Facebook has long been known as a powerhouse of marketing opportunity. However, it’s a little harder to get noticed on the platform these days. This is due in part to the platform’s declining organic reach – meaning that not all of the Facebook marketing tips you’re used to may still result in success.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to get your target audience’s attention and spread your message. All you need are a few simple strategies, such as creating a variety of content types and publishing very short videos. By adopting a fresh approach, you can ensure that your Facebook marketing efforts remain just as viable in the coming year.
Why marketing on Facebook has become more difficult
When establishing a social media marketing strategy, it’s likely that Facebook will play a major role. This platform has long been regarded as one of the most powerful marketing tools out there and it is incredibly popular among businesses.
In fact, 93% of marketers use Facebook advertising regularly, and there are plenty of good reasons for that popularity. Facebook offers in-depth paid ads, for example, and highly-customizable targeting features. You’ll also gain access to a huge audience – 2.32 billion monthly active users, to be exact.
However, recent changes have made advertising on Facebook a little trickier than it used to be. Consider the algorithm Facebook uses to display content, for example. The platform is now putting an emphasis on the way users interact with other users, rather than how they engage with businesses.
While this can be considered a good thing in some respects, it may also mean that your ads are less likely to be seen. It also doesn’t help that Facebook has undergone a drastic decline in organic reach. This began around 2014, when Brian Boland, Facebook’s VP of Advertising Technology (at the time), reported that Facebook was managing much more ad content than it used to.
350 million photos and 55 million status updates are posted each day – and there are over 60 million active business pages. In short, there’s simply too much content being published on Facebook, and ad visibility is becoming increasingly competitive as a result. For this reason, it’s more vital than ever to find ways you can stand out.
Five Facebook marketing tips that still work in 2021
With the above in mind, it may be time to reconsider your approach. To help you get started, here are five Facebook marketing tips that are still highly effective, despite all the recent developments.
1. Vary the types of content you post
55% of marketers say that content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. However, it’s easy to get stuck in a holding pattern. Many marketers continuously use whatever techniques have worked in the past, even though this leaves little room for growth.
To keep your content marketing dynamic, the first of our Facebook marketing tips is to consider adopting the 70-20-10 approach:
- Publish original material 70 percent of the time.
- Share existing content that’s relevant to your audience’s interests 20 percent of the time.
- Create self-promotional content 10 percent of the time.
In addition, you’ll want to make sure that you include lots of different kinds of posts. Try using images, videos, GIFs, polls, and text in your Facebook material – and consider posting User-Generated Content (UGC) when possible too. The most successful brands typically publish 4–5 posts per day, including a variety of content and media types.
Studies have also shown that engagement rates drop significantly if a brand posts just once per day. Fortunately, using a social media management tool such as Revive Old Posts can help you automate your posting schedule, and share your blog content to Facebook easily.
2. Update your business page template
To get the most out of your Facebook page, it’s important that you’re operating from the right kind of business profile. It’s no longer enough to create a business account and start posting. You’ll also want to properly optimize your account.
Facebook actually offers a variety of templates for business pages. These templates include various features designed to help marketers showcase content in a way that aligns with their business goals. They will also automatically prioritize the most important information about your business.
For example, a charity page might focus heavily on a ‘donate’ button, or a link to an external fundraiser. There are numerous templates available for businesses, e-commerce stores, nonprofits, politicians, services, restaurants, venues, and more.
To take advantage of this option, simply visit the Page Settings tab of your Facebook business profile. There, you’ll be able to select the template that best fits your business’ needs – and fully customize it as well.
3. Create more video content – but keep it short
Video content is incredibly popular among online consumers. 75 million people in the U.S. watch online videos every day, and merely mentioning the word ‘video’ in an email’s subject line can improve its Click-Through Rate (CTR) by 13%.
So it’s no surprise that digital marketers are frequently prioritizing video content. However, in order to get the best results, it’s important to keep this content short and snappy. On Facebook, videos that run for less than 21 seconds are more likely to be completed. What’s more, nearly 50% of all videos are watched on mobile devices.
This suggests that people watch them while casually scrolling through their feeds during meals and breaks. They don’t have time to watch lengthy content, so they favor shorter videos. Plus, studies suggest that videos under 2 minutes long get the most engagement, so that’s a good guideline to aim for. No matter how long your video is, however, one of the best Facebook marketing tips is to place the most important information at the start.
In addition, remember to include captions in your marketing videos. Research carried out by Facebook found that adding subtitles increases view times by 12% on average. This has a lot to do with the fact that most Facebook videos are watched without sound. Therefore, your videos should be able to communicate your message without the need for audio.
4. Include Facebook Messenger in your strategy
Facebook Messenger can be an incredibly powerful feature, yet it is often under-utilized by businesses. This communication tool has a lot to offer – especially when combined with chatbot technology.
Chatbots are virtual assistants designed to communicate with your audience in a natural, conversational way. They can be programmed with information about your entire product catalog, and are a handy way to ramp up your customer service efforts.
A perfect example of this is the ASOS chatbot, Enki. Enki asks users several questions about their personal style, and instantly recommends clothing options based on their answers:
This is a great way to put your products directly into the hands of potential customers. It takes the hard work out of making a purchasing decision, and the fast response times are a great way to increase the likelihood of successful conversions.
In addition, the highly-tailored service they can provide makes chatbots incredibly popular among customers. In fact, 45.8% of consumers said that they would rather communicate with a business through a messaging app than email. Using chatbots is one of the Facebook marketing tips that can save your business the most money – up to £6 billion (almost $8 billion) per year.
Fortunately, chatbots are relatively easy to set up. There are numerous tools available that will get you started, including DigitalGenius and WhosOn. Your chatbot can be as complicated or as simple as you like – it all depends on how much information you wish to provide.
5. Take advantage of the new augmented reality tools
Facebook has recently implemented Augmented Reality (AR) tools for advertisers in Facebook News Feed ads. Users can now try on wearable products, such as glasses and makeup, within the ads in their news feeds. What’s more, they can do this without having to launch a separate application.
This isn’t just a useful option for fashion brands. For example, Kia enabled users to customize and personalize its KIA Stinger car within Facebook Messenger. There are numerous ways AR can be used to drive a creative, successful marketing campaign.
Crafting AR technology can be tricky, of course, so you may wish to source outside help. However, the benefits can far outweigh your initial investment. For instance, one ISACA survey found that 66% of shoppers believe the use of AR adds value to their shopping experience.
Using AR can even help you build a deeper connection with your audience, as you’re actively encouraging their participation. Users love to feel as though they’re involved with a brand, and may be more likely to convert as a result. Therefore, AR is a particularly viable strategy when you want to demonstrate how a product can fit into and improve your customers’ everyday lives.
