Posting on Facebook is one of the best ways to engage with your audience.
With more than 1.5 billion people logging in and engaging every single day, there are loads of potential customers just waiting for you to log in and interact with them. But many businesses don’t bother, preferring other forms of marketing to make Facebook posts.
So... why aren’t more businesses targeting this lucrative base of customers?
The biggest obstacle to posting on Facebook I’ve seen business owners grapple with is coming up with stuff to post.
What should you post on Facebook? How should you word the post? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, making good Facebook posts that promote your business and brand can be a bit tough.
Not to worry though ‒ it’s honestly really easy. There are a bunch of easy ways to make awesome Facebook posts that drive traffic to your website and generate sales or conversions for your business.
To start you in the right direction, I’ve compiled this list of 6 easy ways to make great Facebook posts.
Your Facebook followers follow you for a reason. They trust you as an authority on the industry your business is in.
Leverage this trust by providing advice that helps followers solve a problem. Your followers will appreciate the help, and you'll get a nice social engagement boost in return.
Here are a few types of advice posts you can share:
If you're an expert in your industry, you have some knowledge worth sharing. Leverage that knowledge to grow and nurture a healthy Facebook following.
Posting on Facebook about a promotion you're running is an excellent way to boost your social engagement stats.
It'll also drive people to your website or physical location, which is the whole reason you're running a promotion in the first place.
So if you have a promotion going on... tell your Facebook followers about it!
Promotions only work if people know about them, and sharing your promotions on Facebook is a free and easy way to get the word out.
Being personable and relatable is one of the best ways for local businesses to connect with members of the community (AKA potential customers).
Sharing content that shows the human side of your business also strengthens your relationships with previous customers. This will make them more likely to think of you the next time they need the product or service you offer.
One of the best ways to show your business's humanity is to share a post featuring one of your employees.
The actual content you share is dependent on what your employees are comfortable with.
Many won't want details about their life shared with strangers online, which is totally understandable. However, content that does reveal a hardship or struggle will inevitably attract more attention and engagement.
If you're still unsure what a Facebook post featuring an employee should look like, here are a few ideas:
According to Hubspot, 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service through video than other mediums.
By posting a video on Facebook that showcases your office or workplace, you can capitalize on this preference for video content. A video tour will also let you subtly promote your business as you explain what each room is used for.
For example, a chiropractor could explain how an adjusting table in one treatment room helps make adjustments more effective. This explanation could expand into the benefits of chiropractic care and finish with a call to action to book an appointment.
If you're worried about it not looking super professional, don't worry. A video shot from a cell phone can give off a more relaxed and personable vibe than the stiff, somewhat robotic results you'll often get from a videographer.
That being said, a basic level of video quality is needed. This video tour is an extension of your business ‒ you want viewers coming away with the sense that you and your business are trustworthy. A shaky, low-quality video will only give the opposite impression.
If you'd like some actionable tips on shooting professional videos with a budget setup, the YouTube channel Primal Video is an excellent resource.
While it's easy to get hyperfocused on solely using Facebook to promote your products or services, not all of your Facebook posts should be about your business.
If you have a physical office or storefront, many of your followers live near your location. Posting about interesting or urgent news in your area will give your followers useful updates about events that are relevant to them.
Here are a few types of news that are sure to get a high engagement rate.
Sharing tips for safely dealing with the weather will make the post extra helpful and get some additional likes and shares. It will also show that your business genuinely cares about the community, which will improve followers' perception of your brand.
If your community has a festival, concert, or other popular event coming up, posting about that event will get interest and attention from those who are attending. And if your business is attending or sponsoring the event, this also counts as a promotion of sorts.
If someone notable in your town passes away, posting about their passing will likely generate interest and engagement.
A word of caution: I would only post something like this if I knew the person and had something genuine to say about them. If you just share an article about their passing without any personal commentary, it can come off as weird or insensitive.
Providing serious or helpful content is a good strategy on Facebook.
But let’s be honest ‒ most people don’t go on Facebook to learn stuff. They go on Facebook to be distracted, and memes are one of the best distractions the internet has to offer.
As you’re alive in 2019, you’ve almost certainly heard about memes. But before we go any further, I want to clarify what a “meme” actually is.
The Oxford dictionary defines a meme as “An image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.”
Basically, a meme is a funny picture or video that people share on social media.
By posting a meme relevant to your industry, you can engage with your followers without any real effort on your part. Type in “[industry] memes” into Google, and you’ll gain instant access to thousands of shareable image-based memes.
Image-based memes are typically more effective than video-based memes, as they don’t require any time or energy to look at.
Videos will still work though, so don’t count them out. I recommend posting whatever you think is funny, as long as it isn’t too offensive or obscure.
One more thing: memes are also particularly effective in targeting younger customers, as they are usually more interested in funny content than serious content. If you’d like to target a younger demographic on Facebook, posting memes is a good way to go about it.
A word of caution: if your business is in a more serious industry (healthcare, B2B, insurance, etc.) you should share memes sparingly. Posting too many in a row will make your Facebook page seem more like a comedy page than an extension of your business.
Conclusion
The largest barrier to successfully marketing on Facebook is knowing what to post. The 6 post types we talked about in this article will make coming up with a good Facebook post a quick and easy process.
