A digital presence is instrumental for businesses. You need to make certain your company stays top of mind when it comes to decision making. With social media growing every minute, there’s no better time than now to give your business the mass audience and engagement that only social media can provide.
Social media includes websites and apps designed for people to share content and connect quickly and easily. But it’s also a great place for business. According to Pew Research Center, 7 out of 10 Generation X-ers (people between the ages of 38 to 53 years old) are more likely to purchase from brands they follow on social media.
So where should you start? Well, Facebook is easily the biggest of all the social platforms making it a great starting place to focus your efforts that can drive fast results for your business.
Facebook is the most popular social network with 79% of internet users visiting the site. So not only do a large majority of internet users visit Facebook, they also spend an average of 35 minutes on the site daily. That’s why it’s important to make Facebook work faster and harder for your business. When used correctly, this platform gives you the opportunity to personally interact with your target market on a regular basis. After all, Americans spend an average of 10 hours and 39 minutes consuming media across their devices. Why not have that media incorporate your brand message and products?
For your brand to get the most out of Facebook, you need to be present, helpful and engaged. A strong majority of consumers felt that brands should provide details on how to get the most out of their product. You can do this by posting and sharing helpful content, including images and videos that add value to your customer’s experience.
Also, engaging with customers is a must as 89% of social messages are ignored by brands making consumers feel unheard. By answering questions coming from your audience, your brand is able to extend past a physical location and provide help and resources to your audience where they’re seeking it.
Lastly, updating regularly is key for keeping your audience in the know. Make sure your profile information is complete and accurate. And as a rule of thumb, post at least twice a day. This guarantees fresh and consistent content while also creating higher chances of getting discovered without oversaturating your current audience. It’s also key to post in the afternoon or early evenings. Most users tend to check Facebook at lunch or at the end of the day, making the time between 1-4 pm prime for posting. Pro-Tip: To avoid seeming robotic, try to avoid posting at an exact time and vary your afternoon posting times since other brands may be doing the same.
Up your game by knowing what your audience wants to see. Shorter posts work for more than just Twitter, staying below 250 characters can get you 60% more engagement than you’d get with lengthy posts. This applies to asking questions as well, the shorter and more concise the questions, the better the engagement.
In addition to traditional posts, Facebook also offers Facebook Live which streams video on their site. According to Facebook, Facebook Live videos are watched 3x more than pre-recorded videos. Brands taking advantage of this fun feature can show a different side of their business or products with some creativity. They can also answer questions and provide information in the moment while viewers are tuned in.
There are four types of social posts that can make a big impact for your business, the simplest being project photos. The key to these posts are to include multiple photos whenever possible, tagging the products used, and linking out to your website. According to Sprout Social, Facebook posts with an image have an 87% interaction rate over plain-text posts.
Next, we have video. When it comes to Facebook, most videos play without sound until clicked making text on your video critical for keeping a user’s attention. Digiday discovered that some brands experience up to 85% of their videos being watched without sound (Sprout Social, 2017). For higher-quality videos, post them directly on Facebook and tag people or products mentioned in the video.
If you’ve got a blog, Facebook is a great place to share it. Posting your blog articles on Facebook encourages readers to click and read or start a conversation with you. According to Hubspot SEO, companies that use blogs get 67% more leads than those that do not.
Lastly, social media is all about being social making it the perfect place to share your events and gatherings. When you’re creating event reminders, make sure to tag the event page and include a relevant image or video, link to the event, and where they can find you at the venue.
Now that you’ve got a feel for what sharing on Facebook is all about, consider leveraging your social media presence with advertising. Facebook is an affordable platform and can be a great way to build a following and increase awareness of your business. Easily target users by location, demographics, age, gender, interests, behavior, and connections, then leverage Facebook remarketing ads to keep current leads or recent website visitors engaged and drive them to request a quote.
By using our above tips, you’ll get more eyes on your brand and make social media work harder for you.