How to Market Facebook, Even With the Constantly Changing Algorithm

Facebook seems to constantly update the algorithm it uses to display Facebook pages in News Feeds. As such, this site continues to keep marketers on their toes, especially in regards to organic reach. With Facebook's millions of users, there are always ways to continue to find new likes as well as new clients and customers. Below are a few tips.

Sets Goals and Make a Plan

Start by making goals that make sense for Facebook. How many new ‘likes’ do you want for your page each week? Do you want your followers to share your content more? Or perhaps comment more on your page? Get your marketing team together or start brainstorming before you outline these goals so you can start forming a plan to align with your brand. This plan should include a day-by-day content schedule as well as a budget, both for your time and your finances.

While it's reasonable to set aside at least a half hour a day to work on Facebook, also consider whether you're willing to try out targeted paid ads, which will help you find customers outside of organic reach.

Track Performance

Consistently keeping track of how each of your posts and status updates are performing is key to making Facebook work for you, no matter how much Facebook has tinkered with the algorithm. Generally speaking, text posts typically perform the best, be sure to keep an eye on Facebook Insights. Currently Insights shows the ‘total reach’ of each post, as such you can easily tell if a photo of your latest dish reached more people than say, a link to your latest restaurant menu.



Additionally, the current Insights page also shows how your fans are engaging with your page, particularly comparing how many clicks a post received compared to how many shares, likes, and comments. This is the best way to measure what works for your page as well as what doesn't. For example, if your infographic of how rae PIDs measure gas levels in different spaces was liked an shared more than an image of your company’s calibration tools, then you know infographics are often — and currently — a better bet when it comes to updating your page.

Since the algorithm for distributing your posts does change, you'll need to keep a careful eye on these insights to see if how you're reaching your fans is changing, and then adjust your content schedule accordingly.

Build Your Industry Connections

Social media sites are about building a community and spreading the love by sharing more than just your own product pages and content. To make this aspect of Facebook marketing work best, be sure to use your Facebook page as your company page, rather than through your individual personal page. To do this, click on the tool sign at the top right of Facebook, and choose which page you'd like to currently manage. Then, you'll effectively be commenting and sharing as your company page.

Next, start building your community by liking other pages in your industry, other than competitor. These pages will then appear in your company's News Feed, and you can see what they're sharing.

As your company page, you can also like and comment on their posts. What's even better is you can share their content to your company page. This is important to do for multiple reasons. For one, your page's fans want to see more than just links to your own website. They'll see more value in your page if you're sharing other industry-related news, such as, if you’re a travel company, why airline ticket prices to Europe are going down. Additionally, if your industry connections see you've shared their content, they're more likely to share yours. This is another wonderful way to reach and engage more people in your community.

Facebook's algorithm may force you to rethink your marketing plan and content strategy, but it's still possible to tame the Facebook beast. By following the above steps and trying new Facebook features, you can still reach potential new fans and continue to grow your business.

8 Ways to Keep Your Social Media Updates Fresh

Small business owners managing their own social media often ask the same question: "How can I keep my updates fresh and engaging?"

It's no easy task. If one were to poll marketers and business owners alike, he or she would find that creativity and the challenge of keeping updates from becoming stale is a top concern in social media. Luckily, at Omnicore Agency, our team of social media experts never run out of good ideas.

 

Taking a page from their book – and asking their recommendations – we've compiled a list for you to use the next time you get stuck on what to write, or for those moments when you need your content to pop, or those instances where you want to take what you've been doing to the next level. No matter what your social media challenge, these tips for keeping your social media updates fresh are sure to make managing your social channels a whole lot easier -and more successful!

• Don't Always Talk About Yourself: This is the key to success in social media. Don't just share links to your site or overly promotional posts. Be human, be conversational, and talk about the good words of others, including sharing their content, their links, or their creations (with credit, of course)!
• Check the Date: No idea what to post? Check the calendar! Each month - or even each day or week, for that matter – plays host to a variety of holidays, awareness weeks, and events. Find the ones that tie in to your business and find a way to connect with your audience over those occasions. Not only is it timely, but it's also unique. Try implementing date or time-specific promotions through social media that relate to the occasion, host chats or streams using hashtags relating to that event to raise awareness and generate conversation, or create graphics associated with that specific event and share them throughout your social channels.
• Crowdsource: Your social networks are a goldmine of opportunity for content, so source from them on occasion when you need a break. Ask for photo submissions for a contest, or retweet their answers to a poll, prompt, or question. It gets the conversation going and has the potential to grow your audience at the same time. Bottom line: ask for their input!
• Quotations and Questions: Questions and quotations are always good for sharability and engagement.

Quotations are good for more inspirational or lighter topics – for an added bonus, turn that quote into a graphics that's pinable and sharable for maximum impact. When choosing quotes, go for something fitting for that day, a particular topic, or just your industry in general. If you can, find a way to connect it back to your own business by sharing that quote and then linking to a content piece you've created that uses that quote or connects back to it in some way. Alternately, post a quote and then ask a question relating to its contents to try to ignite some feedback.

Questions alone, on the other hand, are good for getting valuable feedback and sparking conversation. Just make sure the questions aren't too complicated or too controversial. Think of questions you might ask in a focus group or customer survey, or go for the conversational/laid-back sort of questions one might find in small talk – you may be surprised on who you connect with! Speaking of questions, also use your social channels to answer them. If you have FAQs, do a Q&A post series and then make that content perform double duty by turning those Q&A updates into a blog post or other content piece. Answer questions builds credibility and connects with the customer.

• Add Visuals: Adding videos, photos, or graphics instantly makes your status update more attractive, plus, it boosts your potential to have it shared across multiple channels (research shows it!) . Take the time to enrich a post with a photo or a video you've created – you'll be surprised at the increased levels of engagement you'll see as a result.
• Make the Next Step: Post a teaser of something and then link to the content or landing page where they can get more info or explore something more indepth. Think calls to action when you make your updates!
• Search for Sources: Stuck on where to find the topic of your next tweet or status update? Check these standby sources for new information and inspiration:

• Today's Headlines: current events are always a great way to generate conversation. Just approach with caution and make sure you're choosing topics that are relevant and reflective of your brand in a positive way.
  Industry blogs or websites: see what the buzz is in your industry and share it with your audiences!
  Your competitor's websites and media channels: if your competitors are writing, tweeting, or blogging about it, it's valuable – look at what they're doing and see how you can do it better.
  YouTube: videos are great ways to look at a topic from a visual angle. Look for industry relevant videos and see how they might be shared or turned into a status update.
• Flickr: like YouTube, Flickr can also be a great way to get inspiration for a status update, simply by looking at a topic from a more visual angle.
• Pinterest: do a search or two for phrases relevant to your industry and see what content is out there – can you create something similar or better to share?
• Slideshare.net: look for slideshows for snippets of information that are ultra-sharable through social media and may inspire presentations of your own.
• Your swipe file: if you don't have one, you need one! Here's how to make one.
• 
  
• Your latest newsletter: look through your latest email marketing blasts – is there something there that could be shared through social media too?
•  Your blog: check your blog for recent posts and see if you can condense down your post takeaways into tweetable, shareable, or Facebookable snippets.
• Short and Sweet: Research shows that on Facebook, shorter posts tend to perform better in terms of engagement and views, so keep that in mind when making an update. Don't be afraid to make a short exclamation and let it roll from there.

These are just a handful of tips (there are countless more and we'd love to hear some of yours in the comments!) for keeping social media updates fresh. The key thing is to not do the same thing over and over again. You know this as a common sense takeaway, but it can be tempting to do so. Remember that Mark Twain quote about insanity – it's when you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Don't do only the same things!

Article Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/salman-aslam/2059286/8-ways-keep-your-social-media-updates-fresh