Given the restrictions Facebook places on Page design, content is the easiest—and often most effective— way to differentiate yourself from competitors. Facebook’s power lies in its huge number of users, but this also creates a high volume of posts. To reach these potential customers or brand enthusiasts, your content must stand apart from the rest. Because content is a core piece of a successful Facebook marketing campaign, this chapter explores ways you can create and optimize it for Page members, while at the same time improving your placement in both Facebook and natural web searches.
Competing with Other Content on Facebook
The average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 community Pages, Groups, and Events. Yet this is only a fraction of the 900 million people, places, and things that he could interact with on Facebook. Considering the more than 30 billion pieces of content being shared across the site each month, you can understand clearly why content is a key factor in your Facebook marketing strategy. Obviously, there’s a lot that the average user is seeing on a daily basis. But this average user also creates about 90 pieces of content every month—posting links to news stories or blog posts, writing notes, uploading to photo albums, creating Events, writing on friends’ Walls, and more.
Since Facebook imposes so many design restrictions, content is the best way to market yourself to potential Page members (and future customers), as well as to keep current Page members and customers engaged and entertained. On the other hand, you must also combat the fatigue many users feel at seeing a never-ending stream of their friends’ lunch orders, random thoughts, and recent likes.
Develop a Content Strategy
A well-thought-out content strategy is the only way to approach Facebook marketing and not drive yourself (and Page members) crazy. It’s tempting to just post whatever strikes you that day, but this can quickly become overwhelming, especially when you are competing for attention in a crowded newsfeed. A content strategy will help you refine your goals for Facebook. These goals will drive the frequency of posts, as well as their topics or types of content.
Establish Goals
What do you want to do on Facebook? Are you trying to engage people who currently prefer and use your brand? To attract new Page members who already use your service but don’t know you’re on Facebook? To sell your product or generate leads? Chances are that you said yes to all of these, but they are four different goals that work very differently on Facebook than elsewhere on the Web.
Facebook is a social network, and while some people will be receptive to sales pitches, the majority are there to talk to friends and connect with brands they really, truly love. To be one of those brands, you need to follow the unofficial Facebook rules of etiquette. That means posting quality information with a frequency and style that matches Facebook: fast and fun. You can tell people about the things you sell, but you’ve got to strike a balance between interesting or exclusive information and sales links.
Determine Frequency
Most Facebook users expect a Page to post new content at least once a day. Some prefer a higher volume of posts; others cite this as a reason for unliking a Page. You can’t please everyone, but the upside to posting frequently is that more people will catch it in their newsfeeds.
Think about time differences and behavior patterns when posting. If you always post first thing in the morning, many people will miss it as they’re on their way to work. They may not even be awake, especially if you are on the East Coast and have Page members several hours behind you. You don’t want to simply repost things over and over, however, because at some point, people will go to your actual Page and see a Wall of repeat posts. Vary your language and the way you handle a subject.
The top 10 most popular Facebook Pages post an average of 1.7 updates per day. Of course, they also have an average of over 15 million Page members already. If you are working to attract new Page members, you should probably be posting more frequently, at least in the beginning, in order to quickly populate your Page with great content that will attract return visitors and help you move up in search rankings.
Consider posting once a day at the bare minimum, and aim to post three to five times a day if you have the content and resources to support it.
Set Patterns and Common Topics
Even if you post only once a day, that’s a lot of extra content you need to create each week. Without a sound strategy, the task of creating and posting new content daily can become pretty daunting. What do you want to talk about every day? More importantly, what will people want to listen to and interact with? Keep writer’s block at bay by creating daily features and standard topics for each day of the week.
This way, when you attempt to write a Monday post, you know the general theme it should follow. A narrow focus actually makes it much easier to write plenty of fresh content and meet your goals.
Having set patterns for content will also keep your Page members engaged as they learn their favorite days for information. You might designate Monday as the day to provide insider information or exclusive Facebook content, such as new store openings, upcoming menu changes, or future product launches.
Tuesday might be a day to do more general tips related to your industry, and Wednesday might be contests and giveaways. The actual content always changes, but the topic stays the same. Using a pattern keeps you organized and jump-starts the content creation process, while also conditioning Page to check back on their favorite days, thereby increasing their likelihood of sharing your content.
Create a Content Calendar
Setting topics and patterns is a lot easier with the help of a content calendar that allows you to clearly see the dates and days of the week. Similar to an editorial calendar but ideal for social media posts, a content calendar is the best way to stay organized and meet your goals. You can develop one exclusively for Facebook or incorporate other sites (like Twitter) to keep the various networks in sync.
A content calendar can be as simple or as complex as you make it. At its very core, it is merely a place to create content ahead of time and map it to days, posting frequency, and topics. Calendars will keep you on track even on the busiest days. Yes, you can write content ahead of time and release it when you are ready. Really. A certain amount of social media actually can be planned or timed. If your goal is to post once a day or more, it is essential to map your posts in a content calendar ahead of time.
Of course, be ready to add or move content to react to questions or current events. Still, you should always have at least one good post ready to go.
A calendar also enables you to keep a record of the posts you’ve made in the past, preventing repetition.
With such an archive, you can even track traffic and interaction patterns against conten
Optimizing for Both Facebook and Search Engines
You’re probably familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) tactics for improving your website’s search rankings in Google and other major search engines. But have you thought about how to incorporate social media into your search strategy?
Facebook can be a valuable asset for search results. The volume of content and variety of places to add keyword-rich content can help you attract new Page members on Facebook, while providing more natural search results. Facebook is indexed by search engines and also has deals with Google and Bing to display social search results that include posts from your friends.
Facebook’s search is not always the greatest at displaying results, but the site’s working on it.
Counteract its shortcomings with some rockstar SEO to ensure that people looking for your name or service can find you. Misspellings are especially important to account for on Facebook.
In the more general natural-search realm, a well-optimized Facebook Page can help you overtake a competitor by providing a second set of Pages (in addition to your own website) to display on the search results page. This can also be helpful when you’re looking to do some reputation management.
A Facebook Page can also give you the opportunity to add a few more keywords that didn’t work as well on your website.
The Easiest Places to Put Keywords
The same SEO rules apply for Facebook optimization as for traditional search engines such as Google.
Keywords should always be in text fields, and the higher on the Page, the better. Three of the best
places are:
Page name
Your Facebook Page name or title is one of the first things both users and search engines see.
Create a keyword-dense title, but make sure it’s clear who you are and what you do. Your company or brand name is usually the most effective title.
URL
You can also choose a vanity URL for your Page, which is another great place to include branded keywords like your company name. Facebook Page URLs are a large part of optimization, as content space is limited.
The Info box
This small, 250-character box located below the Page icon is an underused gold mine for both traffic and SEO purposes. It’s one of the first things a current Page member sees when looking at either the Wall or Info tab. The keywords you use in the Info box can go a long way in search. With its prominent placement, the Info box is a great place to optimize a little info about your Page, because it’s the highest place in the Page code that allows custom text. You can even put a clickable link in there. You just need to include the http:// part first.
Using Keywords on Facebook Tabs
The Facebook tab structure creates a helpful hierarchy of information and the ability to add lots of keyword-rich content. Facebook offers several standard tabs for your Page, including the Wall, Info, and Photos or Videos tabs. You can also add your own custom tabs.
Default landing tab
Facebook allows you to choose a specific landing tab for new Page viewers. This is the first tab they see, and its primary goal is to encourage them to click Like for the Page. It is also the first Page crawled by search engines. This default tab can be a custom tab you create, so make sure it contains relevant text that explains to both search engines and Facebook users who you are and what you do.
Info tab
The standard Info tab has fields containing important descriptive data about your Page. It’s important to fill out all fields, as they provide an opportunity to include keywords and links for both local searches in the Location field and more general product or service queries in the Company Overview section. The specific fields present will vary by Page category, so choose the category that best fits your needs.
Custom FBML tabs
Facebook Markup Language (FBML) tabs can hold lots of keyword-rich text. You can also include images and links to design the Page and push to more relevant content on your site. Adding content tabs to your Page is a great way to drive a ton of traffic in both natural and Facebook search. It also opens up the opportunity to rank for more keywords, including Facebook-specific terms.
Other Content
It almost goes without saying, but it’s important to continually share interesting content on your Facebook Page and always use all available descriptive fields on each type of content shared. This advice extends past static tabs and into the ever-changing world of status updates and media uploads. Facebook allows nearly every piece of content to be indexed by search engines, so use the tabs, tools, and input fields that Facebook provides to your full advantage. Here are a few contentspecific tips:
Media
Post photos to multiple albums and include keyword-rich descriptions of the album and each photo.
Every event or topic should have its own album for easier searching. Allow Page members to post
their own photos and comment on or tag your uploads.
Events
Use the Events feature for both real and virtual events. Always fill out all fields with a full description of the event, and make it open to the public. See Chapter 5 for more information on Events.
Status updates
There is a lot of debate about the extent to which updates help with search engines, but it’s clear that they are a big factor in Facebook searches. Take your time when planning content and include keywords; this is the bulk of what Page members will see on a daily basis. You can also add a discussion forum to your Page for even more frequently updated content.
Increased Interactions
User interaction is a crucial yet elusive factor in optimizing your Facebook Page and improving search presence. Facebook views interactions with your Page (likes, comments, and posts) much like a search engine views links pointing to your site. A user interaction is a vote for the content of your Page and helps Facebook rank it higher in its search—and, ultimately, helps your Page rank higher in search engines as well.
Facebook’s focus on user behavior and interaction extends to visits, clicks, and Event RSVPs as well.
The exact weight or algorithm the site uses to calculate interaction is unclear, but the higher the engagement on your Page, the higher you will rank in Facebook searches and the more prominent your placement in a suggested search.
The predictive search field can most closely be likened to the first page of Google results. Most users never go to the actual Facebook search Page. When a user begins typing in the search box (at the top of every Page), Facebook will suggest friends, Pages, applications, or Events based on her past behavior, the behavior of those she is connected to, and optimization of Pages.
Encourage interaction on your Page by posting frequently and including lots of content that asks users directly to interact. Link participation to prizes: to win, users must vote on photos by liking them or comment on your Wall or posted update. Even without providing an additional incentive, you’ll find interaction will spike when you end a post with a question like “What do you think?” Try it—the difference will surprise you.
Summary
The key for Facebook marketing is to keep your Page in the Facebook Newsfeed so that Page members see it, and also to provide content that makes them want to comment, like, or share it. When a user interacts with your content, his friends will see it in their newsfeeds as well, thereby expanding your reach. Optimized content also improves your ranking in both organic search engine results and internal Facebook search results, allowing people actively searching for related terms to find you.
Search engines index social sites like Facebook, so a well-optimized Facebook Page will give you another listing in search results for your company and related industry or service terms. Google and Bing also pull real-time search results from Facebook, so status updates and other timely content could put you on the first page of a search engine results page. Good, keyword-rich content is what fuels both search engine results and Page Member interaction. Additionally, interactions on your Page help improve your search rankings, as they demonstrate proof of the Page’s quality much like a link would outside in the natural search world.
