Use these insightful tips and tricks to ensure you are maximizing your social media marketing (SMM) efforts and earning valuable face time with your audience.
A THOUSAND WORDS, AND THEN SOME
Everyone’s heard these “picture” idioms and adages:
- The big picture
- Do I have to draw you a picture?
- Picture-perfect
- Pretty as a picture
- Do I have to draw a picture?
- Paint a picture
- A picture is worth a thousand words
Pictures convey, inspire, and strike an instant emotion with your audience that a thousand words simply can’t do. Pictures give your company a “face” and a personality. Most importantly, posts containing pictures and images are shared and liked more on Facebook than posts with just text or links.
Get the picture? Great!
Posting pictures also gives you an opportunity to leverage another social media network. A BuzzSumo study found that images posted to Facebook via Instagram received more engagement than natively posted images.
Is this because Facebook owns Instagram? Who’s to say, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters are these steps to create and link an Instagram account to your company’s Facebook Page:
- Download and install the Instagram app on your phone.
- Log in to Instagram using your Facebook credentials.
If you already have an Instagram account, but it’s not linked to your company’s Facebook Page, use these steps:
- On Instagram, click your Profile and push/click (Android) or (iPhone or Windows).
- Tap Linked Accounts > Facebook.
- By default, your Instagram account will link to your personal Facebook Timeline.
- To link to your Company Page instead, tap Facebook (Android) or Share to (iPhone or Windows) and choose the Page that you manage.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT FACEBOOK LIVE
Facebook has added a live streaming feature and it’s an outstanding way to shoot and post tons of videos on Facebook without loading up your smartphone!
You already know how powerful video is on Facebook. If you’re not sure — here are some stats for you
PIN A FEATURED POST EVERY WEEK
One of the nice features Facebook offers your managed business Page is a featured post of the week. Whether you want to promote a sale or an event, or want to show off a fabulous picture of your product or employees, you can anchor the post to the top of your timeline. The featured post expires in seven days, which helps you with time management and makes your page always appear up to date.
- Hover over the post you want to pin.
- Click the pencil icon.
- Select “Pin to Top.”
USE A CTA BUTTON ON YOUR COVER PHOTO
You have a call-to-action (CTA) button on your company’s website. Why not put a CTA button on your company’s Facebook Page?
Add a pre-made CTA to your cover photo and customize it with a URL of your choosing. “Sign Up,” “Contact Us,” “Watch Now” and more messages to select from. Using a CTA button on such a visible part of the content on your Facebook Page is an easy and smart way to drive more likes, shares, and profits your way!
- Click the “Create Call-to-Action” button located on your cover photo.
- Choose the button copy you like and specify the URL you want to forward visitors to.
- You can retrieve data on the number of people that are clicking your CTA by clicking the drop-down arrow and select “View Insights.”
WHAT NOT TO DO #POSTWITHHASHTAGS
Hashtags are used in social media networks to categorize content, which is useful for searching for information across Instagram and Twitter. However, hashtags haven’t gained much headway on Facebook a thud rather than a splash.
A study of over 1 billion Facebook posts revealed that posts with hashtags received fewer clicks, likes, and shares than posts without hashtags. Perhaps it’s an aesthetic preference, or the fact that Facebook users outnumber Twitter and Instagram users combined by 300% meaning Facebook users just aren’t as familiar or interested in hashtags.
