Everybody is on Facebook. And for good reason, as an overwhelming majority of social marketers say that Facebook provides the best ROI among social media platforms. While ROI can vary among industries and brands, it’s still a good bet that Facebook is worth your time. How can you ensure that your efforts will be effective?
Here are some tips for winning on Facebook:
- Use native Facebook content. Did your organization produce a beautiful video that’s prominently displayed on your website? You want your Facebook fans to see it, but with organic post reach down to about 2%, that won’t happen unless you change your strategy. In order to get better performance on Facebook, upload that beautiful video to your Facebook video library to share, rather than posting it via a link from your website. Also, create photo albums in Facebook and post from there, rather than from other sources. Share posts from other Facebook pages rather than from outside links.
- Optimize videos for best results. According to a Facebook VP, the platform will “definitely” be all mobile and “probably” all video within five years. And we already know that videos are 135% more likely than photos to be viewed on Facebook. Thus, it’s important to have a social video strategy to ensure maximum impact.
- Set your videos to “autoplay” so that they will start automatically as users scroll through their page feeds and increase the likelihood that users will view them.
- Live videos are three times more likely to be watched than others, so give them a try. [See our article on using Facebook Live from November, 2016.]
- Add closed captions to your videos. This is helpful not only for users with hearing issues, but also for users who may be in a situation where they need to mute/silence their devices.
- Time your post boosting strategically. Timing of posts can really make a difference. Facebook Analytics can help you determine the days/times that your users are most active on your page. Use that data to plan your posts and how you’ll boost them. Consider waiting to boost a post until you see what kind of traction it’s getting. It’s best to wait until engagement picks up before boosting.
- Get the most out of ad targeting. Boosting posts or running ads on Facebook can be effective, but don’t forget about your targeting strategy to help get the most bang for your buck. Here are some things to consider:
- Include those who have been converted by previous ads.
- Target by interest, but don’t go overboard – try to limit the parameter to no more than four interests per ad.
- Split testing is a good tool to help you achieve the best results from your ads.
- Don’t forget geo targeting where appropriate, such as when local events/venues are featured.
- Consider using Facebook “life events” for targeting. For example, include “expecting a baby” and “new child” life events when targeting for maternity services or pediatric services promotions.
- Hashtags are for Twitter and Instagram. Recent reports show that Facebook posts with hashtags are less effective than those without hashtags. So, unless you have a campaign in progress with its own specific hashtag, keep your Facebook content hashtag-free.