It’s a way to build a community around the personalities of your business and showcase behind-the-scenes.
Post a variety of content
Seriously, you HAVE to post gorgeous photos, dynamic videos, relevant/entertaining blogs, important press releases, GIFs, etc.
Order of top post-type engagement: Video, Question, Photo, Giveaway, Links
Ask engaging, open-ended questions
Are you giving your audience something to respond to? Remember, it’s all about engagement. Give people an opportunity to answer a question, respond to a preference with a certain reaction, answer a poll, break a tie-breaker, etc.
Keep it short
Try not to go above 250 characters when typing a Facebook or Instagram post. Perhaps most importantly, proofread before posting. What is not necessary, delete. Filler is not your friend! If people have to click “See More” or scroll through your content, they’re more likely to ignore it from the get-go before even giving it a chance.
Create an emotional response
Most memorable content is funny, inspiring, uplifting, educational, shocking. Think about the posts YOU engage with personally. Create that type of memory with your digital audience.
Make it visually brilliant
People WILL stop scrolling to read your content IF you immediately catch their attention by their eye. 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, as opposed to other senses. Visual and audio is all you have with Facebook.
Top visual content:
- Expressive Photos
- Photo quotes
- Screenshots
- Infographics
- GIFs
- Memes
- Videos
Create brand ambassadors
A Brand Ambassador is someone you trust to represent your brand. Think of friends, colleagues, influencers, etc. that you would like to hype up your brand or Business page. This will routinely capture a new audience for you and help you organically grow your following. Think of it like digital word-of-mouth marketing.
- Ask 3-5 people each month or quarter to do something specific:
- Share all the posts from your page to their personal profile.
- Invite all their friends to like your page.
- Comment and/or tag friends in the comments on your posts.
- Leave a Facebook and Google review.
- Share all the posts from your page to a specific Facebook Group.
Actively engage with your audience
- Share posts you create in your Group or on your Business Page in OTHER Facebook Groups that have similar content and audiences.
- Like pages as your Group or Business page.
- Interact (comment, share, like) as Group or Business page, not just as yourself on your personal profile.
- Rotate through Brand Ambassadors monthly or quarterly to keep capturing a new audience and growing your following.
Offer more value than your competitors or opponents
- Study your competition to find what works, what doesn’t work, and any holes you can fill.
- Find subjects, problems, and needs that your target audience has trouble with and become a resource for those areas. Are there questions you can be answering that your competitors leave unanswered?
- Is there a specific complaint or issue a competitor is having that you can humbly highlight as NOT being an issue with your business? (No need to name names, the proof is the pudding – let your organic excellence speak for itself.)
- Give away something for free. (And no, it doesn’t have to be a gift or money.) Can you offer education? Can you provide a PDF template or checklist?
Don’t be too intrusive
- 84% of 25-34 year olds have left social media because of intrusive or irrelevant content.
When someone can tell that they’re being sold to, or that you’re shoving irrelevant content down their throat for the sake of posting content, they WILL unfollow you and remember the annoyance (and tell their friends).
It’s all about digital relationship building (It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason)
- Stop constantly selling, getting RSVPs, or posting about events.
- Give staff shoutouts, client testimonials, customer reviews, new partner/client announcements. Grow a community.
- GIVE. Don’t always want to RECEIVE.