Facebook is making a quiet comeback as a business social media platform, helping SMEs expand their reach and connect with their audience in a different way to LinkedIn. The guiding principle behind Facebook marketing is similar to LinkedIn – your job is to optimise your posts and content to maximise engagement and social reach, in order to drive leads and traffic to your website. However, people use Facebook for different reasons to LinkedIn, so for the best results, you’ll need to adopt a unique approach. Let’s look at what to post as a business to maximise your organic visibility.
Chasing the algorithms
Facebook is a strongly algorithm-driven social platform, with search criteria that regularly change, and a general preference for new content when prioritising search visibility. Any organic content you post will also be competing with a large number of adverts, most of which are awarded search priority. There is an undeniable temptation, therefore, for businesses to craft their Facebook content with the sole purpose of appeasing the algorithms. On the surface, this strategy might work, gaining you a flurry of likes, shares, and comments. You might even ‘go viral’ for five minutes.
But there’s a more important consideration with Facebook content – authenticity. The best long-term strategy for Facebook marketing is to post content that connects with the core values of your target buyers. Not their ‘work persona’ – this is the job of your LinkedIn profile – but their true authentic self, speaking to their core motivations, hopes, and challenges.
While your LinkedIn content addresses the challenges and motivations your customers face at work, Facebook content speaks to them as people.
How to post authentically on Facebook
So, how can you engage authentically and personally on Facebook as a business?
- Keep it professional: first and foremost, maintain professional boundaries on Facebook. Personal and authentic communication does not mean sharing holiday photos and videos of your cats. All Facebook content should come back to the unique value proposition your business’s products and services provide to your customers.
- Stay true to your business voice: your Facebook content should be consistent with the tone you use on other channels. So, whether your brand is serious and professional or friendly and casual, consistency in your tone and messages can reinforce authenticity.
- Respond quickly to customers: monitor your Facebook messages and try to reply promptly to any comments, enquiries, and direct messages through your page. This demonstrates that your business values its customers and their time.
- Showcase user generated content (UGC): repost any videos, photos, or reviews shared by your customers using your products or services, making sure to ask for their permission and giving credit where due. UGC can be encouraged by creating a specific #hashtag specific to your brand or a certain campaign. Highlight the best stories in your posts, blog articles, and other content.
- Start a conversation with your customers: Facebook is a great place to engage in conversations relevant to your industry, and there are several ways you can do this. The easiest is to encourage a dialogue by asking open-ended questions related to your products and services, your industry, or trending news. Respond to these comments candidly to keep the dialogue going and to encourage more people to take part. You can also use Facebook’s poll feature to ask for opinions on new products, seasonal campaigns, or what content your followers want to see from you (on Facebook or elsewhere). This can guide your content strategy and make your audience feel listened to.
- Humanise your business: introduce your Facebook followers and friends to team members through short biographies or ‘day in the life’ posts, adding a human face to your brand and giving customers a behind-the-scenes look at your workplace. This builds both authenticity and credibility when cultivating relationships with customers online.
- Use Facebook Live: Facebook Live is a powerful business tool that lets you broadcast live video stream directly from your smart phone, tablet, or laptop to your business Facebook page. Businesses can use this to host live Q&A sessions and tutorials, or even stream from a real-world event or tradeshow.
Next steps
For more information about using Facebook to deepen your relationship with your customers on a personal level, please get in touch with one of our social media specialists today by clicking here.
Image Source: Canva