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Overview of Facebook

How to Post Strategic Status Updates

How to Post Strategic Status Updates

If you are looking to use social media to market your company, brand, product, or service, you need to understand the dynamics of how people communicate on social networks. The majority of messages posted to social networks can contain text, images, or video – and often text is kept short and sweet, depending on the platform. Most people gravitate toward messages of a personal or emotional nature, usually from people they know. People using social media tend to notice and respond to personal posts versus commercial ones.

If your company is building a presence on social networks, like Facebook, you need to learn how to craft strategic, engaging, and effective content. Regularly broadcasting promotional messages can quickly kill conversations and turn people off. Be more social by posting asking questions, initiating conversations with the public or responding to your online community’s messages, and sharing quality, relevant information.

In addition to publishing posts, communication happens on social networks in the comments on posts as well as in response to other people’s comments. Responding to comments in a timely manner is a way to build better relationships with people following your Facebook Page, including your customers and prospects. Focus on the “social” aspect of social media marketing and make sure to connect with your followers, not only broadcast messages to them.

What makes a post strategic?

Think and plan before you post. Keep your business and marketing objectives in mind as you craft your messaging. For example, consider why you put up a Facebook Page in the first place. Was it for branding? Customer service? Sales? All of the above? Each objective presents distinctly different messaging approaches.

What makes a post engaging?

Know your audience and get them to interact with you through your posts. On Facebook, you can measure general engagement in a number of ways. Someone “Liking” your post is the least meaningful because clicking “Like” takes little thought or effort. Getting post “Likes” is helpful to organically boost the visibility of your posts. Two clear ways to know that you’ve created an engaging post are the number of comments on each update and the number of times people have shared your posts with others. Engaging posts use visuals to attract attention and the quality of the content can generate conversations and conversions.

What makes a Facebook post effective?

You’ll get more out of your Facebook posts if you include a call to action. Establish the actions you want people interacting with your posts to take and make them clear. Some clear actions include:

  • Signing up for your newsletter.
  • Filling out a questionnaire.
  • Inquiring about hiring you.
  • Requesting more information.
  • Providing feedback.
  • Buying your product.

The best way to measure the effectiveness of your post is how many actual actions it stimulates, also known as conversations. The more your updates are shared, the more chances you have for organic brand exposure that can help achieve your business goals.

Posts that “convert” or result in an action of some kind usually require that people click on a link you’ve included in your post to then take another step. Make sure you link to places online where the actions are obvious and easy for people to participate.

Effective posts help drive traffic to places online where people can more directly interact with your company. Understand that Facebook does not want you to send people away from the Facebook web or mobile platform so you may receive more responses to your calls to action by linking to pages within Facebook or by paying to boost your post.

Check your Page Insights to gauge the effectiveness of your posts. As the administrator of your Page, you can see an Overview of metrics such as:

Post Reach – How many times your post appeared on (not a measurement of how many people actually saw it or paid attention to it)

Post Engagement – More active interactions with your posts

New Page Likes – Clicking “Like” on a Page does not translate to seeing the Page posts.

New Followers – Number of people who have recently followed your Page. Conversely, you can also see the number of Unfollows or people who have clicked to no longer see your posts.

Top Performer – The top performing post on your Page.

Reactions – The number of times people used the emoji symbols to acknowledge your post.

Comments – People taking the time to type something in the Comments section of your Page post.

Shares – People going a step further and sharing your post to their personal or Page feeds.

Photo views – The number of times the photos you upload are viewed.

Link clicks – The number of people clicking on a link in your post to get to another destination page, if a link is included.

You can also access data about your Page followers including Age and Gender and Location, all of which can help you craft more strategic posts.

In Facebook Insights, you can also see Post activity to compare post reach and engagement across recent posts.

The more you examine your Facebook Insights, the more you’ll come to understand what is resonating with your followers and which posts get the most results. There is no single magic formula for effective posts on Facebook Pages. Trying too hard to follow a formula could eliminate the natural rhythms of conversation and online community building. Be receptive, responsive, and respectful. Get to know your audience better, and you’ll be off to a good start.

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