Structuring Time Whilst Marketing on Facebook
Facebook has predominantly been the go to for marketing and will probably continue to be as long as the powers behind it go on doing what they’re doing. As popular as it became after it was first launched, Facebook has proven itself to be the most successful marketing platform, but it has demanded a price.
Marketing on Facebook can rob a business of time, an expensive commodity if it remains unnoticed and many an unsuspecting marketer with the best intentions has become caught up in the magic of social connection. According to one source, it is close to 34% of marketers who spend between one and five hours on Facebook per week but if the truth be known, in Statista’s opinion it is much more. If we’re honest with ourselves, many of us have been guilty of being swept up in the action. There has been a huge rise in the competition for News Feed visibility which is healthy, nevertheless, a plummet in organic reach has also been noticed.
To remedy that, marketers are spending a whole lot more time creating content that is not only imparting value but is share-worthy as well. In fact, more thought is going into the art of competently responding to their audiences. Although, with the right tools, a few techniques and a positive attitude, there is still no mercurial solution to spend time efficiently but what we’ve got coming up should help you to improve your efficiency.
1. Remember the Save Feature
We’ve all done it, come face to face with an excellent slice of content either through someone else’s feed or our own and wanted to share it at some point or another. Now you can save the link to the piece you want to share for later access. Facebook has a “Save” feature that allows you to bookmark your chosen content. All you need to do is open the post, click the arrow at top right, save link and that’s it.
2. Posts For the Top of the Facebook Page
For content you want to present to your audience for a few days, you might have an announcement or have something to giveaway, all you have to do is pin it to the top of your page’s timeline. Obtain the post, hover your mouse over the top right corner, click and choose “Pin to Top” and the post will appear at the top of your timeline with a yellow sign in the top right corner. That little yellow sign is to let you know it’s a featured post.
That pinned post will remain where it is for seven days before it reverts back to its original publication date. Only page administrators and editors can pin posts.
3. Sending Out Posts on Schedule
Updates and posts or articles can be scheduled to appear on your page in a number of days or weeks or even months. If you’re well organised, savvy marketers have a stockpile of marketing updates they can send out at preferred times.
Scheduled (the optimal time to have a post appear on Facebook is at 3 pm Wednesdays and between 1 and 4 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) posts can be created by clicking on the arrow beside the word “Publish” and choose a date and a time, click “Schedule” and you’re done. You’ll get a notification when you next open up Facebook, that your scheduled post proceeded successfully. If you prefer, you can also use Hootsuite as your scheduling tool which offers a calendar on which to plan your releases.
4. “Saved Audiences” and Facebook Ads
Every marketer knows that placing an ad on Facebook requires planning and planning requires time and effort. It is worth carefully preparing your ads in order that they are unique and your campaign runs smoothly. You have the “Saved Audiences” feature for your Facebook Ad Campaigns and for those who want to run different ads to their targeted audience, the “Saved Audiences” feature saves time. You have the advantage of accessing your frequently used audiences in rapid succession requiring no recreation of them every time you want to use them.
Inside your Ads Manager, as you’re creating a new ad, you can click on the “Saved Audiences” option whilst creating your audience. Once created, you can access them without having to ‘rebuild’ every time.
5. Facebook Activities can be Time Consuming
It makes sense to have your brand advocates manage the activity on your page. These people are loyal to your brand, will share your posts and regularly comment on them. They’ll be the ones who will share some information about you and what you do on social media. They communicate with your prospective customers, encourage new followers and will answer questions on your behalf. Interestingly, one study was conducted by Wildfire, a social media marketing company who discovered every advocate generated on average about 14 earned media impressions and each could bring 1.3 new followers to your page.
6. Track Your Results
You’ll have earned more time when you become familiar with the behaviour of your audience. With that kind of knowledge, you’re armed for your next campaign. You’re in a position to see what time of day is most effective and what time your audience actually logs in to the platform. This valuable information is provided by Facebook Page Insights and you can access it from the option that appears at the top of your page. You’ll receive a summary which will include page views, post engagements, and all relevant information to keep you informed of how your activity is being received.
There is also Google Analytics to access more data so that you’re well prepared as you create your Facebook marketing strategy.
Conclusion
It’s fair to say that this information above is logical but putting it into practice will save time and the minutes add up when you’re going into creating a campaign blind. With the above techniques in place, you’ll notice that the time you’re spending on the Facebook platform will be less than anticipated. That’s got to be a bonus when you’ve got other valuable creations in the making.
