Pretty much every business today is present on Facebook, but not all of them are successful in their efforts. Establishing a Facebook presence isn’t difficult per se, but having a working Facebook strategy that results in engaged followers and good traffic can be an entirely different story.
It really isn’t as simple as updating your status and having people flock to your page. Worse, a business may start their Facebook marketing with good intentions, but will soon give up on it when they don’t see the results they wanted. Let’s dive into some tips on how you can increase engagement and traffic on Facebook!
6 FACEBOOK MARKETING TIPS
ASK QUESTIONS
As a medium where people share posts, leave comments, and communicate with one another, Facebook just begs for dialogue with your potential customers. A good way to encourage engagement among your audience is to ask them questions. The cool thing about asking questions is not only that it engages, but it can be integrated into almost any other, more comprehensive Facebook strategy.
Rather than posting “normal” articles, why not directly ask your audience about their opinion? Don’t just post your view about something, but ask them about theirs!
“The new album by XYZ was just released, and my favourite song is the second one. So awesome, I could listen to it all day! Do you agree? Which song do you like best?”.
“I really think that Kim Kardashian went too far this time! Seriously, I don’t think she’s a good role model for our children with how she behaved at the award show yesterday! What do you think?”.
Obviously, you can (and likely should) ask questions more tailored to the specific content you’re posting, but you get the idea. Try it—you will be amazed!
KEEP YOUR CONTENT DIVERSE AND LEARN WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
Don’t bore your audience with status updates that all look the same. Even if you produce the best types of lists or articles, keep your feed diverse and interesting—even if it’s just in the way you present your info. Mix various types of content and don’t just post willy nilly—instead, organise your posts in a way that keeps things fresh and exciting for readers. Here, you can use Facebook Insights to see what type of content resonates most with your audience. If you see that one type of content is particularly well-performing, it will make sense to utilise this type most often. In all likelihood, however, a good mix of everything—articles, lists, images etc.—may work best!
A PICTURE ON FACEBOOK IS WORTH MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS
Photos are always great if you want to build engagement and boost traffic on Facebook. While posting photos may not work for all types of businesses, it can work exceptionally well for some. Think about industries such as apparel, beauty, and the like. But even other types of businesses, including B2B companies, may be able to drive more traffic by using photos in their updates. Photos break up the monotony of words, and render a greater reaction from audiences outright. Here too, Facebook Insights can be a great tool to help you create engagement among your audience.
THE TIMING OF YOUR FACEBOOK UPDATES IS IMPORTANT
There are still some Facebook marketers who are not aware of just how important timing is when it comes to posting. Not only do things like geographical location and age matter, but also other lifestyle factors such as work schedule. Of course, you don’t want to post a major offer when your target demographic is all at work or fast asleep.
That said, exactly what time of day to post will depend on the crucial metrics mentioned above, which should all be explored well before establishing a strong Facebook presence. From here, you can use the tools offered by Insights and other analysis methods to post when the time is right. Keep in mind that, as a general rule, people tend to be on their lunch break around noon local time, and then are leaving work in the early evening.
ALWAYS USE A CALL TO ACTION
Every seasoned marketer will tell you about the importance of the “call to action”. This is where you literally tell your audience how to respond. You’ve certainly seen a call to action in any newsletter or product page, where they’ll say things like “Click here to visit …” or “Sign up for my newsletter” or “Buy now!”, etc.
Amazingly, many seem to have forgotten the importance of the call for action when it comes to their Facebook strategy! And yet, it is so easy to add one to your updates!
Know, however, that you shouldn’t make the mistake of doing a “hard sell” or being overenthusiastic about getting people to your page. Effective call to actions are those that declare things such as “Like if you agree …” or “Share this post to spread the message”. You may be surprised how even a simple photo with an encouraging call to action can be very effective in terms of engagement and drawing in some good traffic on Facebook!
FREQUENCY OF YOUR POSTS IS KEY
Your posting frequency on Facebook can greatly influence your audience’s engagement. Here, however, you may be required to do some testing to find out what works best. Posting too often and annoying people won’t do you any good, nor will posting so infrequently that people forget who you are and wonder why they followed you in the first place. Before you dig into your Insights to see what works, you could start out by posting maybe one or two times per day, and then tweaking your frequency accordingly. After a few days or weeks have passed, you should have a preliminary schedule that works for you.
The above Facebook marketing tips are rather simple to implement. You don’t even need to be an expert marketeer or mogul to properly engage your fans and boost traffic. Even small businesses can take advantage of the suggestions above to create a Facebook strategy that grows and grows! Good luck!
