7 Crucial Lessons For Facebook Business Pages

Ever feel like you need an infinite credit card just to win at managing business pages on Facebook?

Organic reach is lower than ever and it seems the social networking giant is pushing for business pages to buy everything from likes to visibility.

Of course, having this endless stream of money makes perfect sense for big corporations like McDonald’s and Coca Cola, but what if you’re working with a limited budget? You just can’t afford to keep catering to Facebook’s prompts to pay, and thus, you are condemned to either give up or adapt and hope to attract numbers the good ole fashioned way.

From my experience, all is not lost when it comes to Facebook. If you are interested making sure your content is seen by your fan base, we suggest a combination of solid social media strategy along with advertisement.

Here are 7 crucial lessons I have learned from managing business pages on Facebook.

1. Consistency is Key

All your business posts should have a consistent style and quality. This consistency enables users to identify you and become familiar with your message. Social calendars are excellent for planning ahead and ensuring a similar message each time.

2. Target your posts

Hidden within the business page settings is an option for targeting each individual post according to specifics such as gender, education, income and interests. Why this feature is hidden and not automatically a part of the standard posting features is beyond me, but nonetheless, go to “settings” and turn on that targeting immediately. Your posts are more likely to receive engagement and likes from the right people as a result.

3. Deliver fresh and fun content

When delivering your message, cut down on the marketing babble and pretend you’re sharing content with friends. Your audience does not want to engage with an emotionless robot, so if you can, add some humour and lightheartedness into your posts as often as possible.

You also want to ensure that you’re not continuously recycling content and that images, videos and unless you're managing the facebook page for the Comedy Network, you don't have to make every post humourous or entertaining.

4. Write for images

Don’t let your images do all the talking. Rather, it’s best to combine captivating text with striking imagery. The latter resonates with your audience, and compels some form of interaction (conscious or unconscious).

Your sentences should be short, and quickly highlight what readers should be looking for in the image. Avoid using commandments, repeating the text in the image, or making the post too promotional.

5. Post when your audience is online

Facebook Insights are your best friend when it comes to plotting future calendars as it enables you to reflect upon previous posts and decipher what themes resonate with your audience.

Facebook insights will let you know when the largest percentage of your audience is online, allowing you to post accordingly. However, be careful about posting at the same time as it could burn out users. Mix up times every once in a while.

6. Don’t get caught up counting likes vs. clicks

According to SocialCode, likes and clicks mean different things to different age groups. For example, users aged 18-29 are more likely to “like” content (usually memes and photos) whereas 50+ users (the fastest growing audience on Facebook) are more likely to click on articles and informative pieces.

So don’t get upset if a post receives 4 likes but 52 clicks or vice versa. It has more to do with your audience and how they interact with content. Make sure you're paying attention to age group information on insights.

7. Go ahead and promote your posts.

Not to anyone's surprise, Facebook wants you to know that the only way to achieve guaranteed reach is through advertising. If you want more page fans and more visibility, then you should consider paying for increased visibility. Facebook is relatively less costly when compared to other online advertising channels, and will enables you to build your base to to get Earned Media (visibility to your follower's friends)

I find that advertising in conjunction with an entertaining social presence is the best way to keep fans. Boosting a few posts here and there is another worthwhile practice, and featuring cats works well too.

While social media sites such as Facebook are free to get started on, your time and resources are not infinite. Having a strong game plan and allocating some advertising dollars will help propel your online growth.

Article By: Desire Buitenbos, Content Specialist at The Marketing Boutique. The Marketing Boutique was founded in 2008 as an outsourced marketing, communications and creative design partner to small and mid-sized businesses. They have built their reputation on providing individualized service to each and every client.  Check them out.