You’ve set up your business accounts on a number of social media platforms. Now how do you optimise their performance and reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time?
1. Build an audience
Ask your current customers to like your page or account (a link on your website can be a simple but effective traffic-driving mechanism). Engage with trending topics to improve your brand’s visibility and think creatively about how you could take advantage of events that are trending online during the year. Above all, have a strategy – social media should be part of the fabric of the organisation, not just an afterthought.
2. Don’t forget mobile
Facebook is a mobile-first site, which means that it automatically adapts to whatever device the user is browsing on. Desktop, mobile and tablet users all get a seamless experience. There are 989 million mobile visitors using Facebook every day, so it’s important that your own website is optimised for mobile too. A poor user experience can be enough to lose a new customer – one that you’ve worked hard to attract.
3. Think about what you’re going to share on your page
Make your content relevant, timely and engaging. What do your audience want to hear about right now? Keep your tone natural to build trust. Tell your business’s story and consider using behind the scene insights, promote seasonal offers or re-share fan-generated content. Share your expertise via posts that set your business apart as a thought leader in your sector – this will keep people coming back to your page.
4. Post regularly to build a presence
Talk with your audience, not to them; ask questions and invite their opinions. Their comments will often be one of the best (and cheapest) insight tools available to you – listen to what they are saying. Set aside time every day to answer queries and reply to comments.
5. Use video and photos
As well as deciding what and how often you’re going to share content, you should consider how you’re going to share it. Research shows that video and photo content has far greater reach than text alone. The advance of smartphone technology means that anyone can make engaging video without the need for sophisticated equipment – it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Try experimenting with Facebook Live, a live video tool that allows businesses to connect with their audience in real time – a feature recently made famous by Chewbacca Mom in the US. If you have an Instagram account, it’s possible to link this to your Facebook page, and post content and ads to both platforms simultaneously.
6. Dedicate people in the company to look after your social media channels
This could be shared among a number of colleagues but must be seamless to ensure the page is regularly monitored. Draw up guidelines so everyone understands the tone and rules behind posting, and make sure any insights gleaned from followers are shared with the wider organisation. It’s a good idea to schedule posts in advance using Facebook’s scheduling tool, but you must have a contingency plan in case something changes and a post needs to be deleted quickly.
7. Monitor which posts get people talking
Every post will show the number of people reached, and there are insight tools to track performance in real time. You can monitor engagement levels with your page, understand more about your fans and which content they are most likely to engage with. Can you determine the best time of the day or week to post? Are there any knock on effects on your own website (can you see a spike in visitors, enquiries or sales)? Use this insight to build your content calendar for the year ahead.
8. Use insights to understand what works
Every page has a whole treasure trove of valuable information to explore. Using insights, you can find out who’s looking at your page, when and how. You can also see which types of content they engage with most. When you’re using Facebook ads, insights can help you decide on relevant target audiences and create an ad according to what interests that group the most.
9. Define your audience
Facebook has sophisticated audience tools to group users by interests, location, shopping habits and more. Use custom audiences to find and target existing customers, or to make sure that they see your boosted posts. Lookalike audiences can also be used to find new followers who are a similar demographic to your current fans and increase your audience. You can also publish posts to certain audience segments - perhaps a post advertising an upcoming open day would benefit from being sent to your local followers, for example.
10. Advertise your business
If you’re pleased with the performance of your posts, there are a number of advertising options available to boost them further. An ad on mobile and desktop newsfeeds will boost brand awareness; linked ads will drive more traffic to a website; and there are dedicated ad types for business owners launching new mobile apps.
You can also define which conversion you’re interested in - such as making a purchase on your website - via the ads manager. Facebook will subsequently only show the ad to people likely to take that action. You can also target your posts to potential customers in your neighbourhood, by using local business ads. This format includes a map and call to action button, such as call now, get directions and send message. Above all, have objectives for every ad you post and monitor the outcome
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with Facebook sponsor of the Guardian Small Business Network Connected for Success hub.
