As there are currently over 900 million users on Facebook, many people are well acquainted with the behemoth social media network and how it works. However, while a lot of people with personal profiles know their way around the timeline, newsfeed and apps, a lot of businesses still don’t know how to use Facebook to build brand awareness. In fact a lot of businesses don’t understand the benefit of having a Facebook page and see social media as a frivolous money-wasting exercise. While it’s true that it is often difficult to measure the success of social media and what people will respond to and ‘like’, there are definite markers that can help lead you in the right direction when trying to engage your audience. We give you some useful tips to make your brand as ‘Facebook friendly’ as possible.

 

Post frequency

There have been many articles written on how often you should post on your Facebook page. Some say one post a day is sufficient. Others claim every two to three hours. Really, it depends on the product/service you are promoting and also your audience. A high street fashion retailer may be able to conduct more ‘chatty’ and regular conversations with their audience, asking them about their style influences etc. whilst a stationery shop might be better off posting about special offers or new products primarily.

 

Post times

Again, there is no thick and fast rule on what times to post as there will be variants such as the type of product and target audience (if you have a toy shop, the parents you will be aiming for probably don’t stay up into the early morning hours – only if the baby doesn’t let them sleep!) and culture to consider.

 Best times to post on Facebook 

 

 

 

  Best hours to post on Facebook  

 

Recommended Days and Hours to post, based on an analysis by Buddy Media of the top 1,800 Facebook Business pages. Infographics via Mashable.

 

Post content

As none of us have a crystal ball to see into the future, it is hard to gauge what posts will do best in terms of engagement from your audience. Obviously your key brand messages have to be the core feature of your posts. However, as people have busy news feeds, is there a way to post about your brand that will make people sit up and take notice? One way is to involve your audience in shaping brand perception. Look at the post below from the Coca-Cola Facebook page. They have asked their fans via a Facebook app what their idea of ‘Coca-Cola happiness’ is. Some of the photos have been chosen and shared on the Coca-Cola page. Due to its ‘like’ and share features, Facebook is the perfect social media platform for putting emphasis on the consumer. This results in the consumer feeling a personal resonance with the product. In the photo, Coca-Cola is being associated with memories and events that are important in peoples’ lives. Therefore the product has become a fixed feature in peoples’ lifestyles.

  

 

Promotional Posts and Facebook Offers

 

If you want to ensure you are reaching your audience, there is the option of promoting your posts. This means the particular post you choose to promote will feature more prominently in your fans’ news feed and for longer than the average post. Starting at $5 a post, it can be used by businesses of all sizes. You can also choose whether to target solely the fans of your page or to also let their friends see it when any of your fans like the post.

  

The option to promote a post is at the bottom right hand corner.

 

If you are not convinced of the brand awareness potential of Facebook and are more interested in tangible sales, then Facebook Offers might be for you. It’s like a social media voucher – you put in an offer, how many people you want it to reach (budget dependent) when it expires, and how many people can avail of the offer (ie a 10,000 limit on a ‘first come first served' basis). If any of your fans take up the offer, their friends (who may not be your direct fans) can then avail of the offer which would make it viral. According to Facebook, the Offers, when shared with fans’ friends can result in up to 3x ROI. Find out more about Facebook Offers here.https://www.facebook.com/help/offers

 

  

 

PPC Advertising on Facebook

 

Of course while they have great potential for reaching a larger audience, Facebook promotional posts and Offers are limited in their reach (i.e. fans have to engage with the post or offer before their friends can see it). With a Facebook ad, you can target almost any user, not just fans. You can also tailor it to a specific audience by filtering your options down to location and demographics such as age and gender. You can also pinpoint your audience even further through interests. So if you are a fashion retailer, profiles where users have liked and engaged significantly with products related to fashion and within your target demographic will see your ad at the right hand side of the news feed and Timeline. Also, it being a 'social' network, pages friends have liked have a higher chance of being displayed on a user's profile. Like Facebook Offers, there is room for a flexible budget and time frame if you are trying to keep costs down.

 

  

This Facebook advert about an Olay competition from Beauty Recommended is targeted at and appears on female Facebook user profiles, with an age demographic of 25-55. When you click on the hyperlink, it takes you to their page where you have to 'like' before you can enter the competition. This is an attempt at retainment i.e. trying to keep users engaged with the brand after the competition is over.

 

Whether you try to increase your following organically or by more targeted PPC campaigns, it does take time and a lot of effort on the business’ part to ensure success. Even if you are only posting once a day, you have to give a lot of consideration to what content you will share with your audience. However, don’t be afraid to try new things to see how your audience responds. You may find using a more fun tone for instance appeals to your target audience; it really depends. That’s why social media platforms like Facebook are great for experimenting with your brand and how that brand fits into the online community.

 

As one of the top Social media agencies Dublin, Lucidity Digital can provide you with a top class social media campaign tailored to suit both you and your customer’s needs, paid or organic. Get in touch with our vibrant social media team today.