Our five essential steps for brands creating content on Facebook for maximum engagement and audience growth.
Brands need to be on Facebook if they want to truly reach their target audience. From the top to the bottom, this is the case. Mark Zuckerberg announced this year that he wants people to be able to message brands as they would a friend, and nearly half of Millennials go to social media to engage with brands.
Being on Facebook is also a way to grow audiences and indicate your brand’s quality. Facebook likes, shares, and comments all indicate genuine interest and engagement with what your brand is doing, sharing in particular.
So how to craft the perfect Facebook post for your brand? Let’s take a look at our five essential steps.
Step One – Tell a Story
Facebook isn’t just a dumping ground for advertisements. Your brand has to play the social media game like everyone else, and the best way to do that is tell a story. Consider your brand’s themes, its personality.
A bland, boring voice won’t win you followers. People want to feel connected to the personalities they follow online, whether they’re actual other people or brand entities.
Social media takes away middleman mediums like television. Instead, brands can speak to their audiences directly. That voice needs to develop from the brand’s culture and identity. Will it be thrilling and aspirational like Red Bull? Motivational and fitness-focused like Under Armour? Educational and innovative like General Electric?
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/Underarmour/videos/10153913232836287/” bottom=”30″]
Under Armour’s post embodies their motivational and inclusive brand theme of being your best physical self and reaching new goals. Highly visual, their images and videos can invoke inspiration and tell a story.
Learn what your brand voice should sound like, and the story you’re telling. Remember that people want to enjoy the content they see on Facebook, not feel as though they’re watching a commercial.
Step Two – Content Value
It takes more than telling a story. What value is your target audience getting from your content? Your brand’s story and personality may provide you an idea of what value you can bring to your followers. Does your brand’s core themes have an appeal that is inspirational, educational, or simply entertaining?
Your brand could strive to be a thought leader. Or it could seek to amuse, and be remembered for making people chuckle.
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/MarsCuriosity/photos/a.133197436730240.23875.110938085622842/923217064394936/” bottom=”30″]
NASA combines wit with science on their social media accounts for the Curiosity Rover.
Humorous and silly marketing campaigns can be far more memorable than a flashy advertisement. They can allow fans to build a stronger emotional connection to the brand.
And the numbers back it up. According to a NewsCred survey, 70% of Millennials say they are likely to share content that makes them laugh. Funny content is sharable content. Take a trial of Spike to find the content that’s making your audience laugh right now with our Facebook reactions filter.
Step Three – Check the Conversation
If you’re stumped for content, or even if you’re not, it’s beneficial to take a temperature on what’s currently being talked about in your market and around your core themes.
This one-week view of the keyword “getaway” within the travel category could reveal some emerging travel must-see spots (click for full size)
Our brand and agency clients use our tools NewsWhip Analytics and Spike more and more like publishers, creating newsrooms for their content creation. Our birds-eye view of trending real-time and historical social signals gives them an instant view on what’s getting attention across the social web.
Using Spike’s customizable panels, it’s just a quick click to check out what’s going viral for your brand’s audience.
A panel for travel in Europe sends alerts whenever a story starts getting buzz on social media
Checking out what’s popular and using it in your content doesn’t have to be limited to your brand’s sector. United Airlines has a campaign going on in relation to the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics.
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/United/videos/1029200580450817/” bottom=”30″]
The campaign is still relevant to the United brand, since the Olympics bring together so many people around the world. Again, it brings a storytelling aspect to their campaign.
Step Four – Make It Visual
If you’ve been paying attention to the evolution of social platforms, especially Facebook, you’ll see how central video has become.
Using video allows brands to have a medium for compelling, visual storytelling. These stories engage users and have them sharing and clicking to come back for more.
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/LEGO/videos/10153661817948403/” bottom=”30″]
What better way can a toy brand like LEGO create content than through visual storytelling and imagination? Of course, having Star Wars as a partner doesn’t hurt either.
Facebook is upping the game with more interactive experiences like Facebook Live and 360 video. These let fans experience brands in more immersive ways than ever before.
Imagine, being able to ask a food brand questions as they host a Live stream of a recipe, or driving a car in virtual reality.
Step Five – Engage Your Audience
Social media provides a direct line from brands to their consumers, and vice versa. On social media, people can have dialogues with brands, and others can join in.
Not only can your brand provide real-time, visible customer service, there’s the opportunity for genuine, direct feedback from your audience. This helps your brand improve its message and strengthen its reputation.
[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/DoritosUSA/videos/10154473457026165/” bottom=”30″]
Doritos is famous for their crowd-sourcing campaigns. Highly responsive to their followers, their appreciation of fan content is obvious
Brands can also showcase their audience’s talent and devotion by sourcing user-created content. In communities of fervent fans, there’s an abundance of creativity and motivation to celebrate their passion.
It’s thrilling for these fans to be acknowledged. Community managers can comment on user creations and also repurpose the content. This inspires fans to create more content and get recognized.
Need another reason? An astounding 84% of Millennials say that user-generated content has an influence on what they buy.
What to Remember:
Be authentic. Show that your brand has a story and personality. Interact with your fans in an honest and open manner, and see where it goes organically.
More and more, people expect transparency with the brands they follow. They want a connection to the brands they trust. By creating a personable presence and quality content, brands can grow a community of devoted and loyal fans.
Ready to start creating content that keeps your audience hooked?
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