Content, content and more content is being funnelled through Facebook…and don’t expect it to lighten up any time soon. According to the Pew Research Center, 71% of internet users are reading and consuming content. When you hear online marketers say, “content is king,” it rings with truth.
How on earth can you stand out and grow your audience with so much information being absorbed daily? Fact is, you can do a lot, as well as avoid some of the common mistakes I see daily that may be killing your Facebook page.
1. Inconsistent Flow of Content
Duh moment here, but posting 1 to 3 times a week on your page is not enough. If you have a business page, then staying in front of potential prospects is key. Schedule a post every 3 to 4 hours (in a 24 hour cycle) and include in that schedule valuable and educational content.
Your page is not about selling to your audience but educating them and making them aware of solutions you have to problems they may be experiencing.
Content on your page can come by way of images, Facebook LIVEs, blog posts, videos and status updates. To be sure, not everything you post has to have a link offering a product or directing them to a sales funnel. If your focus is on value, first…you’re off to a good start and the moment you make the offer, you’ll stand out more to your audience.
This is the difference between “push marketing” versus “pull marketing” and it’ll make a positive impact as you rise as an online influencer.
Push Marketing and Pull Marketing
Push marketing is where you are constantly pushing your products and service onto people. It's the old way of doing things, you know the sleazy car salesman type of way.
Pull marketing is where you give great content and educational material so people are automatically drawn to you, hence pull marketing. You are thinking about the reader first and not the dollars.
Continue to show you care and mix up your posts between images, videos and blog posts and consider including images, videos and blog posts from other pages on Facebook, too, letting your audience know you care that they’re getting quality information. What makes you stand out is YOU and your expertise, and by showing this beyond offering your own product or service, shows your audience that YOU are the expert to go to because you’ve been educating them all along.
2. Unattractive Facebook Header
I often find that Facebook headers are either not professional, lack luster, or they lack information. This can quickly move people away from your page. Consider the viewer when they land on your Facebook page, what will they immediately see and absorb and connect to? Is it telling them everything with the right image and message?
A good Facebook header makes the difference between someone looking at your page for 2 seconds before leaving and someone actually following you page.
3. Poor Branding
If you’re sharing image quotes created by you, what is your branding? What makes them stand out and identifiable? If you’re not being consistent with your branding then becoming a recognizable brand won’t happen. The more you level up your image quality with proper branding the more your audience identifies with you. This is what will help you stand out in the sea of images being shared daily.
Think about Nike for a second, what symbol instantly comes to your mind when you think of them, and what phrase instantly comes to mind: Just do it and of course the famous symbol:
4. Ignoring Your Facebook Insights
There’s huge value to be learned from your Facebook page insights, including your audience demographics, or when most of your audience is online.
The more you grab information from your insights, the more you’ll get what your audience is responding to—which helps you with your communication with them (via images, blogs, videos, Facebook Lives, etc…). Insights will only help you strategize better as you schedule and create your daily posts. Ask yourself, are you taking the time to learn about your audience and what they want?
Here's a chart of video stats in the insights on my page at ChangeYourThoughtsToday
5. NO Scheduled Facebook Live Show
Camera shy? If Facebook is your tool for growing your audience, then you’re going to have to find a way to move past being camera shy.
FACT: Since Facebook rolled out the LIVE feature, search popularity for Facebook LIVE stream has risen over 330% according to Google Trends.
More and more, Facebook LIVEs are becoming the new “talk shows” and they’re becoming more than a show to the viewers, too. LIVE means it’s interactive, and it’s an experience your audience is having with you.
Facebook LIVEs also have a much higher rate of comments, likes and shares (which Facebook likes to see as engagement).
To add to this, Facebook LIVE shows are watched 3X longer than videos that aren’t live. Facebook LIVE is something Facebook itself is investing some serious money in—$50 million—to promote Facebook LIVEs (and according to Mark Zuckerberg, by 2020, Facebook will be mostly video…and if you haven’t noticed, he’s on track).
Finally, committing to a scheduled Facebook LIVE will support you greatly as your audience gets to know you. Much like a TV guide, when your audience knows exactly when you’ll be LIVE each week, they’ll likely show up.
What better platform can you use today that not only gives you the ability to share your knowledge, but also connect with your viewers? In this digital age you absolutely can rise as an expert and influence in great ways. Has this got you thinking?
6. Sharing YouTube Videos Links
NO.
STOP.
If you’re uploading YouTube videos to share on your Facebook page, you’re not only hurting your page, you’re redirecting them away from your page and outside of Facebook. Facebook doesn’t like that. That being said, Facebook algorithms for YouTube video links won’t ever weigh in your favor, either.
Plainly stated, YouTube and Facebook are battling it out for who will take over the video world. Facebook is even displaying YouTube videos you share with with a thumbnail that’s less appealing which adds to your overall poor viewing results by way of less click through rates and less likes, and less shares.
Uploading directly to Facebook, you’ll automatically receive a more visually appealing image and it’ll be more attractive for people to watch. This isn’t a time to fight the Facebook trends but work with them and have them weigh in your favor (it’s worth it).
7. Lack of Engagement
Engagement isn’t just about how many likes and shares you got on your posts, it’s also a way of connecting and building relationships on Facebook. That’s right, you can build relationships on Facebook by simply responding to your messages and comments, including (and dare I say, especially) the negative comments! Someone disagreeing with you offers you the opportunity to share your expertise and knowledge respectfully. You may turn a critic into a fan…or turn others paying attention to the exchange into fans. Remember, when you comment on Facebook threads, you may be addressing one person, but it’s many more who read what you have to say.
Taking 20 to 30 minutes a day to reply to messages, reply to comments, and even liking comments is acknowledging those who took time out to engage with you in the first place. The more you engage with your audience, then the more you’ll find your audience will enjoy engaging with you. It’s puts a “real person” behind the images and blogs your posting letting your audience know you are around and you care.