5 Tip Tuesday: 5 Fires To Avoid When Posting To Facebook
Billions. Facebook measures it's valuation and potential reach not in the hundreds, not in the thousands, not in the millions but in the billions. If you have something to sell, the potential audience that Facebook can provide for your business is invaluable. But if you know a thing or two about Facebook, you know that marketing on their platform is not foolproof. Facebook marketing is the subject of entire courses of study and specialists like us are hired to consult with companies on their Facebook campaigns. But you can effectively operate your own Facebook campaigns if you avoid the following Facebook fires:
1. Contest Too Complicated
You only have a few seconds to capture your audience's attention mid-scroll. When your awesome Facebook contest post grabs their attention you have even less time to convince them to participate. Beware of the complicated contest entry. Keep your instructions concise, clear and quick to comply with. Asking your participants to comment below or tag a friend are the quickest and easiest ways to enter a contest and they work. Keep it simple!
2. Text-heavy Content
Facebook has stringent rules about the text to image ratio in Facebook advertisements. If you are considering Boosting a post or uploading an advertisement directly through Facebook's Ad Manager confirm that the image you use complies with the Facebook Ads Guide. If your ratio of text to image is too great Facebook will limit the number of people who see it or might reject your advertisement altogether. This Facebook Image Checker and this official Facebook Image Text Check is a handy tool to quickly estimate if your ad has a chance of complying with this rule.
3. Repost Roulette
In the name of keeping it simple beware of asking Facebook contest participants to repost to enter. Some people have set their Facebook permissions and privacy to such high levels their personal pages are hidden from your prying eyes. When it comes time for you to verify the reposts before awarding your prize you cannot be sure of everyone who entered because everyone's wall or reposts may not be visible to you. Instead, require participants to engage on your company pages only, where you can easily monitor and record activity.
4. YouTube Competition
Facebook is a jealous platform. The algorithm that decides which posts will reach more users has a preference for videos uploaded directly to Facebook. So if you have a video on YouTube that you would like to promote on Facebook your best approach is to upload the original video directly to Facebook. Gone are the days you could simply copy and paste your YouTube link to Facebook and expect to see the same number of views as a native video. Facebook favours its own, so if you don't want to re-upload the entire video to Facebook, upload a small part or a teaser and refer people to visit your YouTube page in your copy text above it.
5. Connect Your Instagram ASAP
If you a running a Facebook account for your business, you should be operating an account on Instagram too. Facebook now owns Instagram and the two platforms feed and reward each other if they are connected. Once connected you can identify your Instagram account as a Business Account too, which will give you access to Insights on when people are viewing your posts, the age of your audience, their location and how many people view each Instagram posts you upload. Analytics like this are valuable for you to decide what content is working for the audience you want to reach.
Taking advantage of the tools at your disposal is key to getting the best results for your time and money. Learning how to use these tools makes all the difference. Facebook is still the best social media marketing platform available, but pitfalls abound. Follow some of these warning rules for posting Facebook content, contests and ads to use the platform effectively. Let me know in the comments below if you've tried any of these techniques to make Facebook work for you.
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No two businesses are exactly alike. Different businesses require the use of different tactics to appeal their customers. This week, we’ve picked out five different types of small businesses and chosen one helpful marketing tip for each of them. If you’re starting out in any of these industries, you may want to consider these tips.