2020 and 2021 have been years like no others in recent history, and while people are still watching to see how it ends, Facebook has been at work with an accelerated speed in improving and changing with the times. Due to the issues that have hit 2021, there has been so much misinformation making rounds on the internet but Facebook has been hard at work trying to reduce or counter it. Instead, they have been trying to promote transparency, inclusivity, and diversity and this has also will have an impact on Facebook best practices 2023.
Back in 2004, Facebook started as a network aiming to connect college students. Almost a decade and a half later and with about 2.95 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media channel across the globe.
From a way of connection and communication among family and friends, Facebook metamorphosed into the interaction interface between businesses and their audiences and communities. Facebook experienced a tremendous evolution and lead the progress of online interaction.
This huge people database of different areas and demographics is what makes Facebook marketing a thought-out and needed master practice by businesses. All businesses need to reach their targeted audience hence the requirement to learn and apply Facebook best practices for 2023.
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Why Facebook for Business? Because:
· Helps you reach a new target audience, therefore, acquiring new customers.
· Facebook page is a powerful lead generation tool.
· It is essential for the retention of existing clients.
· Helps your organization achieve its goals.
Before getting into the current Facebook best practices, here are a couple of major updates that you should know about:
i. Educational Hub
Facebook has rolled out an educational feature called “Educational Hub”. It contains a huge amount of educational resources customized to help learners, teachers, and parents as well. Some of these resources include:
§ Group-focused features meant to bring together people with the same interests.
§ Mental health and self-care material.
§ Anti-racism material.
§ An online literacy option called “get digital” designed to help start online conversations and activities to support students.
ii. Paid Online Events
This feature is designed to aid small businesses find a way to survive and recover due to the effects of the pandemic. It’s meant especially for creators, businesses, or publishers to earn quick income during the lockdown. The page owners are able to host online events and people can pay to attend online. All this is enabled through the live video platform.
iii. Sponsored Posts for Groups
Groups have been getting more attention and priority in news feeds and this is promoting the number of people joining groups. There’s a chance now for people running active and thriving groups to earn revenue from them. Besides the possibility of running ads, groups can now have brand partnership posts. Admins of groups can now run sponsored Facebook posts in partnership with advertisers.
These are just a few of the many Facebook updates for 2023. And with the newly changed algorithm, has placed users’ most searched content at the top of their feeds. Thus, you should apply Facebook best practices to increase your odds of appearing in your audience’s feeds.
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Top Facebook Business Page Tips and Tricks – Facebook Best Practices for 2023:
This One Is Old But Still Very Actual: Create an Eye-Catching Profile
A profile picture is the first point of contact your audience interacts with on your page. Easy recognition of the picture is key to being liked and found on Facebook search. Cluttering a profile picture with slogans, and contact details are not recommended. Consistency with your branding is important for the coherence of your brand image.
Cover photos are another element representing your brand and speaking loud to your customers as the first impression. And do not forget the first impression counts, always. Your cover photo should be high-quality, engaging, and eye-catching. Don’t clutter it with texts and be sure to change it often or during your campaigns.
Craft a Relevant ‘About’ Page
This is the most visited section of your Facebook page and informs your audience about your brand and values. Whenever visitors want to find out more information about your business, they head to your “About” tab of the business page. It is important to give them a clear and concise snapshot of what your brand is about. Your mission, vision, story, company information, and any other relevant details that best showcase your brand.
Facebook allows you to customize sections that record your milestones, awards, and product launch dates.
Facebook Best Practices: Customize the Call to Action Button on Your Facebook Page
A call-to-action button is what prompts people to take a certain action. Facebook introduced this feature in 2014 and since then the option has been massively expanded. The button prompts things like ‘Sign Up’, ‘Call Now’, ‘Book Now’, ‘Watch Video’, etc. and users are offered the possibility to customize it to different URL destinations as they consider pertinent.
As a marketer, this gives you the opportunity to drive traffic from your Facebook page to your site easily. This can be added by simply clicking on the page and clicking on the ‘Add a Button’ box, choosing which one you want to create, and inserting the URL you want to direct visitors to. Facebook Insights will help you measure and report the effectiveness of the CTA button.
Know Your Audience
Facebook demographics are used to ensure you know your buyer personas. They are continuously evolving hence the need to have tools to help you measure, report and keep track of the changes. Knowing your customers’ avatars will help you tailor your marketing campaigns and promotions to target them.
The below questions can help you better understand your ideal customers:
· What is your brand user demographic? Their age, educational background, gender, income level, etc.
· What is the goal of your Facebook campaign? This helps you target the right audience that has the highest chance of being interested in your offer. Don’t use the same content to communicate with all your buyer personas.
· What is your competitive advantage? What differentiates you from your competition?
Facebook Best Practices: Set SMART Goals
It’s easy to only keep an eye on vanity metrics such as likes or shares, but if they don’t help you achieve your desired results in terms of revenue, they won’t mean much. Each step you take in your business strategy must be tied to your business goals. And these goals are different for each business, you could perhaps be looking to generate leads, create brand awareness, boost conversions, or give better customer service, among others.
Your goals must be specific enough to be measurable, keep them S.M.A.R.T. This means each ad placement, each post you share or every comment must support your ultimate goal/s. This will help you be consistent and will guide the rest of your Facebook business page agenda.
Pick the Right Category for Your Business
When setting up your Facebook business page, pick a category or categories that best describe your brand in order to maximize visibility. Facebook best practices for choosing the best category suggest that you pick only the most relevant and precise category.
You could for instance be running a cake business, so instead of simply selecting a local shop as your category, you should select bakery or dessert shop. The purpose is to make sure you’re easily visible to your customers and easier to find.
Categories will help your business grow by helping you appear on Facebook searches. People that have shown interest in your field or niche will get recommendations for your page and your business will also appear in search results when people look for such businesses near them.
Finally, you will appear as related pages, meaning even someone who was not necessarily searching for your business might find it and choose it instead of the one searched.
Facebook Best Practices: Create Engaging Content
One of the most important Facebook rules is creating content that probes your audience to take action. Developing an engaging relationship with your followers is what will determine their interaction with your brand. As a content creator, one should not just stick to general statements, opinions, and facts but be bold, and spice up your content with some fun. Questions, photos that ask questions, and fill-in-the-blanks are some examples of content that entice people to act.
Respond to conversations in the right rhythm and cadence, be responsive and social, and finally, this is a social media channel. Going out of your way to make your audience feel important makes them bond with your brand. Quick feedback on Facebook page is highly appreciated especially in the early stages of community building. This shows the brand’s commitment to customer service and smooth communication with its clients.
Source: Elegant Theme’s Facebook feed
Post Videos and Pictures to Catch the Eye of Your Potential Clients
Social media platforms attract primarily with their visually engaging content and Facebook is no exception. Posting highly appealing visuals and videos is greatly appreciated.
Video content is the most consumed type of content on Facebook currently having a wider reach than images. 84% of marketers are relying on Facebook as their principal video marketing channel. Nowadays, videos are used to drive engagement and brand awareness. It is a marketer’s top priority. Live Videos are visualized three times more than pre-recorded videos. They are deemed fun, more real, and provide in-the-moment brand engagement. People want real-time interaction with brands.
Silly memes are attention-grabbing and easy to consume especially in this era. Image engagements are high as compared to plain posts. A meme can make your timeline blow up with visitors, reposts, comments, and followers.
Facebook Best Practices: Make Use of Facebook Live Videos. Live Is the Superstar of the Day in Terms of Engagement
Facebook live has exploded since the platform stepped up its support of live streaming elements that raised users’ interest in this almost complete human interaction. They have reported almost three times the engagement of similar videos across all social media.
But for you to make the most out of Facebook live you have to apply the following quick Facebook best practices for Facebook live:
§ Ensure it’s of high resolution and crisp clear.
§ Ensure it is stable via these two ways: you can use a tripod and if you’re using a mobile device you may want to rely on a high-speed connection such as Wi-Fi. You can run a speed test before setting it up to be sure the connection is strong.
§ You want to spark meaningful interactions with your live video, create content that can inspire such interaction and respond to comments as much as possible, answer the questions on air, and if you can, pin some of the best comments on top of your chat. This sort of interaction is the main purpose of going live.
§ Let your broadcast run for a longer period in order to reach more people. You can do these live videos often.
§ Finally, remember to announce beforehand that you will be doing a live.
Try and Test Facebook Reels
One of the best ways to use Facebook is to create reels. A Facebook reel is a short video that you can use to promote your business. It’s a great way to show your customers what you have to offer.
There are a few different ways to create a Facebook reel. You can choose to engage your users by having them leave comments, play a game, or take a poll. Or by using videos from popular online channels like YouTube or Vimeo. One of the best things about Facebook reels is that they’re catchy. They’re short and sweet, and they grab your attention, making them perfect for promoting your business page.
Facebook Best Practices: Set up a Posting Strategy
It is well known that no planning is planning to fail. This is applicable to Facebook as well. A reliable strategy is essential as you plan your Facebook business page. Every page is unique, and you have to think, plan and manage your page based on your target audience, brand story, and the desired reaction you want to obtain from your potential customers.
Layout your sales and promotion goals and plan how to communicate and achieve those goals. It is important to schedule posts in advance and links them to your site to drive traffic for better results. Nowadays there are many apps available to help you schedule your posts in advance, promptly respond to your clients, and engage with your audience. Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Coschedule, HubSpot are just a few of them. The Facebook interface also provides you with a schedule post option among other apps.
Create a Balanced Posting Schedule
How frequently you publish posts and when you post them is vital for your Facebook marketing activity. Posting too often might irritate your followers. On the other hand, not posting frequently enough might reduce your chances of credibility and authenticity. Striking a good balance between the two is the key to a strong brand presence.
Facebook page insights will greatly help with this as once you have observed the performance of your previous posts you may customize the frequency, timing, and strategy as required. Here are some tips to help as you start off.
· Afternoons and evenings are the moments of the day when most people visit their Facebook account so, post between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. However, avoid being robotic by posting at the exact time daily.
· Posting twice a day is adequate to create awareness and gain post impressions. This ensures consistency and originality without looking spammy.
· Always include images where possible.
Facebook Best Practices: Use Hashtags Carefully
Hashtags (#) are used to gain momentum on Facebook. They drive traffic to your posts when people search for the topic related to your post. When there are trending topics and you talk about them, they can be used to expand your reach. On Facebook, unlike Twitter, Instagram, or Linkedin, you need caution and proper use of hashtags.
· Don’t use them in all posts.
· Don’t misuse a trending hashtag just to appear on a search result.
· One post requires only one hashtag in order not to be stuffed with hashtags.
Show Humanity
Being social is what is called being human. Brands are communicating with human beings, not robots, so it is important to keep that in mind while creating posts. People want posts that speak out to them, consequently personalizing messages will enhance engagement. Most often people want to see the face of the person they are socializing with or associate a brand with a human face. Show empathy, respect, and kindness in your comments and replies. Mention a person’s name when replying to their comment.
How you treat and interact with your clients online will affect how they respond to your brand. Being human is the foundation of customer service as your audience gets assured that you know what they feel and what they are going through. You create a relationship with them.
Build Credibility
Trust is what sustains your brand online and offline. The bottom line of trust is credibility. Do not allow doubt to interfere with your relationship with your customers. Ensure all your posts and news you are publishing come from credible sources. Protect your customers from all malicious cybercrime attempts by only sharing credible links. The safety of your customers should come first.
A credible brand creates a loyal and trusting relationship with its customers and followers.
Leverage on Facebook Ads and targeting Tools
Facebook offers you the possibility to segment your audience in different demographics and interests and target them with specific posts. You can segment your audience according to their age, location, income, education, language, specific interests, etc. Simply click on the bullseye symbol that’s at the bottom of the post, then set the preferred metrics as per your targeted audience.
These days building a strong brand on Facebook is literally impossible without using Facebook Ads. Once you create high-quality, engaging content, you have to find the best ways to bring it in front of your target audience. A powerful marketing strategy sets aside a budget for Facebook Ads. Yes, some content might go viral on its own, but that’s most often not the case.
Facebook lets you create your own Ads according to your goals and puts at your disposal an array of tools to help you refine the targeting of these ads. You get to select the people you are targeting, their demographics, their interest, and brands they interact with, among others. Make sure you create ads that are eye-catching and grab the attention of your target audience. Once all these are in place, promote your ads and test various options till you obtain the results you are expecting.
Facebook ad example.
Facebook Best Practices: Leverage on Contests
People enjoy good competition and the excitement that comes with winning free stuff. This can be a way to increase your fan database over a short period of time. If a contest is promoted and run correctly, it is a gold mine to your Facebook page.
There are various Facebook Apps that can help you run contests. However, a third party has to oversee and conduct the contest for you. The contests have to be customized to fit your target fans to facilitate their interaction with the contest.
Facebook Best Practices: Use Minimal Page Apps
Apps used to be disturbing tools from the user’s point of view, as most of them would force users to like or subscribe hence harvesting emails from them. Facebook had a default landing page app before they introduced a timeline to facilitate the creation of relationships between brands and customers.
Apps can now be used to sell products, drive traffic to your site, run contests, carry out giveaways, and collect emails. Excessive use of applications drives people away from competitors as no one wants to be spammed or forced in some way. So, reduce to the minimum the number of apps you use on your Facebook page.
Use Analytics and Measure the Success of Your Facebook Page
Facebook best practices cannot be complete without understanding how and where users interact most with your business across your Facebook page, the app, or the web. This is so important that there’s a mobile app version for it to compete with Google analytics.
Facebook analytics will help you analyze how well the goals you set are performing and whether you’re increasing your ROI.
On the web, you can measure the actions people are taking to see all about your aggregated demographics. You have many features such as cohorts to measure their behavior over a given period of time, funnels that can help you measure conversions, and so on.
You have the possibility to leverage the Facebook pixel. Once you set it up, it can help you measure your page’s performance and more. You can also get combined data from your Facebook page, your website, and the mobile app to get a clearer granular picture.
Understanding Facebook Analytics is critical for your marketing strategy. Analytics and insights offer detailed information concerning the results generated by the content you are sharing. As a marketer, you need to know if your content is successful or not. You can only get a clear picture of your posts’ performance by studying Facebook page Insights. You get details on specific engagement metrics enabling you to track and measure your success. You get to know what works and what doesn’t for your brand.
Currently, it is easier to understand Facebook Analytics as they have made it more user-friendly. Additionally, they have tutorials on Facebook Blueprint that will help you better understand analytics.
Facebook Best Practices: Content Variety
Having great quality but always in the same format can be a little meh. Offer your audience a perfect blend of content formats. You can use the 80-20 rule to help you balance it out. 80% of the content can be educational, entertaining, and informative. The 20% can be about promoting your brand.
You can consider this the rule of thirds of Facebook content. Besides this, another excellent way to boost your engagement with a variety of content is to include the user-generated content you already have. It’s a good way to boost brand loyalty and interaction. Followers would love to see their photos or comments on your page.
Source: Youtube
Facebook Groups
These are powerful tools especially for marketing your brand. They are a place for your customers, followers, or readers to come together for a common cause: your brand. Groups can be public, private, or secret. Facebook has really put a focus on groups now more than ever as small businesses and groups and private messaging are taking over online social communities.
You should leverage groups because they drive more engagement around your brand. It’s a great tool because it can help you narrow down to specific people’s interests in order to be more relevant and generate useful interactions. They also give you real-time insights that can be of absolute importance for your decision-making.
Thus, to ensure you get it right, you have to apply a few Facebook best practices for groups that include:
Have a clear code of conduct – set the mood right from the word “go”. You should however avoid too many rules but have basic respectful rules for members to avoid bullies or irrelevant talks.
Engage on a regular basis, but don’t monopolize – this group is mainly for your customers or readers. If they want to keep the chats going on throughout then so be it, but as the admin, remember this is business, spark a debate and sit back, let them do the rest. Offer guidance or wisdom or important information about your product when you see the need.
Schedule Facebook posts – your group insights can show you the time that your group members are most active. You can schedule to post your content at this time, it will also ensure that they keep track and don’t miss out.
Post frequent welcome messages for new members, and keep the topics interesting and unique.
Mistakes to Avoid in Facebook Marketing
· Never have a personal profile to represent a brand. Create an authentic Facebook Business Page.
· Never publish personal content on your brand page. Always assign page roles on a need-to basis and post as a brand, not as a private person.
· Never spam your followers. Aim to be classy yet perceptive.
It is of utmost importance for all brands to understand how to properly manage a Facebook business page. The Facebook business page best practices listed above aid in tight the connection between communities and brands. You get noticed, followed, and engage with your target audience creating a reliable tool for lead generation.
But as Facebook is continuously evolving, you need to be up-to-date and willing to adapt and try different strategies to see massive success and results for your business. Always check on the most recent Facebook best practices updates.
