FACEBOOK STRATEGY
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW (FOR NOW)
SPEAKER
Christy Mannering the Professional
•
Web Developer at the University of
Delaware
Christy Mannering the Person
PERSONALITY
• Part of the strategy to Facebook (and all social
media) is to make sure you keep your
personality.
• No one likes a deadpan lecturer.
• You can share intelligent and useful information
in a compelling way.
CHALLENGES
• One, when Facebook tweaks their algorithm they are experimenting and we
are their guinea pigs.
• Two, when Facebook started we all “liked” our favorite music and TV shows.
Now we can like our favorite brands, companies, products, all the way down
to the hobby of liking how our voice sounds through a fan.
• What does this mean?
CHALLENGES CONTINUED
• Well, first you should know these challenges impact everyone. Whether you’re
a huge brand with millions of likes, a community organization page or a nonprofit, this will affect you.
• If someone has 300 friends likes 700 different things then there is less space
in their news feed to show those 1,000 different updates.
DO NOT ADMIT DEFEAT
• You will have cricket days.
• You might post something and get no
engagement. This is OKAY!
• You can repost the same content at a
different time on a different day and get
better engagement. (Just make sure you
post other things in between)
NOW LET’S GET INTO THE SOLUTIONS
QUALITY VERSE QUANTITY
• The number of fans on a page does not correlate to what percentage of fans
see your post.
• You can have 300 fans and reach 3,000 people.
• How?
THE HOW?
• How can a page with 300 fans
reach 3,000 people?
• A fan who likes and comments on your
page can make your post go viral.
Their interaction shows up in their
profile activity. If they have 500
friends then 500 people who were
not your initial target audience now
have the potential to see their friend’s
interaction with your content.
WHAT NOT TO DO
• Do not neglect your page. A page that is ignored gets penalized and it is
very hard to bring it back to life.
• Don’t ask for Likes, comments, or shares. Facebook is flagging these posts as
spam.
• Don’t post only links. Posting only links to your own domain is penalized. So
mix it up.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
• Social media is like exercise.
It takes patience, consistency and commitment.
BE “SOCIAL” IN SOCIAL MEDIA
• Engaging your connections across
Facebook is an often forgotten
component.
• If you walked out of your house every
morning to find people have left fliers on
your car, but no one stayed to talk it
would be annoying. Social media is no
different.
HOW DO YOU ENGAGE?
• Your page can “like” other pages. Log in
as your page, look around Facebook as
your page. Comment, like and share
other pages content.
…STILL ENGAGING
• When you share information that another
brand/page might enjoy, tag them.
Typing in a status and then typing
@[page name] will allow you to tag the
page in your status. (You cannot tag
people when you are logged in as a
page)
…AND STILL ENGAGING
•
When another page begins to follow your
page, check out their content. Follow them
back.
•
Like a neighbor who waves to you on their
way to work. Don’t forget to wave back!
•
If someone leaves a comment than say thank
you. Be responsive.
MAXIMIZE OPPORTUNITY
• We used to be afraid to over post.
• Now I’m telling you POST MORE.
• You should try posting at least 2-3 times per day. And at least once in the
evening hours.
• Allow at least 3 hours in between posts.
I’M TOO BUSY FOR 3 POSTS DAILY
•
Schedule in advance. Think ahead. We know when Ag
Week or Ag Day will be. You can schedule a post six
months in advance.
•
If you have a special event coming up, schedule it when
you get the flier.
•
Come up with a theme like Motivational Mondays. Find
quotes or images that motivate and schedule every
Monday for the next month.
SCHEDULING IN ADVANCE
• In case you do not know how. Up to 6 months in advance.
TIMING & TESTING
• Using tools like Hootsuite you can autoschedule posts to find out a pattern of
when you get the most engagement.
• Tools like Crowdbooster will alert you to
best posting times for your account while
letting you know who your most engaged
users are.
CONTENT
• Now that we’re being social and
neighborly and testing out timing, the
other KEY to Facebook strategy is
content. In particular it is in MIXING UP
THE CONTENT.
• Facebook penalizes you for posting only
direct links to your own content.
CONTAGIOUS CONTENT
• Not every post needs to say your name or brand.
• Include posts about information that shares your mission and
values, it will still interest your audience.
• Inspire. Empower. Educate.
• People engage the most with things that
provoke an emotion or share a value.
EYE CATCHING
• Yes. Photos. Facebook is very photo-centric.
• Oreos posted a “Happy Star Trek Day” photo.
• 26,550 people liked the post, 5,761 people
shared the post and 1,204 people commented.
FUN CONTENT
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Even people looking for research do like to
laugh every now and then.
• Example to the right – IT company Cisco gets
4,291 likes and 1,037 shares for their
Halloween pumpkin post.
FACEBOOK CONTESTS
• Allow people to post garden photos.
Choose the top 5 and then have
followers vote. Their prize can be a
promotional item or promotional gift
card to a local eatery.
FACEBOOK COVERS
• Create new cover photos for
your timeline.
• Recycle through cover shots you
have already used.
• Try themes. Like World Hunger
Day 2014 which is today (May
28th)
DON’T BE SELFISH
• Sharing is caring. People love seeing ideas and inspiration from others that you value instead
of a sales site. Facebook should be seen as a community.
• Pages are notified when you comment, like, share their content. They will be FAR MORE
LIKELY to check out your content if you share theirs.
WEIGHTED INTERACTIONS
• Shares and comments are more strongly
correlated with organic reach than shares
or likes.
• Why?
• Facebook’s algorithm weighs some
interactions more heavily than likes and will
see the post is of interest and then allow it to
come up in more people’s newsfeeds.
• So ask questions, ask for captions, do fillin-the-blanks.
FACEBOOK PAID BOOSTS
• While this is controversial it is becoming more and more relevant.
• Billions of people use Facebook. Millions use it on their mobile devices and at
home on their laptops, etc.
• Why pay $1,000 for an ad in a newspaper that might reach 1,000 people in
one weekend when you can pay $40/month to reach 8,000 people every
day.
TARGET AUDIENCE
•
Facebook boosts provide highly
targeted opportunities to reach your
audience.
•
You can say I only want people age
40-60 in the US who like “higher
education” to see my post. Boom.
You’ve gotten the people most likely
to engage with your content. Is that
worth $40/month? I think so.
HOW OFTEN TO BOOST POSTS?
• You can only run one boosted post at a time.
• Set a budget and stick with it.
• Only boost content that will benefit your audience and pertains to your
institution, brand or company.
• Be clear on what you want to achieve and pay attention to results.
CONCLUSION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Post often.
Mix media.
Be social.
Boost posts.
Engage to get engagement.
Nothing is full proof, but I can promise you that being strategic about social media
WILL BENEFIT you in the long run.