The Best Content to Post on A Facebook Business Page
Okay, so you’ve set up your Facebook Business Page for your brand, website or blog. Picked out a pretty cover photo, written a little “About” section, and invited your friends to like it. Now, what the hell do you actually post?
It’s one of the trickiest things, especially with the Facebook algorithm making it harder for people to actually see what you post. If you have an Instagram for Business Page, you’ll discover you can link the two for cross-posting, and most people think ‘you-beauty! I’ll just post my Insta photos.’ However, this is actually one of the worst things you can do. The reason being, the platforms are different and are used for different purposes. Think about it. Do you go on Facebook to see a feed just full of beautiful photos? Not really. Do you use Instagram just to get more information on the news, or tips for a destination? Not really.
The best advice I can give is to use the platforms for what they’re good for. And here is a list of five ways to use Facebook that serve as tips on what type of content to post.
This post was brought to you by our social media expert Annabel Claire. When she's not busy with her social media marketing gig or writing for us, she is running her blog and chasing her passion on www.annabel-claire.com. You can also find her sharing her awesome adventures on Instagram and Twitter.
1. Videos hosted on the Facebook platform.
The Facebook algorithm favours video content. There’s absolutely no doubt about it. But, providing links to a YouTube video or external video isn’t best practice. Posting a video directly to Facebook, if it’s engaging, and a maximum length of 2-4minutes, will gain you a larger reach and impressions for that post. You’d hope that engagement would follow. Also, make sure your video content isn’t too long so that users lose interest, and make sure it is highly relevant to your brand.
2. Links to blog posts with relevant meta data.
There are rumours that linking external to Facebook will hinge your reach and impressions, however I still believe in using the platform to drive link clicks to a website. The best way to do it? Make sure the meta data on the page you’re linking to is relevant and engaging (see the below image for an illustration of the meta data I’m talking about). If you’re not sure how to edit meta data in your site, there’s a great resource here to help get you started. I find that roughly 25% of my site’s website traffic comes from Facebook, so keep up those link posts!
3. Multiple photo posts or albums of photos.
Single photo posts don’t seem to be doing that well on Facebook anymore. However, posting a whole bunch of photos in the one post, or creating an album of photographs from a recent trip, seems to go a long way on Facebook. People on Facebook are nosy - and they love to browse and check out a bunch of pictures from an event or a location, rather than just see one really great picture (like they do on Instagram). Give it a try and see if it does better than those one-off photo posts.
4. No more asking for tags, try natural language or a poll instead.
Another recent change with the Facebook algorithm is that it’s stopped counting comments that are just tagging people as engagement - BUT only if the caption has asked for it. Basically, this means those “Tag a mate who you’d go here with” posts are actually having a negative effect on your page’s success. Try talking a bit more naturally, by asking more open-ended questions, or the opinion of your audience. This will encourage them to respond with genuine comments. Polls are another great way to spark engagement, and get opinions from your audience on what types of content they’d like to see, or even where you should go on a next trip.
5. Keep posts short and sweet.
More often than not, I see a Facebook post with an extremely long paragraph of text. This is a big no, no. Think of the way people consume media these days. Think about how much they’re being bombarded with, how busy they are, and how much their attention spans have decreased. Think of the way you use Facebook. Then apply all of that to how you write your posts. Think to yourself “would I be bothered to read this?” without being biased, because, well, it’s your post and it’s easy to forget other’s might not be AS invested as you are. Try to keep posts more succinct and to the point, and leave the lengthy stuff for your blog post or website. People who really want to read your story will click on those links, while Facebook users might be turned off by a lengthy piece of text. By keeping posts shorter and sweeter, you might have more luck with engagement.
And there you have it! Five starting tips for creating content for your Facebook page. It’s baby steps, and it’s no secret that the days of organic success are dying out. The number one rule is this: if no one sees your Facebook content in the first place, then it’s pointless. So try some of these tips to put your content in front of people and go from there! You’ll quickly find what works for you and what doesn’t. Then you can move into things like using stories, live videos, and even investing some money into Facebook advertising – but more on that in a later blog post.
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Ryan is an entrepreneur from Toronto, Canada who moved to London, England quit his job as a PE teacher and started two successful companies by the age of 29 working out of his home office.
Ryan is a digital marketing consultant who helps business leaders and entrepreneurs rebrand themselves and their companies and profit wildly in the process.
Ryan’s clients are some of the most successful business men and women in London and he has helped them and their business take the digital world by storm.