FACEBOOK STRATEGYALL YOU NEED TO KNOW (FOR NOW)

SPEAKERChristy Mannering the Professional

• Web Developer at the University of Delaware

Christy Mannering the Person

PERSONALITY

• Part of the strategy to Facebook (and all social media) is to make sure you keep your personality.

• No one likes a deadpan lecturer.

• You can share intelligent and useful information in a compelling way.

CHALLENGES

• One, when Facebook tweaks their algorithm they are experimenting and we are their guinea pigs.

• Two, when Facebook started we all “liked” our favorite music and TV shows. Now we can like our favorite brands, companies, products, all the way down to the hobby of liking how our voice sounds through a fan.

• What does this mean?

CHALLENGES CONTINUED

• Well, first you should know these challenges impact everyone. Whether you’re a huge brand with millions of likes, a community organization page or a non-profit, this will affect you.

• If someone has 300 friends likes 700 different things then there is less space in their news feed to show those 1,000 different updates.

DO NOT ADMIT DEFEAT

• You will have cricket days.

• You might post something and get no engagement. This is OKAY!

• You can repost the same content at a different time on a different day and get better engagement. (Just make sure you post other things in between)

NOW LET’S GET INTO THE SOLUTIONS

QUALITY VERSE QUANTITY

• The number of fans on a page does not correlate to what percentage of fans see your post.

• You can have 300 fans and reach 3,000 people.

• How?

THE HOW?

• How can a page with 300 fans reach 3,000 people?

• A fan who likes and comments on your page can make your post go viral. Their interaction shows up in their profile activity. If they have 500 friends then 500 people who were not your initial target audience now have the potential to see their friend’s interaction with your content.

WHAT NOT TO DO• Do not neglect your page. A page that is ignored gets penalized and it is

very hard to bring it back to life.

• Don’t ask for Likes, comments, or shares. Facebook is flagging these posts as spam.

• Don’t post only links. Posting only links to your own domain is penalized. So mix it up.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

• Social media is like exercise.It takes patience, consistency and commitment.

BE “SOCIAL” IN SOCIAL MEDIA• Engaging your connections across

Facebook is an often forgotten component.

• If you walked out of your house every morning to find people have left fliers on your car, but no one stayed to talk it would be annoying. Social media is no different.

HOW DO YOU ENGAGE?• Your page can “like” other pages. Log in

as your page, look around Facebook as your page. Comment, like and share other pages content.

…STILL ENGAGING• When you share information that another

brand/page might enjoy, tag them. Typing in a status and then typing @[page name] will allow you to tag the page in your status. (You cannot tag people when you are logged in as a page)

…AND STILL ENGAGING• When another page begins to follow your

page, check out their content. Follow them back.

• Like a neighbor who waves to you on their way to work. Don’t forget to wave back!

• If someone leaves a comment than say thank you. Be responsive.

MAXIMIZE OPPORTUNITY

• We used to be afraid to over post.

• Now I’m telling you POST MORE.

• You should try posting at least 2-3 times per day. And at least once in the evening hours.

• Allow at least 3 hours in between posts.

I’M TOO BUSY FOR 3 POSTS DAILY

• Schedule in advance. Think ahead. We know when Ag Week or Ag Day will be. You can schedule a post six months in advance.

• If you have a special event coming up, schedule it when you get the flier.

• Come up with a theme like Motivational Mondays. Find quotes or images that motivate and schedule every Monday for the next month.

SCHEDULING IN ADVANCE

• In case you do not know how. Up to 6 months in advance.

TIMING & TESTING• Using tools like Hootsuite you can auto-

schedule posts to find out a pattern of when you get the most engagement.

• Tools like Crowdbooster will alert you to best posting times for your account while letting you know who your most engaged users are.

CONTENT• Now that we’re being social and

neighborly and testing out timing, the other KEY to Facebook strategy is content. In particular it is in MIXING UP THE CONTENT.

• Facebook penalizes you for posting only direct links to your own content.

CONTAGIOUS CONTENT• Not every post needs to say your name or brand.

• Include posts about information that shares your mission and values, it will still interest your audience.

• Inspire. Empower. Educate.

• People engage the most with things that provoke an emotion or share a value.

EYE CATCHING• Yes. Photos. Facebook is very photo-centric.

• Oreos posted a “Happy Star Trek Day” photo.

• 26,550 people liked the post, 5,761 peopleshared the post and 1,204 people commented.

FUN CONTENT• Don’t take yourself too seriously.

• Even people looking for research do like to laugh every now and then.

• Example to the right – IT company Cisco gets 4,291 likes and 1,037 shares for their Halloween pumpkin post.

FACEBOOK CONTESTS• Allow people to post garden photos.

Choose the top 5 and then have followers vote. Their prize can be a promotional item or promotional gift card to a local eatery.

FACEBOOK COVERS• Create new cover photos for

your timeline.

• Recycle through cover shots you have already used.

• Try themes. Like World Hunger Day 2014 which is today (May 28th)

DON’T BE SELFISH

• Sharing is caring. People love seeing ideas and inspiration from others that you value instead of a sales site. Facebook should be seen as a community.

• Pages are notified when you comment, like, share their content. They will be FAR MORE LIKELY to check out your content if you share theirs.

WEIGHTED INTERACTIONS• Shares and comments are more strongly

correlated with organic reach than shares or likes.

• Why?• Facebook’s algorithm weighs some

interactions more heavily than likes and will see the post is of interest and then allow it to come up in more people’s newsfeeds.

• So ask questions, ask for captions, do fill-in-the-blanks.

FACEBOOK PAID BOOSTS• While this is controversial it is becoming more and more relevant.

• Billions of people use Facebook. Millions use it on their mobile devices and at home on their laptops, etc.

• Why pay $1,000 for an ad in a newspaper that might reach 1,000 people in one weekend when you can pay $40/month to reach 8,000 people every day.

TARGET AUDIENCE• Facebook boosts provide highly

targeted opportunities to reach your audience.

• You can say I only want people age 40-60 in the US who like “higher education” to see my post. Boom. You’ve gotten the people most likely to engage with your content. Is that worth $40/month? I think so.

HOW OFTEN TO BOOST POSTS?• You can only run one boosted post at a time.

• Set a budget and stick with it.

• Only boost content that will benefit your audience and pertains to your institution, brand or company.

• Be clear on what you want to achieve and pay attention to results.

CONCLUSION• Post often.

• Mix media.

• Be social.

• Boost posts.

• Engage to get engagement.

• Nothing is full proof, but I can promise you that being strategic about social media WILL BENEFIT you in the long run.