Content production takes a great deal of time and effort, and you want it to reach as many of your potential clients as possible. Promoting your content on social media is a critical part of an effective digital marketing strategy, including on Facebook, even in the promotional products B2B business model. It can, in fact, be one of the most cost-effective ways to drive traffic back to your website.
Facebook’s overall active users continue to increase every year and it’s up to 1.62 billion, with over 220 million active users in the U.S. Out of those, 74 percent use the site every day. What this means to you is, with Facebook audiences being huge, it is safe to say that your potential clients are active on Facebook. Facebook is also one of the most-used mobile apps—81 percent of devices have it installed.
And, since the majority of internet traffic is now mobile and the majority of mobile time is spent in-app, Facebook represents one of the best chances you have at getting views, shares, likes and visits to your website.
To help you drive traffic to your website using Facebook, here are eight simple tactics that will let you get maximum visibility and an increased number of readers with each post. Some of these tactics can also work on other platforms, expanding your reach even further.
1. Share Every Blog Post to Relevant Groups
There are all kinds of groups on Facebook, some with great member interaction. There are business groups such as your local chamber, the city, causes and other business groups you can join. These are perfect places to share your posts.
It is important to participate in the discussions and look to be helpful, not just show up to share your posts. By participating, people will get to know you and develop trust, and you will generate more interest from the other members of the group.
Think of the Facebook post as your store window. You want it to be enticing enough that people really want to go inside and see what else there is. You also want it to be intriguing enough that people who are just window shopping still remember your display and maybe even mention it through word of mouth.
Keep in mind that you can repurpose your blog posts by sharing them multiple times, every so often. For this purpose, you can create snippets of each of the main ideas of the post, and share each of them, using different images.
2. Promote Your Post With Paid Facebook Advertising
As you might already be aware, Facebook has been limiting organic exposure of business pages posts and trending towards pay-to-play over the past few years. In addition, there is a lot of noise in feeds with advertisements, videos, and news posts, which reduces the chances of your audience seeing your blog posts.
But the good news is that Facebook’s options for “boosting” your post with a small ad budget are truly amazing. Not only do you have razor-fine control over how much you spend, but you can also target specific demographics, and also create your own custom audience and show your posts just to them.
With just a limited budget per day, you can earn spots on the news feeds of people who will be most likely to consider your content interesting.
Consider boosting a few of your most popular blogs each month as you start out and then move toward consistently promoting a higher ratio to get your posts the attention they deserve.
3. Think Mobile First
As mentioned, if people are seeing your content on Facebook, they’re most likely viewing it on mobile. Make sure your post is optimized for smaller mobile screens, including limiting the amount of text you use in paragraph form.
Also, make sure any image you use doesn’t have tiny details that require zooming in. For instance, don’t share your entire infographic in a thumbnail size; crop out part of it and share that instead.
Most importantly, ensure your blog site itself is responsive and mobile optimized. If people click to read an article they see on Facebook and end up on a messy site, most will back out immediately and not bother reading the article in full.
4. Pay Attention to Headlines
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 80 percent of people who see your post shared on Facebook won’t get past the headline. Some will keep scrolling and not bother clicking or reading.
Others will start reacting to the post based on the headline alone. This can actually be a good thing for your blog.
Great headlines have a way of getting people talking. While it can be frustrating to hear commentary from people who clearly haven’t read the article, the whole point of posting on Facebook is getting engagement.
So embrace hot takes and write good enough titles so that people who actually read have an incentive to dig further. In a nutshell, use phrases that get people’s attention without being too clickbait-y.
Most importantly, look at your own data for feedback on headline quality. Posts that have a low click-through rate clearly show that the headline wasn’t enticing enough. Posts with a high click or engagement rate did a good job at getting attention.
Learn lessons from past successes and failures and adjust accordingly.
5. Take Advantage of Facebook’s Text Space
Every Facebook post you create that includes a link has room for additional text on the Facebook post itself. Don’t neglect the importance of the space Facebook gives you above the link! A lot of people will read that immediately after seeing the photo.
The text you add to your posts can lend context, provide a brief summary, or reveal key benefits. In the example above, the restaurant not only connected the link they shared to the current weather, but they also explained that the link’s important because it was essentially an endorsement from a notable local publication.
Just remember that the maximum amount of content people can see without expanding is 480 characters. Avoid using chunks of text to get your point across. Try to be descriptive yet brief. Use any hashtags or cross-tags to other pages that are relevant to signal to boost your post even further. Maybe even consider using emojis?!
6. Be Very Selective With Images
Facebook posts with images get three times more engagement, which is why most posts you see from brands now include some sort of image.
Images catch our attention, and they can also begin to tell the story behind your blog. With the right image, you can elicit emotion from your audiences before they even read a single word. Once they’ve been engaged in this way, your audience will be more likely to read the actual post.
Make images as relevant as possible to the content of your posts. Don’t just use an image because it’s eye-catching.
Also, limit the use of text within your image. A spare amount of text can be great, but too much can prevent your boosted posts from running. Check out Facebook’s own image guidelines for more details on what they do and don’t want.
7. Test Different Variations of Blog Post Shares
One of your best tools for marketing is the ability to split test two different versions of the same blog post.
For instance, say you wanted to promote a blog about how canvas bags can add value to your client’s event. You can create one version that uses an image of a group of people enjoying an event. You can then create another version that uses a stock image of a canvas bag.
Now, show each version to roughly the same audience and see which one gets the more clicks!
Performing these experiments can help you get details just right for each blog post you promote. It can also reveal preferences for different demographics when it comes to post design.
8. Evaluate Your Facebook Insights Data
At the end of the day, your own data is the best asset you have when trying to learn how to drive traffic to your blog using Facebook. Take notes on what works and what doesn’t, especially when it comes to what times you post and how frequently.
Also, A/B test post variations vigorously to find out how to get the biggest reaction from your audience.
Finally, make sure that the content you create is absolutely worth reading! Offer value, relevance and genuine quality to your readers. Otherwise, nobody will want to read it.
And there you have it!
For more marketing ideas that work to attract the digital-first buyer, specific for the promo business, visit the Resources section of ActionMarketingCo.com.
This article was originally published on Action Marketing and has been updated for publication here.
