In the beginning of 2014 I had predicted in my blog post ‘Latest Social Media Marketing Trends of 2014 – Where you should invest’ about how Facebook will monetize everything possible: how the reach of the pages will deteriorate. It’s time marketers consider other Social Media platforms like LinkedIn company pages, Google+ business pages, corporate blogging to continue with their objectives of Social Media marketing as there is no point investing in “No of Likes” and “No of Fans” It is now passé!
In 2007 when I had joined Facebook, I could see everything possible that my friends did on this platform. Later they introduced brands and the ‘Likes’ frenzy started; it later introduced Edge Rank that decided the reach of a post and that was fun!
Time went by and in 2013, Facebook went paranoid and all the pages we managed, the reach of posts was deteriorating. A research done by Jim Tobin showed there was 44% decline in the reach of a business page in 2013. There was something called ‘Community marketing’, ‘content marketing’, ‘customer engagement’, ‘viral marketing’ – ahh! To achieve them successfully, one needs to ‘Pay’ Facebook! It was earlier acting on how people reacted it is now acting on how brands pay!
Jeff Bullas in his blog had featured an interesting bar chart from ZDnet research – distinguishing the organic reach of content types in 2012-13.
However, I noticed Social Media Influencers across the world are cribbing about this change – there is no point in cribbing about it and make Facebook feel more privileged. We all know the fact – Facebook changes the game rules and we still have to play it! Here are a few tricks to deal with Facebook Marketing in 2014 and in the coming years….
Facebook Marketing Tips for 2014 – You Can’t Avoid it!
1. Continue Investing in NICHE community – Only if ‘Likes’ fascinates you – narrow your targeting to the ‘Niche’ crowd that you actually want to reach to! With time, the algorithm with which Facebook predicts it’s reach on various parameters is becoming more accurate. NO POINT in building random likes. Ensure you run Engagement Post ads to your targeted audience as it comes along with ‘Like Button’ helping you increase engagement, click throughs and likes from individuals who are more interested in your content.
2. Shift Your Focus For Crucial Announcements – You need to gradually shift your focus from ‘Facebook Business Page’ to your brand’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ presence. The existing community needs to be driven there – the hubs that has more organic reach currently! Example: We have an amazing offer to be announced on LinkedIn page of ours – “Follow us there right away!” You can boost this post to reach out to people on Facebook to make them follow you on other social media channels!
If you own a popular brand and have a loyal consumer base, they will respect your ‘Call to Action’
3. Post ONLY Interesting Contents – Please research on your last year’s Facebook Insights and make a list of 50 posts that went viral or got more organic response . Please REPEAT them in a completely different context! Interesting content includes – amazing quotes, finest infographics, hilarious moments, thought provoking blog posts, personal features (such as employee of the day, best customer, customer testimonials, backstage activities etc. ), give expert tips!
If you are original and you have the ability to CREATE content and NOT REPLICATE it, you still have people following you. One of the finest examples would be Facebook channels of Zomato and infinitheism where people visit to just consume content; value added content matters more!
4. Grow Your Blogger / Email Base – Through Facebook aim to grow your email base and blogger subscriptions. Run contests that make people visit your website and subscribe to your blog / email. Collect emails as much as you can! – Send exclusive offers through emails ONLY!
Example: Deal of the Day will be sent only through email along with the coupon codes – please subscribe here now.
5. Boost Post Matters – Allocate a Budget – To win a reach, boost your most crucial posts! If you think you have made an innovative video or have written an amazing piece of content on blog or have something amazing to offer to your customers, please boost the post! Shift your ‘Likes Campaign’ budget to ‘Boost Campaign’. Remember the saying, ‘An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away’? In a similar fashion, Boosting One Post a Day Keeps Your Facebook Reach Problems Away!
6. Trending Topic Matters – Though this feature of Facebook is not that popular – Trending Topics on Facebook is gaining momentum! Brands need to evaluate trending topics and run their communication strategy around it! Day to day content strategy matters these days.
7. Advanced Advertisements on Facebook – Use Facebook for lead generation. With the current ‘Call to Action’ buttons on Facebook, the ROI on Facebook Advertisements has been excellent. Invest in lead generation campaigns to capture data and increase footfalls to the website. Ensure to integrate conversation pixels and run Re-targeting strategies to increase ROI. Also consider Customer Audience and look-a-like audience feature to entertain and engage existing customers.
8. Develop Influencers Relationship: The smartest strategy would be to come up with Facebook Influencer Relationship campaigns or integrate a reward program with your loyalty campaigns that increases more word of mouth through your existing customers or through influencers that matters. Endorsing a celebrity to use their Facebook pages would be a smart move for bigger brands as their amazing fan following has great regular footfalls – helping brands achieve quick click throughs and actions.
9. Contest Excites: Content on Facebook excites the community – it’s an extravaganza to your static presence on the platforms. Run contests or invest in applications that can help you achieve your business objectives. For example while many brands were running #Selfie contests asking people to share picture through email or post on Facebook wall, Viber asked people to download their app and send pictures through the app, which was later promoted on Facebook. Brands need to ensure maximum footfalls to their website. Tun contests and polls that makes people visit your site or do something to promote your brand through their profiles!
Enlightening! Thanks for sharing such nice tips that hope will really work. I have subscribed your blog and am looking forward to learning more from it. Thanks again!
Thank you so much. Keep visiting.