By Angie Tutterrow, By Design Media
Facebook is still a powerful marketing tool. If you compare it to every other social platform out there, Facebook is still the biggest. It now has over 2 billion monthly active users and over 1 billion daily active users. And they grew to this size within the span of 13 years. Here are a few tips to help you use Facebook as a tool in your marketing belt.
Be Relatable – Have you ever seen a post on Facebook and immediately thought, “YES! I know EXACTLY what he/she is talking about!”. This is what I mean by being relatable. Any time you can combine humor with an idea or experience that people can relate to, you have a winning combination. You don’t have to be a comic-genius to share or create humorous content! Jokes are an effective way of humanizing your brand persona and eliciting an emotional response from your audience. Just remember to keep things tasteful and avoid controversy.
Build STRONG Relationships NOW for Viral Growth Later – It’s a simple fact. Your engagement rates, and likelihood of showing up in News Feeds, will increase if you take the time to be present on your page and consistently communicate with your EXISTING community (the people who have already “Liked” your page). Facebook magic happens when your friends and fans share your content with their friends and fans and so on and so on. Do that enough and you end up with a viral post.
Draw on Emotions – Associating your brand or product with a strong emotion such as love or loyalty is a great way to bump up the virality-factor. You can do this through a photo, video or even just a plain old text post; the main ingredient is simply that people feel something when they see your post. Tell Stories – People remember stories! The reason why stories work is because it’s personal and your fans will probably have a similar story or situation that they’re going through. This allows you to connect on a personal level. Make sure to share stories about your life and business on Facebook.
So you know the importance of your content, but which type will work best for your brand? Let’s take a look at the various types of organic Facebook content and how you can best use each one:
- Status: The simplest form of communication can sometimes be the most powerful. With new features like larger text for shorter messages and the option to put your text on a colored background, you can get your essential message out in a more vibrant and eye-catching way.
- Images: Posts with images drive 2.3 times more engagement, so being visual helps. But don’t rely on images to do all the work–put effort into high-quality photos and awe your audience. If your product is considered “boring,” use beautiful images to highlight your brand’s creative side. Inspire users with virtual reality features or 360-degree content.
- Videos: Video is in high demand, however, only 15% of Facebook videos are watched with sound. Video should be accessible, easy to digest and always have captions. Create videos that catch a user’s attention and provides something worthwhile.
- Facebook Live: Live content drives three times more engagement on Facebook. With in-the-moment content growing in popularity, see how your brand can give sneak peeks into industry or office events, product launches and other behind the scenes content. Go Live, wow your audience and engage.