A lot of marketers believe that brand pages on Facebook are becoming less and less valuable for content marketing. People click like on Facebook but do not return afterward because an initial incentive caught their attention. They are more likely the kind of people that will hide a brand’s posts on their newsfeed. This lead to Facebook’s algorithm putting your post updates in low priority because Facebook uses engagements to base their ranking on.
Oftentimes, the problem is not about the Facebook’s technology, but rather how marketers use it. They usually treat their brand pages as a platform for promotional campaigns. The online community likes being a part of an engaging, and active promotional or advertising post in order for them to actually hit the like button and not unhide brand posts.
What makes it more challenging is the new feature Facebook just rolled out to control promotional posts from flooding the newsfeed. These promotional posts include:
- Posts that encourage people to enter promotions
- Posts that try to convince people to buy a certain product or download and install an app
- Posts with contents that are recycled exactly the way it was posted
However, you can still do something about it. An effective content marketing strategy can help your Facebook engagement strategy to work. Here are some tips.
- Use original images in your content.
Creating and placing an original image in your content is proven to be more helpful in attracting people and actually get them to like your posts. Highly creative content is crucial in implementing a successful content marketing strategy. More so, if the images are original and unique. There is a higher chance that it would garner a lot of likes, shares, and an opportunity to go viral. As a result, your site will gain more traffic and your sales will increase.
- Make sure you use an image in your content even if you cannot include an original image.
Images are essential to a great content. Readers have a short attention span that they hate reading an article or any content that is just a wall of text and without images.
- Short posts are more effective. Limit your posts to characters fewer than 250.
Facebook engagements of brands that post contents less than 250 are proven to be higher than those that post longer contents. This proves that you do not need a longer content to be effective. A short yet powerful content can be more effective than longer ones. Also, this can be attributed to millennial’s short attention span due to the abundance of information that is available to them.
- Shell out some cash to pay for ads.
Facebook has great features for targeting audience. This will ensure that your posts will reach millions of people worldwide and increase your Facebook engagements. You will realize that it is worth it to pay for Facebook advertisements after all. There will be a higher chance of success if your contents are able to reach out more people worldwide for a small amount of money and less effort.
- Create and share relevant information, articles, and contents about trending topics
People like to read newsworthy contents and articles with relevant information. If you share information even if it is from other sources, people are going to read it. You also have to post on a regular basis to keep your page fresh. If you need help in writing blogs, there are a list of the best writing services online to help you with writing your contents.
The quality and relevance of your content are the heart of your content marketing strategy. Take time to plan and carefully curate contents according to your goals and business objectives. Keep in mind that the voice and style of your contents should reflect your company’s vision.
- Post contents that are exclusive to Facebook only
There are some pride and a feeling of being a privilege in getting to experience something exclusive. By providing exclusive access to a meaningful post, your loyal followers will greatly appreciate your brand page and pay more attention to your future posts.
- Place your promotional content as a cover photo.
Cover photos are what people see first when they visit a page. Promote an important content by placing it as your cover letter. Your customers and those who will search for you will know the current promotions or offerings that they can get from purchasing your products and services.
- If you are pitching for a sale for your product, save it for the paid Facebook ads
As mentioned, Facebook’s strategy when it comes to promotional ads is to target your potential customers worldwide. So it is best that you save your best sales pitch for your paid advertisements. You will get more than what you paid for when the returns start coming in. Just make sure that you pitch is rich, meaningful, and engaging to garner enough likes and generate leads for your business, or else, everything will be put to waste.
- Turn your page into a community
If you turn your page into a community, you can keep your readers and loyal followers engaged with your brand. They will be eager to participate, give their thoughts, voice out their complaints and needs, which can help you improve your products and services. This is a good way to get data from the Facebook engagement that can lead to an improved and successful business.
- Create and integrate an interactive app
To get more people to hit the like button and share your content, creating and integrating an interactive app can help. It is not hard to do and will be worth the effort. If you have extra cash to burn, you can opt to create your own app. Interactive apps include games, videos, reviews, and discussion that urge customers and readers to share what they think or feel.
- Maximize the use of hashtags
Hashtags are very useful and effective in finding contents in social media. They are especially useful to brands that create their own hashtags. They also encourage people to engage and get creative.
Following these tips can greatly help increase and sustain your Facebook engagements. Two great examples of huge brands that successfully made Facebook a viable content marketing platform are McDonald’s and Pepsi. Both brands have creative and engaging Facebook pages. Each has its own strategy that is uniquely their own that is easily recognized and remembered by their loyal customers. They also make it a point to get their audience to participate in their latest promotional offers to keep their Facebook engagements strategy on top.
If you are not too familiar with how to fine tune and tweak your brand’s Facebook page, it is a great idea to start by investing some time to educate yourself on how to make your Facebook page work and its marketing benefits.
Facebook is still a social platform; you must understand that pushy promotional content in the news feed can possibly turn off people. If you respect your audience and you understand how to strategically apply effective content marketing principles to your brand’s page, Facebook can still be a viable content marketing platform.
About author:
Malia Keirsey is a passionate blogger and writer from Chicago. She has finished The University of Chicago with master’s degree in sociology. Malia is fond of blogging and web design. Follow @MaliaKeirsey on Twitter.
