Facebook is crowded with businesses, all competing with one another to make their message heard. But if you’re not a tech-savvy digital marketing native — or even if you are — the platform’s ins and outs can seem overwhelming. So step back and take a breath: better engagement for your business might only be a few clicks away. Our checklist will help you pinpoint your Facebook presence’s weak spots.
Your Business Profile Page
- Page URL
Make your profile easy to find with a simple one or two word “vanity URL.” Avoid dashes and underscores if you can and make sure the URL is as close to your brand name as possible. A cheeky pun may be funny, but it’s not worth missing out on traffic. Changing your page’s URL might also help if your audience is already searching for you — you’ll have greater prominence in their search results. - Video cover
The “cover” at the top of your profile is one of the first things customers will see when they click your page, so it’s a prime location for advertising. Craft a visually compelling and unique video that captures your brand’s essence. Just be aware of the 20 second time limit (and the fact that most audience members will stop watching 5 seconds in). - Profile picture
When’s the last time you updated your brand’s profile picture? Depending on your preferences, it can be a picture of your logo or of a team member, or something else that represents your brand. The key here is to simply have a profile picture, as accounts without profile pictures are met with suspicion and distrust in the online world. - “Our Story”
This text-based intro to your brand provides a brief window into your goals, background, or mission. And even if you don’t think text is the most crucial part of your profile, your page will still look a little strange if it’s left blank.
Growing Traffic
- Queue up posts
Consistent content posting is the key to maintaining consistent and reliable traffic, but it can be very difficult to come up with posts every single day. One trick a lot of businesses use is brainstorming a lot of posts at once, writing them while the ideas are fresh, and then queuing them up in advance. Experienced marketers, or apps like HootSuite, can help you pin down when the best time to post each day is, based on your audience’s habits. - Follow the trends
See a fun hashtag you want to participate in? While hashtags aren’t as prominent on Facebook as they are on Instagram and Twitter, people still sift through news stories using them. It’s important to follow the same rules you would at a family dinner: no politics, no race, and no heated issues. Still, joke hashtags are a fun way to engage with your audience…just make sure you understand the joke first. - Short posts work best
It’s tempting to let your thoughts spill over on every Facebook post, but leading marketers suggest that organic posts perform best with 80 characters. For paid content, 18 characters seems to be the sweet spot. It can be difficult to get your message to fit into this short space, but the payoff is worth it.
Other Tricks for Business Pages
- Show you care
When customers interact with your post by leaving a comment, respond! Even if it’s just with a group of emojis, the novelty of being tagged and talked to by a brand hasn’t worn off for many Facebook users. Furthermore, if someone has negative comments about your brand, business, or service, perfect your polite response and offer to continue the conversation in messaging. No need to punish other customers with a ton of notifications. - Perfect your CTA button
You can edit your Call to Action button on your page. You can change the text by hovering over it, and make the text conform to your expectations. For example, if you’re marketing a newsletter, you can have people “sign up.” If you’re running a community event, you can make it say “buy tickets” or “send message.” Since this button has such high prominence on your page, you’ll want to triple-check that the linked URL works and that the button is consistent for what you’re trying to accomplish. - Start a group
With Facebook shifting further and further towards paid engagement, organic reach is on the decline. Combat this trend (and avoid inflating your ad-spend) with a Facebook group. A group helps you send superfans immediate promotions, polls, and more. And since group notifications have high visibility on fans’ Facebook feed, it’s a great way to drive engagement.
Still feel overwhelmed? Moving Targets has helped many small businesses start, maintain, and grow their Facebook pages and achieve measurable results. Hit us up, we’d be happy to help.
