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Are you marketing on Facebook?
Do you want better reach for your Facebook posts?
Using the right posting tactics will give you better results from your Facebook marketing.
In this article you'll discover six tips for more effective Facebook posts.
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#1: Create a Posting Road Map
Many businesses start posting on Facebook without a plan. As a result, their posts often don't address the needs of their audience.
Consider creating a road map for your posts covering various topics.
For example, if you're in the fitness industry, your content could cover fitness tips, blog marketing, healthy recipes and so on. The more topics you add to your content bucket, the more variety you can offer to your audience.
After you choose the topics you'll cover, create a calendar. A content calendar maps out what to post each day. Having a schedule also helps you build in enough time to create your social media images.
If you're not sure how far out to schedule your posts, creating a content calendar for one week in advance is a good rule of thumb. This gives you the flexibility to keep up with timely topics.
#2: Write Your Text for Skim Readers
Rather than debate the length of Facebook posts, consider the decreasing attention span of users. A study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information showed that people have an attention span of 8 seconds, which is 1 second less than that of a goldfish.
If you apply that to Facebook, the first three to four words of your update are crucial to grabbing your audience's attention.
For help creating a compelling Facebook update, try a tool like CoSchedule's Headline Analyzer. Enter your post copy in the text box, and the tool will provide recommendations to improve your update.
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On Facebook, there are four types of content you can post: links, images, videos and text updates. According to a Socialbakers study (which analyzed 4,445 business pages between October 2014 and February 2015), video is the most important engagement driver, followed by text updates, links and photos.
However, before choosing content types for your posts, take time to analyze your business and audience. For example, if you want to drive traffic to your blog, the link format likely would work well for you. On the other hand, if brand awareness is your main goal, images and videos are a better bet.
Suppose that you want to drive attention to a link in the description. So in the post, you include an image along with the link. When you analyze the clicks for that post, you find that out of 51 post clicks, there was only 1 link click.
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The takeaway is that the content type you chose did not effectively drive attention to the link. Make sure that you check your analytics to see if you're choosing the right content types.
#4: Consider Using Brand Hashtags
Do you use hashtags while posting on Facebook? A recent Buffer study revealed that posts without hashtags outperform posts with hashtags on Facebook.
However, before you dismiss the idea of hashtags altogether, test them for yourself. Is there a particular hashtag you use for your branding? Using hashtags on Facebook can make sense if they contribute to your brand positioning.
Adidas frequently uses the hashtag #teamadidas in their posts because it's synonymous with their brand.
Hashtags also may be effective if you're posting about a trending topic.
#5: Customize Your Facebook Post Descriptions
When you post a link on Facebook, it fetches the metadata automatically. This can be edited.
For example, suppose that you want to republish a post. All you need to do is change the description metadata to fit the post description and suit the current context.
Remember that Facebook posts are now searchable, so this is an excellent opportunity to add your keywords, too.
#6: Experiment With Your Publishing Times
Some Facebook managers don't dig into analytics to discover the ideal days or times to post. They simply post when the content is ready.
According to this HubSpot article, the best days to post on Facebook are Thursday and Friday, and the worst days to post are Monday through Wednesday. Of course, you'll want to decide what works best for your page.
To maximize your engagement, it's important to check your analytics. Tools like Facebook Insights and Bitly (if you post links) can be helpful if you don't want to invest in an analytics tool.
If you're looking for a bit more information, there are paid tools available that will give you detailed analytics. For example, Fanpage Karma will give you stats on each type of content.
Over to You
Businesses are constantly striving to get more attention on Facebook, which has 1.44 billion monthly active users. With the right strategy, you can see more success from your Facebook posts.
What do you think? Have you used any of these tactics in your own Facebook marketing? How do you get more attention for your Facebook posts? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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