2014-06-06

Facebook marketing

Op-ed by Jane Chung, Co-founder and Creative Chief Officer, Klooff

Facebook can be a powerful tool to engage with your target audiences, and with so many businesses using Facebook Pages, it’s important to stand out. At Klooff, we’ve built our Facebook Page to over a million likes, consistently hitting high engagement levels along the way. Leaning on these experiences, here are several actionable tips to get your Facebook Page on a roll.

1. Curation, Curation, Curation

Photo curation is key. From a scale of 1-10, does the photo incite a strong enough emotion that people want to share it immediately? Always strive for a 10, and people will catch on that your brand is the go-to place for good content.  The difference between a good photo and an amazing photo is that the amazing photo always has a special unique element or attribute that you don’t see regularly.



2. Keep Posts Visual

Adding an image to your posts increases your changes for engagement and virality. Even if you’re promoting an article or other text-based messages, make sure to add a photo to your posts.

3. Bring Posts to Life with Captions

Captions are opportunities to start a conversation, show personality, and set the right tone. Think about your brand and align it with each caption. Should these blurbs be informative? Controversial? Funny? Don’t state the obvious — always think about ways to communicate with and attract your audience through a unique voice. If it’s a cute photo of a dog, say something feisty like, “I’m not cute, I’m PG-13 dangerous!”

4. Use Hashtags with Flair 

Don’t stuff hashtags with boring words just to amp up SEO. This feels like spam, and users can smell it a mile away. Instead, use tags that make people want to comment or share what they’re viewing. Funny hashtags (like these) can enhance your captions and often work best.

5. Keep Captions Short

Too much copy feels overwhelming to read. Keep captions to 2 lines of text if, possible.

6. Schedule Posts

Take advantage of scheduling posts — it’s one less task for you to keep track of, and especially useful for when you’re unplugged. Be consistent with the number of posts as well, as this will build trust and expectation among your fans.

7. Establish Timing

The Facebook “Posts” tab reveals when your fans are online. Publish content right before the peak of this curve, and again, establish a routine so loyal fans know when to expect future posts.



8. Experiment with Timing

Don’t be afraid to deviate from timed, routine posts and experiment with ways to boost engagement levels. Unexpected posts can often capture new audiences.

9. Try Geo-Targeting

Facebook allows for geo-targeting as well, which can be a useful tool for businesses. Be cognizant of world time zones and localize posts accordingly. Figure out before- and after-work hours for different countries to maximize exposure for your content.



10. Take Advantage of Facebook’s Mobile Manager App

Facebook’s social manager app allows you to monitor, comment and schedule posts whenever you’re away from a computer. This constant attention to detail can make a big difference when it comes to engagement. It’s important to ‘like’ and reply quickly to people’s comments, so make sure you’ve activated this tool for your phone.

11. Avoid Overly Promotional Content

Users appreciate genuine, quality content, and supplying this will help you establish and maintain long-term relationships with your audience. Offering promo codes, discounts and coupons are nice perks, but keep these promotional posts to a minimum, as they are only short-term engagements.

12. Ban Spammers Immediately

Always protect the quality of the community by carefully monitoring spam. Many people will post links to their own page to promote it within your community. Others may post offensive comments or disrespectful images. Be quick to delete or hide these actions to make sure your Page only displays the highest quality content.

13. Acknowledge Your Fans

People who consistently comment on posts make up your most passionate and loyal fan base. By simply commenting back or ‘liking’ their comments, fans feel acknowledged and encouraged. Tagging individual names when you comment back can also make people feel more connected to your brand, and keep them coming back for more.

14. Allow Users to Tag Themselves

Facebook allows users to tag themselves in posted photos. Activate this feature to boost virality, as your fans’ friends will then see your content when they are tagged.

15. Answer Inbox Messages

Check your Facebook inbox and reply frequently to fan messages in a timely manner. At Klooff, we respond to inbox messages daily — and we often receive suggestions that turn into fantastic material.

16. Make Posts Relevant to Seasons and Holidays

Create a calendar tracking important dates of special holidays and national events like Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, etc. and integrate these themes into your posts.

17. Be Culturally Relevant

Find opportunities to show your audience that you’re keeping a pulse on current cultures and trends, and tie these elements into your posts when relevant to your brand. People often love sharing their opinions on these types of topics through secondary voices.

By following these tips, Facebook can become a valuable source of content and a natural place for your community to interact. Whether to generate sales leads, get exposure or simply be part of the conversation, Facebook Pages can be just the tool you need to reach your business goals faster and build deeper connections with your audience.

Jane Chung is Co-founder and Creative Chief Officer of Klooff, a user-generated pet entertainment company that makes the world happier through pet photos. Klooff grew its Facebook Page to 1.2 million followers in less than 9 months.

Main image credit: m413.com

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