There is no question that over the years, Facebook has evolved quite a bit. Not only did it get bigger, but it also grew much stricter regarding its policy on spam to protect users from businesses that have tried to saturate the news feed with irrelevant and overly salesy posts.
That is why even today you need to re-ask yourself how to be using Facebook for marketing effectively because what worked yesterday might not be working so well today.
Regardless of the hassle and the headache these changes created, it was for the benefit of the users and should not hurt quality marketers. Facebook is one of the most used social platforms available today. In fact, it accounts for about 80% of the market share. As a result, it can generate traffic in the thousands for business owners who develop a loyal following.
How to be Using Facebook for Marketing Effectively?
Some rules that will help you develop an effective Facebook marketing strategy are shown below:
Rule #1 – Focus on the Agenda of Your Fans First
Even if you forget every other part of this post, you should remember this rule: Always focus on the agenda of your fans first. If you do this, you’ll discover you can’t go wrong. Facebook is all about encouraging your followers to tell their friends about what you have to offer.
When you focus on the agenda of your fans, you can get their attention in the form of shares, comments, and likes, more than promoting a new fundraising campaign, which is all about you.
Rule #2 – Host Timeline Competitions to Boost Engagement
You’ll find many ways to deal with a reduced reach on Facebook, but one option that works practically all the time is to host a timeline competition. A timeline competition will boost your engagement by providing a prize to those who participate. You can reward your visitors or fans for actions such as liking a page post, posting an image on a post, private messaging your page, or even commenting on your post.
Rule #3 – Publish Links to Increase Website Traffic
If you want to increase the traffic going to your website, you should try posting links. This can work to improve traffic better than text or photo updates alone. Links to interesting and useful blog posts are the best types of links, but you can also link to promotional videos, how-to’s, eBooks, and infographics. Consider running some targeted Facebook ads on these posts.
Rule #4 – Customize Your Link Post CTAs
Facebook now lets business owners add CTAs to link posts using a tool called the Power Editor. Some CTAs you should consider including are “Download,” “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” “Book Now,” and “Sign Up.”
Rule #5 – Use Photos to Increase Engagement
There is no question that the type of content that people on Facebook engage with the most are images or photos. But, this in no way means that you should only publish photos. While people enjoy all different styles of content, they really enjoy photos – especially ones that have an emotional and immediate impact.
You can also easily see the types of posts that your fans like the most by looking at the Posts report in the Facebook Insights menu.
Rule #6 – Post Closed-Ended Questions to Increase the Number of Comments
Research has shown that closed-ended questions work much better on Facebook than open-ended ones. That’s because a closed-ended question will take advantage of the built-in ability of the brain to “auto-complete.” Really think about this. Rather than using all of your RAM to create an answer to an open-ended question, your brain just has to spit out a “true” or “false,” or a “no” or “yes.” This makes it more likely that your visitors are going to engage and take part in the conversation that is going on.
Rule #7 – Use the Piggyback Method for Trending Topics
In the past few years, Facebook added the trending topics sidebar to the platform.
A trending topic is any story that has displayed an increase in popularity. In this consideration, your personal interests are also factored into the algorithm to determine the trending topics that are displayed on your page.
Trending topics are going to be listed in reverse order with the most trending ones at the top. You can begin leveraging various trending topics if you:
Get additional reach for your page by posting various updates about the latest trending topics – if it makes sense.
Think about how you can join in a conversation or how your cause is connected to a trending topic.
Don’t try to force connections. This will only confuse your followers. Just try to follow your own intuition regarding what is a natural and an obvious connection.
Rule #8 – Use Hashtags in a Smart Way for Your Facebook for Marketing
While hashtags were unique to Twitter for a while, Facebook now offers support for hashtags. They will work just like they do on Twitter; the only difference is that they don’t offer the advanced search features Twitter does.
Before you jump to the conclusion that no one is using hashtags, consider this – the possibility of increasing your reach is worth adding a short and sweet hashtag. After all, it only takes a few seconds to add one at the end of your post or update. However, don’t get too enthusiastic with them, or you may begin to look overly eager. Usually, one or two well-placed hashtags will be enough.
Rule #9 – Share the Posts from Different Pages that Your Fans Like
Another great way to increase your engagement is by sharing posts from other pages out there. This will only work if you share the posts that currently have a pretty high level of engagement. You also need to make sure they are relevant to your fan base on Facebook.
Rule # 10 – Boost Your Facebook for Marketing Reach by Mentioning Pages
When you mention another Facebook page in your update, your update is also likely going to be seen by fans of that particular page. However, don’t try to force the connection. You should only mention a page in an update when it’s highly relevant to what you do or offer.
Conclusion: Follow These 10 Rules to Understand How to be Using Facebook for Marketing Effectively!
When you use the information here on how to be using Facebook for marketing effectively, you’ll discover that it is possible to increase your reach on Facebook.
Don’t try to force connections, but make sure to make the effort to reach your fans where they are and doing what they like to do and look at.
This is the most effective way to increase visibility and reach on Facebook.
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