A website that began as a way for college students to connect on campus is one of the world’s largest social networks today. With more than 1 billion daily active users accessing Facebook more than eight times per day on average, the platform is indisputably one of the most powerful ways to leverage influence and reach your target audience. Unfortunately, with more users comes more clutter. Users are bombarded with memes, fake news, real news, photos of friends and family, advertisements, videos and of course, posts from the brands they follow.
So how can your B2B brand cut through this clutter and see results on Facebook? Read on to learn what it takes to create effective organic content on this platform.
In an endless avalanche of Facebook posts, articles and photos, a brand’s content must be outstanding to get noticed. Try the following tips to break through the noise:
Why did you choose this content to post? What return on investment (ROI) are you hoping to see? Whether you are promoting a product, informing your audience or eliciting a specific reaction, keep your business goals in mind and let them inform the content strategy.
People are less likely to engage with posts that are overly formal, transparently promotional or use unfamiliar jargon. Don’t just focus on selling your products and services. Instead, make an effort to connect and engage so that your audience will like and trust your brand. You are competing with fun photos, videos and updates from close friends and family members, so make your content worth clicking.
Compelling visuals are critical to drawing a viewer’s eye. Facebook posts with images see 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Take the time to find a relevant photo, logo or infographic to accompany your brand’s message to increase impressions and engagement.
Online video content is increasingly attracting the attention of advertisers and marketers, so ensure your brand remains competitive by including it in your strategy. Research suggests that if a brand’s campaign led to 100 people trying a product, 74 of those 100 people will have been reached in the first 10 seconds of that brand’s video ad. Take advantage of Facebook’s autoplay feature and grab viewers’ attention quickly.
A 2013 study revealed that the top reasons people follow brands on Facebook are to support the brand (49%), to get a coupon or discount (42%) and to receive regular updates from the brand (41%). People also follow pages to learn about new products, participate in contests and share their experiences. Every time you post to Facebook, picture your audience asking: “What’s in it for me?”
Have you ever seen a post distributed on Facebook that was clearly meant for Twitter? Get rid of any “@” signs, hashtags, abbreviations and anything else that could indicate the post wasn’t intended for Facebook. Nothing looks lazier than a post that was clearly scheduled in another platform.
Keep an eye on what’s trending on Facebook and jump in when possible. While you shouldn’t bend over backwards to try and create content for an unrelated trend, a brand should always be up-to-date on the news and know when to join a conversation, mention a topic or post something relevant. After the United Airlines disaster, one of the top trending topics on social media, Merriam-Webster capitalised on the moment by tweeting its definition of “volunteer,” staying true to its brand while also garnering more than 40,000 retweets and 65,000 likes.
Most Facebook users won’t be scrolling through their feed at 2 a.m. Assess the target time zones and customise your schedule so your page’s posts reach the most people. While this is certainly not set in stone, a report from Sprout Social found that Wednesdays and Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. were the most successful times to post. The worst times are generally before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m. but it’s important to also consider where your audience is based and their demographics, as this could dictate different posting times.
More than 1.6 billion users visit Facebook on a daily basis. With so many users, and so much content, your brand’s Facebook updates could be buried under a mountain of new posts in the blink of an eye. Thus, it’s crucial to create a strong Facebook content marketing strategy to break through the clutter and reach your target audience. By following the above best practices, you can create engaging, sticky content that will keep your followers coming back to your page and encourage shares that drive additional followers to your profile.
Need help determining what your organization should post on Facebook and how to do so successfully? Mulberry is here to help with your social media strategy – contact us to get the conversation started.
Thomas Jilk is a Senior Account Executive at Mulberry Marketing Communications, an award-winning full-service B2B communications agency based in Chicago, London and Australia. He uses his journalism and marketing skills to tell compelling brand stories for clients.