Christine SkiffingtonWith an average of 829 million daily active users, Facebook is an essential staple in every business’s online marketing mix. While many business owners believe they are taking the necessary steps to present themselves on this platform, it is getting increasingly difficult for brands to appear organically in Newsfeeds. It is now more important than ever to ensure you are managing your Business Page correctly to gain to best results from your efforts. As the social media manager for 1&1, I have noticed quite a few mistakes that business owners make that are actually preventing them from fully thriving on Facebook. Be sure to avoid these common mistakes to get the most from your Facebook presence.
Not Identifying Goals
The first step to maximizing Facebook is to identify realistic goals and a strategy to achieve them. Think about what it is specifically that you hope to gain from your business’s Facebook page. Whether the goal is to improve visibility, traffic to your website, deliver customer service, convert sales, or something else: write it down. Define the key metrics you will use to measure success. Then, create a benchmark of where you are right now and record the improvement of those numbers over time to show success. Re-evaluating your efforts on a monthly basis will help you identify easily if you are on the right track. If your efforts are not generating the desired result then modify your activities and avoid wasted time.
Missed Connections
The most important aspect of social media is the ability to connect with your audience by providing a personality behind your business. Facebook is a platform designed for two-way communication. If you are not engaging in conversations with your audience, you are missing a huge opportunity to build trust and credibility. Create posts that encourage your audience to interact with your brand – don’t be afraid to ask questions and request opinions. It is important to respond to every comment and message you receive within a timely manner. One way to easily do this is to set up Facebook notifications to give you the ability to respond promptly even when you do not currently have Facebook open.
Lagging behind trends and algorithm changes
Although Facebook has been around for years, the platform has changed significantly since its creation and continues to evolve. The core ‘best practices’ are still advisable, but it’s important to stay up-to-date with trends and algorithm changes. Your audience expects you to provide content that is topical and of great interest to them. If this is not done correctly, the business will risk visitors getting bored and ignoring you, or worse unliking your page.
Furthermore, Facebook changes its algorithm frequently in order to populate individual Newsfeeds with content most stimulating for each user. This algorithm takes into consideration the timeliness of posts, topic, length, links, and multimedia content, just to name a few. Read up on Facebook news and updates regularly so you can be sure to capitalize on the development and positioning of your brand on the popular social media network.
Ignoring Insights
How do you know if your online efforts are effective? What activities are driving the most traffic to your website or attention from visitors? The best way to measure the success of a Facebook strategy is to evaluate the platform’s suite of analytics, called “Insights.” This tool tracks your page’s performance in its entirety. Knowing how to evaluate the impact and success of your brand’s social media presence is crucial in offering your audience the best experience possible. The best way to ensure that you are outputting the right content to your audience is to take a careful look at the page’s Likes (their demographics and when they are online), Reach, and Engagement. It is also possible to dig deeper into the performance of each individual post. By taking these factors into consideration, you can craft the perfect message and publish it at the optimal time for maximum visibility.
For more advice and best practices on all things eBusiness, visit the 1&1 Blog.
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