Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/web-design-facebook-facebook-page-1953128/
Sumeet Jain, principal at CMEA Capital, was one of the many influential business figures who said that, in the following five to ten years, a business will be done on Facebook rather than on Amazon. Of course, it’s hard to imagine a future where Amazon doesn’t rule e-commerce, but Facebook really is becoming crucial for online stores as far as content marketing is concerned.
Facebook is an omnipresent and ever-growing social network. As of June 29, Facebook has over 2.41 monthly active users, accounting for 50% of social referrals and 64% of all social revenue. For small and large e-commerce businesses alike, Facebook is an invaluable tool in the execution of a successful content marketing strategy.
If you have an online store, you probably use Facebook to announce promotions and stay in touch with customers, but the problem is that so do your competitors. To stand out on this huge platform and increase traffic and conversions, you need to create a full-proof content marketing strategy.
Here are a few Facebook content marketing strategies you can implement:
Get to know your audience with Audience Insights
No matter how big the budget for your content marketing campaign, and no matter how masterfully you execute it, you won’t have any real success chances if you didn’t design the campaign with a buyer persona in mind. Knowing your customer is simply one of the golden rules of marketing. And if there’s one platform that really knows everything about its users, that will be Facebook.
Before getting to work and designing shiny infographics and catchy video ads, make sure you have a look at the Audience Insights tool has to say.
Unlike traditional marketing research methods, which would have you talking to customers and making them fill in questionnaires just for a tiny scrap of information, Facebook’s tool is incredibly detailed and lets you know crucial facts that you can later use to shape your message:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Job-status
- Interests
- Relationship status
- Political views
And much, much more. And the best part is that you can get really specific and narrow down your target audience. The more precise you are in targeting buyer personas, the higher the chances to boost traffic and drive conversions.
Audience Insights currently allows you to analyze these types of audiences:
- Everyone on Facebook. This option is recommended when you want to reach out to potential customers.
- People connected to your page. This option lets you know more about your existing followers so that you can keep delivering meaningful content they love.
- Custom audience. This option lets you target a specific audience that you would like to engage with more on Facebook.
The idea here isn’t just to create content for content’s sake. An objectively good Facebook post can still miss the mark if it’s not relevant to the person who sees it. Use analytics tools to find out what your customers like and only then start creating Facebook content that’s valuable to them.
Use video to stand out on your customers’ newsfeed
Text and images aren’t obsolete just yet. You still need the best editing service to polish your posts and a catchy image can still generate plenty of shares. However, video is becoming massively popular on Facebook and, if you think it’s not worth it, these stats will change your mind:
- Facebook users watch an average of 8 billion videos daily
- By 2020, more than 75% of the world’s mobile data will be video
- Videos only represent 3% of all Facebook content, but they have the highest engagement rate
- Most people watch Facebooks videos on smartphones
- Only 15% of Facebook users watch videos with the sound on
- 87% of marketers use video for content marketing
Together with YouTube, Facebook is the platform for creating viral videos. However, unlike YouTube, where videos tend to be longer, Facebook videos are shorter and the most popular ones go by a different format. This is because on YouTube users actively search for a video, whereas on Facebook videos just pop up on the user’s newsfeed.
Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when making videos for your Facebook content marketing strategy:
- Facebook videos are shorter and more digestible. Popular Lifehack and DIY pages such as Buzzfeed and Craftsy typically post videos no longer than 3 minutes.
- Facebook users love watching videos on mute, so turning on captions is highly recommended.
- Tutorials, DIYs and How To’s drive many views and shares on Facebook. But, unlike YouTube, where these instructional videos are long, chatty, and detailed, Facebook agrees more with short, snappy videos.
- Facebook videos can be product-focused, but make sure you frame your product in a way that adds value, without it being overly promotional.
- Live videos are becoming increasingly popular on Facebook and have a high engagement rate. Users also love short, casual Facebook Stories, which goes to show that you don’t necessarily need a high production value to engage with your audience.
Say hello to influencers
Influencers are a different kind of brand endorsers. Unlike the paid actors in ads, influencers have a real connection with their audience and customers tend to trust influencer recommendations as if they came from a friend or family member. And that’s how influencer marketing became a 10-billion-dollar industry and influencers now get THREE times more video views that traditional celebrities.
As you’re starting out your online store, you won’t be able to collaborate with mega influencers the likes of jacksepticeye or Zoella yet, but don’t worry, micro and even nano influencers can still boost your Facebook marketing campaign. Just make sure you only collaborate with influencers who are aligned with your brand – this way, their audience will match yours as well.
Here are a few content ideas you can brainstorm with influencers:
- Live reviews or tutorials using your products
- Exclusive promo codes for the influencer’s followers
- Sponsored promo posts featuring your brand
- Sharing photos from offline events attended by influencers
According to a survey by Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing is now the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel and a whopping 92% of marketers who worked with influencers were happy with the results. And how could they not be, when a simple shout out to your brand in a casual video can drive thousands of clicks?
Turn ads into a storytelling tool
Facebook’s effectiveness as a marketing tool is so famous that marketers often forget what Facebook is at its core: a social network, made to connect people.
So, while it can be tempting to treat Facebook as a promotional playground and constantly remind followers of how awesome your products are, keep in mind that users are getting really picky about their newsfeeds. One sponsored post too many and they can easily click Snooze or Unfollow.
When they log in to Facebook, people want to see what their friends are up to, look at funny pictures, chat with their friends, and share some interesting links. Your content should blend seamlessly into this experience and not stand out in a weird, annoying, infomercial kind of way.
So, instead of using ads only for promotion, use them as storytelling tools. Statistically, people are more likely to purchase a product if the ad tells a good story. Whether that story is funny, inspiring or heartwarming, it depends on your brand image and the values you want to associate yourself with. And this doesn’t apply only for ads.
You can create photo albums from one of your team building sessions to show followers that you’re not just a faceless corporate entity. Post a video of the office tour so they can have an idea of what working there is like. Or maybe some testimonials that show how your products have helped people just like them.
Modern customers have hundreds of brand interactions every day and, if you want yours to stand out, you need to go the extra mile and offer them meaningful content. One of the major trends in marketing is to focus less on the product itself and more on a certain feeling or idea.
Coca-Cola ads aren’t about a sugary drink; they’re about eating together, sharing, and spending quality time with your loved ones. Nike ads aren’t about the latest shoe tech; they’re about breaking the rules, pushing your limits and challenging stereotypes. This is the mindset you have to keep when making Facebook content.
Use metrics to measure your results
Now that your strategy is up and running, you shouldn’t just sit back and wait for the sales to flow in. To make sure your effort was worth it, you need to track your campaign and measure the results. Otherwise, you won’t know what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.
There are many analytics tools out there who deliver the key performance indicators you need in a simple, color-coded, well-structured dashboard. Use them to find out what type of content drives the most clicks and views, which influencer generates the most conversions, and how followers interact with your ads.
By having this data-driven mindset, you can keep testing various strategies until you find the one that best works for you.
Conclusion
By the latest count, there are 3 million advertisers on Facebook, all competing for the attention of an increasingly picky audience. That can sound intimidating, but if you know your audience well and take the time to create content that resonates with them, your presence in the newsfeed will become as vital as updates from friends and family.
Author Bio
Daniela McVicker is a passionate digital marketer. Daniela is interested in everything related to SEO and blogging. She collaborates with RatedbyStudents and other websites where she shares her experience and helps marketers make their name in the online world.
