Social media has completed transformed the way that businesses communicate with their customers. It’s allowed for a much more personal, in-depth and honest look at businesses and what sets them apart from competitors in their industry.
Through the usage of text, photos, video, links and more, small businesses can highlight the most unique and important aspects of what they do, as well as their expertise and knowledge in their particular arena, all from a single digital avenue. You can also interact with your customers directly and in a timely fashion through various forms of posting and messaging.
There’s numerous social media platforms that can be used to promote your small business. However, it’s important to remember that not all channels are created equal, and that the means in which you publish a particular piece of content should be handled differently based on which channel you’re using.
As the first part of a four-part series designed to help you gain a better understanding of what works best and where, below are a few tips for how and when to post content on Facebook.
Facebook boasted over 2.3 billion monthly active users in the first quarter of 2019. So, if you’re wondering whether or not you should have a presence on the platform, the answer is yes. But simply having a page on the platform isn’t enough, you must have an active presence for the channel to serve its purpose and help market your business.
Post Length
Despite the large character limit, Facebook posts should be kept short and sweet. Research from BuzzSumo has shown that the shorter the post, the better the engagement. And, according to Facebook, posts with 250 characters or less generate 60% more likes, comments and shares than those with more.
Visuals
It’s 2019, and we’re living in a world where GIFs and memes have all but taken over. Think of your favorite social posts that you’ve come across. I can almost guarantee that there was an image or video associated with it. These visuals go a long way in making your post more appealing and rememberable.
A picture is definitely worth a thousand words (or comments/likes in this case), as it can dramatically help grab the attention of your audience, keep them interested and help build your brand identity, while solidifying your messaging. Visuals allow the opportunity to get creative.
Scheduling
Having a Facebook presence means committing to a regular posting schedule. You can’t post once a month and expect to gain anything substantial from it. Generate a schedule and adhere to it.
Additionally, your content should be a mixture of informative/educational information about your business, as well as entertaining posts. Don’t flood your follower’s feeds with sales pitches day and night, as it’s disingenuous and can come off as annoying.
The general consensus is that Facebook posting should be limited to once per day. The aforementioned report from BuzzSumo revealed that evenings were the best time to post, however, it’s wise to test timing and see what works best for those within your target audience.
Ask Questions
The whole motivation in having a Facebook is to interact with your customers and build your brand. In order to do that, you need to know what your customers wants and needs are, their likes and dislikes, and what they value most from you. To gather this information, ask your customers questions.
Facebook offers different tools for creating polls and surveys, but if you want to create the question as a post, that’s also an option. Be sure to add an image that will catch your follower’s attention and encourage them to respond.
