Seven Tips for Getting the Most Out of Facebook for a Business

With a user count in excess of two billion people monthly, the ubiquity of Facebook is undeniable. Its efficacy as an advertising medium is unrivalled as well. Further, the Facebook user base touts a strong cadre of faithful folks in practically every demographic.

Of course, none of this makes the platform a marketing slam-dunk. To reap the greatest return on investment, a company will want to consider these methods of getting the most out of Facebook for their business.

Have a Goal

While success might come with a random approach, staff can ensure its likelihood with a determined course of action.

The primary goal should be to generate engagement. Yes, it feels good to get likes and they can be valuable, but engagement produces leads from which sales can result. Meanwhile, likes are merely what they say they are and appreciation without action means next to nothing.

Separate Business and Pleasure

Staff should have private profile pages and keep them that way-private.

Business activities should be conducted on a separate page.

What’s more, business pages have advantages for commercial activities private pages lack. Staff willl get access to content creation tools, paid promotional opportunities and analytics users won’t get with private pages.

Even better, people can just follow the business page. They don’t have to wait for the business to give them permission to do so. This enables the spread of content to a much wider audience.

Create a Recognizable Persona

The profile picture should be instantly recognizable, so it attracts attention in users’ feeds. Use a logo creator like Shopify’s Hatchful to craft a distinctive symbol for the business and resist the impulse to change it frequently.

It’s difficult for the symbol to become intimately associated with the brand if it’s in a constant state of flux. Keep in mind, the company logo shows up when people conduct searches on the platform, so maintaining its consistency ensures recognition. To ensure the best resolution, sizing should be at least 170×170 pixels.

the choice of a cover photo is important as well. Though it doesn’t show up in feeds and people will only see it if they go to the home page, the business wants to it to create a strong impression when they do.

Make the image reflective of the nature of the business in the most tangible way possible. The picture should also be interesting, pleasing to the eye and formatted for horizontal viewing.

Engage, Engage, Engage

Respond when people interact with company posts. Expound upon the points they make, acknowledge their insightful comments and ask them questions.

Too many businesses focus on their own content. Look for relevant materials from followers and influencers in the business’ area of expertise to share. When a business does so, they need to tag them to attract their attention.

This has been proven to lead these people to share (quality) materials in exchange. Large and engaged followings have been created with this strategy.

Share Strategically

Rather than sharing random content, focus specifically on the company’s area of expertise. The company will then become known as an authority in the area in which their business functions. When they’re making a decision about what to share, the primary questions to ask are; “Will my followers find this interesting?” and “How does this advance my business?”

By the way, focusing exclusively on sales pitches is a good way to get company posts ignored over time. The overriding goal is to engage, inform, and provide followers with useful information.

If all of the shares are self-serving, the business will miss the opportunity to establish the company as an authority, which will translate into engagement, which will morph into leads, which will become conversions.

Photos and Video

We are visual creatures.

An interesting photograph will intrigue users to investigate what’s going on behind it. For that reason, every post ypublished should include a representative photograph. It should be sharp, readily discernable, capable of triggering an emotional response and relevant to the post.

Video has been proven to enhance engagement as well. Facebook live video has demonstrated itself to be an effective means of generating attention leading to action. Jazz musician Esperanza Spalding used the medium to sell out the production of an album when she let Facebook users watch her produce it live over a period of 77 hours.

As for duration, video clips should be five minutes or less, while live streams should run at least 20 minutes to give people time to see them.

Speaking of which-

Timing and Consistency Are Crucial

Once the company gets started, it will be very hard to stop. They’ll lose credibility if they don’t show up in followers’ feeds regularly. However, the business risks being seen as frivolous if they show up too often with nothing of consequence to say.

The highest numbers for click throughs tend to be generated between one PM and four PM on weekdays. The peak is three PM on Wednesdays. If a business wants its post to flop, put it up before eight AM or after eight PM on a Saturday or Sunday. Facebook Insights, one of those analytics tools we mentioned above, can help the company determine the optimal timing and frequency for their particular audience.

These seven tips for getting the most out of Facebook for a business will get a company headed in the right direction. As the company becomes more acclimated, they can also leverage devices such as quizzes and paid ads to boost their engagement and reach.

Melissa Thompson writes about a wide range of topics, revealing interesting things we didn’t know before. She is a freelance USA Today producer, and a Technorati contributor.