5 Things You Should Be Doing On Facebook Right Now

Last week Mark Zuckerberg posted a status update on his personal Facebook account:

“We just passed an important milestone. For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day”.

1 billion people.

Go ahead… try and tell me your target audience isn’t using Facebook.

Facebook isn’t going anywhere people. It’s a giant that continues to evolve and improve, even as the competition heats up.

Now is the time to go all in on Facebook marketing. Here’s 6 ways to help you get started.

Get involved in Facebook Groups

It’s a well-documented fact that Facebook shut down the organic reach of Pages in order to spur advertising dollars.

Posts from Facebook Groups don’t have that problem though. In fact, they have tremendous organic reach, and the more active the Group, the better the reach.

Facebook Pages are a one-sided conversation, whereas Facebook Groups are true online communities, allowing for great, multi-dimensional conversations.

There are two ways to get involved in Groups:

1. Search for relevant ones and join in. Don’t spam them! Get involved, participate in threads and add value. You’ll earn the right to promote content if you can do that. (Feel free to join ours.)
2. Create your own.

If you opt for no. 2, there are a few things you should know:

• You need to create a Group based on value, not your brand.
• You’ll need a full time moderator because there are loads of full-time spammers on Facebook.

Remember those two points, and you’ll kill it with Facebook Groups.

Take advantage of native video

A few months ago, I saw a lot of videos about Shopify’s invoicing platform organically popping up on my newsfeed. This piqued my interest.

After some investigating, I learned that Facebook gives native videos more reach than any other type of content.

Why are Facebook videos getting so much reach?

Because Facebook understands the power of online video, and it wants to steal market share from YouTube.

If you try and share a link from YouTube on Facebook, you’ll probably be the only one to see it. But if you take the same video, and upload the file directly to Facebook (i.e. host in on Facebook), you’ll see a dramatic increase in reach.

Use Facebook as a publishing platform

Facebook doesn’t want you driving traffic outside of its platform unless you pay, which is why your links get little to zero traction.

Instead of mindlessly posting links on your page, why not use Facebook to syndicate your content?

Facebook Pages have the ability to create long form posts, or “Notes,” very similar to blog posts on your website. Simply copy and paste your blog posts into notes, and promote them on Facebook.

I guarantee that you’ll notice an instant lift in engagement on your posts.

At the end of the day, website traffic comes secondary to consumption so don’t fight the algorithm. Use it to your advantage.

Take out Facebook ads

Every business on the planet should advertise on Facebook.

Yep, that’s right. Every. Single. Business.

Do you understand how much data Facebook has?

I’m not just talking about the information you put into your profile, and the stuff you “like,” but cookie and user data too.

Think about how many websites and apps you log into with Facebook… That data gets pushed into Facebook’s advertising platform and is used to target users. No matter what you sell, you can reach your audience with Facebook Ads.

I want to share a powerful example from a local business we’re working with and how we’re driving targeted, qualified leads using Facebook ads.

Created 3 short videos for their business

• Video 1 spoke to common business problem with NO mention of their services
• Video 2 introduced their services
• Video 3 spoke to how their services could solve their business problems

Uploaded the videos directly to Facebook

• Ran video 1 for 7 days, targeting everyone in the NYC area
• Ran video 2 retargeting anyone who watched more than 50% of video 1
• Ran video 3 retargeting anyone who watched more than 50% of video 2

The result?

25 phone call leads for $200

As a communication platform

I conducted a self-audit of everything I do on Facebook to write this article.

I was shocked at how much I use Facebook Messages. I send them more than text messages.

After digging into why, I wasn’t surprised. Facebook has quietly integrated a ton of functionality into their messaging platform:

• International messaging (HUGE when you’re working with remote teams)
• Group messaging (HUGE when managing teams)
• Ability to send large files
• Ability to make phone and video calls
• Ability to send money to the person you’re chatting with

A lot of companies struggle to find a reliable messaging platform for a reasonable cost. Facebook has one of the best in the market, and it’s 100% free.

Conclusion

Facebook is a giant, and it’s making huge moves toward becoming a media giant. To get there faster, Facebook is giving massive advantages to those willing to play by its rules.

Don’t fight Facebook. Use it to your advantage.