If you own a smartphone or have any mode of access to the Internet, chances are you have a Facebook account. And so do billions worldwide! Last we checked Facebook has an average of 1.45 billion active daily users. Sounds insane?
For marketers, while those numbers mean for potential, they come with a downside: everybody wants their post to be seen, and there are a lot of posts (an estimated 4:1 ratio of posts to people, in fact). If you don’t already know, organic reaches have steadily gone down through the years although Facebook’s not acknowledging it.
Why this happens isn’t just because of the metaphorical mountain that is the 4-billion-posts-per-day-on-Facebook burying your own post – it’s also due to Facebook’s Newsfeed Algorithm, which filters posts and does quality control to ‘optimise the user experience’ by showing them what’s relevant and interesting to them.
That algorithm doesn’t necessarily help the marketers struggling to get their fan-base to see their recent posts, however – and the less engagement you get the less likely Facebook will let your posts be featured on people’s News Feeds.
Sounds scary, but there are ways to outsmart artificial intelligence:
Know When to Post
Depending on your targeted audience, the demographics and psychographics of your audience are prominent factors to timing your posts perfectly.
Why? Because no one really scrolls through Facebook during office hours.
And according to Hootsuite, the best times for them to post on Facebook are 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. during the weekdays excluding Tuesdays (the slowest day for them) and 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. during the weekends.
Posting at the right times increases your chances of increasing audience engagement (likes, comments, shares and website click-throughs); so to achieve that, your Facebook Page Insights can be used to track and analyse your engagement data.
Don’t Spam, Be Realistic in Your Frequency
No one likes a pusher. Never mind an audience that scrolls through hundreds of posts every day. Depending on your followers and your content, you can post more than the recommended 1 – 3/day if:
- You have an international following; posting at different times depending on their time zones covers more ground.
- You have high-quality content that has variety. People are more likely to be attracted by posts that are humorous, inspirational and informative. Post at different timings with different types of content.
Utilise Facebook Video Formats
Facebook videos are an integral part of the average user’s routine to using Facebook – from tutorial videos to informational ones, we scroll through our video feed without pause; making this format as versatile as it is engaging with over 8 billion average daily views and 100 million hours devoted to videos each day.
And based on Sproutsocial’s analysis, here are some key things in creating video content on Facebook:
- 85% of Facebook’s users watch videos with no sound; with 80% of them responding negatively towards videos with auto-play sound.
- Captioned video ads have an increased video time of 12%
- 20% of Facebook Videos watched are Live; with an engagement rate 3 times higher than a non-live video.
Set Your Preferred Page Audience
Specifying the location, demographics, language and interests of your intended audience on Preferred Page Audience increases the organic reach of your page. And while it’s not the end-all to all solutions, every step counts.
Create Shareable, High-quality Content with Purpose
Content is key in keeping your audience interested and engaged. Humour,
inspirational and educational posts that resonate with your audience are what
prompts them to click into your content because it’s
relevant and useful to them.
To further boost the quality and relevancy of your posts, ask yourself these questions:
- Is it helpful to the intended audience?
- Does it fulfil its promise (purpose)?
- Are there interesting visuals (images, videos) unique only to my brand on the page?
- Are there Call to Action prompts in my posts to get my audience to take the desired action? (‘Sign Up Now’, ‘Learn More’, ‘Like’, ‘Share’, et cetera)
Not sure how to get started? Work with our digital marketing team, and get a kick-start ahead of your competitors!
Table of Contents
Know When to Post
Don’t Spam, Be Realistic in Your Frequency
Utilise Facebook Video Formats
Set Your Preferred Page Audience
Create Shareable, High-quality Content with Purpose
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It’s always nice to see your digital marketing efforts get viral on social media and reach a wide audience in a very short period of time. However, chasing viral marketing may lead to your downfall in this digital age.
Virality is often dictated by the STEPPS factor – Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories. Due to the widespread content, the things that trend these days can range from heartfelt stories to a simple photo of an egg.
Yes, a stock image of an egg went viral on Instagram and beat Kylie Jenner’s record for the number of likes. If this piece of news does not dissuade you from pursuing virality mindlessly, here are 3 more reasons to do so: