You know that Facebook business page engagement leaves much to be desired today, and that brings us to what you need to know for Facebook business page optimization.
You know that about 60 million pages are active on this social media platform.
And you also know that all those 60 million try to bite more than can chew and nail jelly to a wall: each wants their page on Facebook to stand out, attract and engage live followers, and bring marketing results their competitors couldn’t even imagine.
Be honest:
Are you one of those desirous to succeed?
Then, you shouldn’t do this:
And this:
Much less, never do this:
Instead, learn the latest trends of Facebook business page optimization — and check if you do everything right in today fast-paced world of social media marketing.
Optimizing Your Facebook Business Page for People
Whether you optimize a page for a brand or want to make your personal one sparkle, you need more people to see and follow that page, right? It doesn’t seem difficult: bright pictures, regular posting, and calls to action in every post will engage the audience and turn your Facebook fans into leads, right?
Wrong.
Facebook business page optimization for people requires a comprehensive strategy. Each section needs a proper formatting to get noticed and engaged.
Stellar profile picture and cover photo
Obviously, it’s the first section a user sees when visiting your Facebook page. Cover photos need to be visually appealing and aligned with your brand’s style. Make sure they are of high resolution and with a clear intent.
Use a cover photo to promote an event or a content piece. Also, it can help you draw attention to a current marketing campaign. But keep in mind: both profile picture and cover photo need to inspire visitors, wow them, and make them want to continue exploring your Facebook page for more details.
Avoid boring pics of your product. While a profile picture needs to be recognizable (a brand’s logo works best here), a cover photo’s role is engagement. Choose a picture with context and mood.
Like Threadless:
The latest trend of Facebook business page optimization is multimedia covers, aka using videos instead of static pictures. It immediately grabs attention and may help to keep people on your page, engaging with your brand story. Successful entrepreneurs, including Gary Vaynerchuk, use this trick to share the latest news and promote events.
Another trend is designing profile pictures and cover photos out of the ordinary to hook visitors. That’s what Bjork does:
DeMilked was there too: (They have another cover now, but all the same creative.)
Attention to ‘About’ section
This one is the essential section of your Facebook business page. Once you hook visitors with visual elements, they will go to read more about that creative thinker. Add as much info as possible, but stay concise: general yet original information about your business, its mission, values, and contacts.
Everything old is new again:
Add milestones and awards to your ‘About’ section for people to know you better. It’s a kind of storytelling on social media: the notable achievements of your brand may trigger positive emotions, relieving the audience from the need to read long texts. That’s what Taco Bell does:
Perfect time to post
Here’s something you will agree on:
Depending on the audience and their activity on Facebook, the ideal timing and frequency for posting may differ. Determine yours, as it’s an essential part of the Facebook content strategy — to get into your audience’s feed right when they wait for it. How to do that?
- Check Facebook Insights to see the performance of your updates.
- Establish a schedule accordingly.
- Use social media editorial calendars to vary scheduling.
According to the latest research, the best time to post on Facebook is between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. As for the best days to post, they are Thursday and Friday.
Also, consider pinning the essential information to the top of your page. It will boost visibility and allow you to communicate a message right away. The latest trend is time-sensitive pins to promote events or contests with deadlines. Pins also help to spotlight top content or business partners.
One more thing:
Though SmarterQueue, Buffer, and other corresponding tools are great for scheduling Facebook updates, make sure you don’t use them for self-moving content. Switch off auto-sharing, and concentrate on fewer yet more comprehensive, plagiarism-free, and engaging posts on your Facebook timeline.
Responding to comments
You know that two-way communication is the core factor of your marketing success on Facebook. Users want to find themselves involved in a brand’s life, growth, as well as ups and downs; and one of the best ways to engage visitors in communication is comments.
So, never ignore feedback, whether positive or negative, on your Facebook business page, and make sure you know how to write Facebook comments to trigger positive emotions.
No time and resources to monitor all comments and, therefore, manage your brand reputation on Facebook? Customizable chatbots are the latest trend for you to try.
As you know, a chatbot is a software developed to mimic a human interaction experience on social media platforms. There are more than 100,000 chatbots on Facebook alone, and the statistics say they have increased organizational productivity by up to 3.5 times.
Businesses use bots to guide customers, take and confirm orders, answer questions, and communicate marketing messages to followers. Thus, Techcrunch’s bot informs users of new publishings, the bot of KLM sends confirmations of purchases, and Rogers Wireless developed a bot for customer care. The last-mentioned was able to increase customer satisfaction by 65%! Why not implement this trend to your social media marketing strategy, huh?
Variety of ad types
The bane of most social media marketers:
Users don’t like ads. More pointedly, they don’t trust and don’t even notice them.
Recommendations from friends and feedbacks from other customers remain the most credible form of advertising for people on Facebook.
To turn the tables on that, explore and consider the variety of ad types to meet the eye of your target audience and engage them to click and learn more.
Do you know that Facebook users watch over 100 million hours of video a day and remember it seven-times better than texts? With 135% more organic reach than photos, video ads might help you get the ball rolling.
But not by video alone. Consider such Facebook advertising types as:
- Carousel (multiple images, offers, and USPs provide a richer experience to visitors). This carousel from Kissmetrics is perfectly symmetrical, isn’t it?
- Dynamic (allow you to promote several products with customized pitches for each, with maximum relevance.) Like this one from The Kooples:
- Slideshow (lightweight videos carousel.)
- Stop motion (eye-catching movements allow to communicate a message fast and clear).
- Flat lay (displaying your product on a surface to grab attention and stand out from competitors). That’s how FreshBooks do it:
Optimizing Your Facebook Business Page for SEO
According to the latest marketing reports, social signals are among top ten factors affecting your search ranking. Yes, they don’t have any direct impact on search algorithms but correlate with them by far. For instance, the more people share your content on Facebook, the more exposure and clicks it gets; and the higher CTR translates into more traffic, which is a significant ranking factor itself.
Given that, you might want to consider SEO factors for optimizing your page like a boss.
Customized URL
Seems obvious, but this step is easy to overlook.
Make sure that a custom URL matches the name of your Facebook business page. It does good for a brand’s recognition and makes it easier for both people and search engines to find your page.
Tthe first word of a page title is determinative for Google, so avoid generic keywords when choosing an appropriate name for the page and URL. You can change it in the ‘About’ section.
Strategic keywords
Optimizing for keywords remains the #1 SEO factor, even when it comes to social media. And with so many keyword types available today, targeted ones remain the most strategic for your Facebook marketing: include them to the page title, URL, and ‘About’ section to make it appear in search results.
Content Marketing Institute nailed it:
Also, relevant keywords on your Facebook business page influence its overall visibility, making it easier for social media users to discover your content. The name of your page corresponds to the title tag here, while its short description works as the meta description tag. Remember this detail when writing your Facebook posts, as well: their first 18 characters serve as the meta title and the meta description in SERPs.
Suggested Reading: How to Improve the Google Ranking of Your Facebook Page
Yummy CTA button
Captain Obvious here, but make sure you’ve specified a clear call to action and add a button to your Facebook business page. It needs to fit your marketing purpose, align with the desired action, and match the message of your cover photo. Options include Sign Up, Contact Us, Learn More, Shop Now, Send Email, Use App, Watch Video, and more. Consider the right one for your page. The latest trend is designing your cover photo so it would have a visual indicator directing to the button.
Also, make sure to customize and prioritize your tabs in your page settings to make them more informative and user-friendly.
The last but not least:
In today fast-paced world, we marketers should be mobile and adaptive more than ever. Facebook grows, rules and trends change, but what remains is the need for analytics. Measure the success of your Facebook efforts, consider every metric you can, compare reports, do A/B testing, and optimize your Facebook business page accordingly.
Out of ideas? Analyze how competitors grow their Facebook presence and what tricks they use for better engagement. But remember: you don’t spy to copy them but differentiate yourself from them.
Grow the community, listen to your audience, respond to their interests and needs, reflect their values through your brand’s global goal, add a human element to your brand story — and your Facebook business page optimization will help you sparkle on the SMM horizon.
Hero photo by XPS on Unsplash
