Facebook is an essential part of any marketing plan in 2014. Why? How about the fact that there are over 1 billion members? That is a huge audience of potential customers and you don’t want to be missing out. Now, building and maintaining a presence on Facebook requires more than just creating a Facebook page and posting whatever you want, whenever you want. If you want your Facebook efforts to pay off there are guidelines you need to follow.
Here are 7 best practices you should be following.
1. Post to Facebook regularly.
When it comes to posting to Facebook there is no way to tell what the exact ideal number is, but a good range tends to be 5-10 times a week. If you post more or less than this, there is a good chance you may lose engagement with your audience.
2. Create engaging content.
If all you do is state your opinions and post sales pitches, you are not going to engage your audience very well. You want to give your fans and followers unique content that is entertaining, educational and engaging. You want to post a range of different content such as photos, videos, events and polls, just to name a few.
3. Create a conversation with fans.
Social media is a two-way conversation. Ask questions to get people to provide answers and start having a conversation. Link to articles that will give them more information that they will want to share with others. Ask them to share their thoughts and opinions on a certain topic. These are just a few of the many ways to strike up a conversation with your fans.
4. Have a call-to-action in each post.
You need to tell your audience exactly what you want them to do–they can’t read your mind. So tell them to “share your answer” to a posted question or to “use this special code” to receive free shipping on their next order. If you want your fans to take that next step, you need to include a call-to-action in each of your posts.
5. Use the 80/20 rule for content posts versus sales messages.
Don’t oversell or undersell. Customers (and people in general) do not like pushy sales. You are trying to build a relationship with your audience. Content posts will do that, while an occasional sales message will entice your audience to look at what your business has to offer.
6. Make it fun and make it human.
Entertaining your audience is a great way to engage with them. You want to stay true to your brand, but let your corporate hair down. Use humor in a professional, respectful way and show that your company is just a bunch of people who enjoy what they do. By making your corporate face personal, you are able to build a relationship with your audience.
7. Study your statistics and results.
If you are spend time and money on Facebook you need to know if your efforts are paying off or not. Facebook Insights is Facebook’s internal analytics tool that provides you with great data on which content is and isn’t engaging your fans. It’s important to regularly monitor your insights so you can improve upon your content strategy.
By following these best practices, you will see your efforts on Facebook start to have a real impact on your business. Traffic numbers will start to pick up and your sales numbers should soon follow.
Do you have any other Facebook best practices that you follow? Share them below!
