HOW TO USE FACEBOOK TO MARKET YOUR CONTENT (IN 7 EASY STEPS)

Chances are that you’ve probably already heard about how effective Facebook is as a tool for marketing content. As a matter of fact, 67 per cent of marketers consider Facebook to be their most important social media platform.

And content pieces like “original research” are getting millions of shares on the platform. This is no surprise considering that as of the third quarter of 2018, Facebook had 2.27 billion monthly active users (according to Statista), out of which more than 75 percent visit the site at least once a day.

But you know, none of these numbers will mean much to you if you're not making efforts to benefit from them. Thus, it's especially important that you learn how to use the many opportunities Facebook offers to actually put your content and business out there for the world to see.

That's why we've put together a few steps that you will definitely find useful. So if you're looking for a quick guide with simple but effective tips on how to use Facebook to market your content,  you are on the right page. Read on!

STEP 1: CREATE VALUABLE CONTENT WORTH SHARING

This is the first rule of effective content marketing, nay, marketing your content on Facebook. In order to reach more people with your content on Facebook, provide valuable information. Create really great, fresh, and useful content that people care about and will actually want to share.

You'll be surprised at the number of Facebook users that do anything but add value. The noise in the social media space is way beyond imaginable; everybody wants to be heard.

But if you provide value? You'll immediately stand out!

Here's the thing: Your Facebook page is not a platform to sell your products, rather you should be more focused on being helpful to your connected community. Of course, you can market your product once in a while but that should not be a priority.

The content on your Facebook page should be 80% valuable, engaging materials and 20% promotional stuff. Got it?

And never forget to add social share buttons to your blog and encourage your readers to share your posts.

STEP 2: UPDATE YOUR PAGE REGULARLY

In addition to providing valuable content, update your FB page with fresh content on a regular basis. When your page is static and out-of-date, visitors will quickly leave and probably never return. Of course, that won't be the case when you share fresh content regularly.

And let's emphasize “fresh content” a bit. You don't want people to view your content as old news, do you? Well, if all you do is regurgitate old, worn-out content, you'll only ever come across as a marketer that doesn't know what they're doing.

So what should you do? Update your Facebook page with new stuff. It could be once a day. Maybe twice?

Whatever works best for you, make a commitment to stay consistent with it.

To make your page even more engaging, you can get more than one content type into the mix:

• Videos

• Infographics

• Slideshows

• Music

• Webinars

• Images

• Podcasts

STEP 3: BUILD A STRONG AUDIENCE

Since the major aim of your social presence is to ultimately attract customers to your business, it is best to make deliberate efforts to build an audience. What does it mean to build an audience? It means having a social community of followers who are committed to viewing your content frequently. Without this, you've not really started social marketing.

You could start with your existing social following on places like Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, or any social media platform at all. Simply invite them to view and like your page. Building an audience also involves regular interactions with the users. Communication is a two-way thing, not just you talking. So always encourage comments or reactions in your posts. Encourage discussion in the comments. Try as much as possible to respond to concerns, questions, and the like (VERY IMPORTANT FOR BUILDING AN AUDIENCE).

You wouldn't keep following a brand if they ignored your message once or twice, would you? Same with your audience. They would not want to feel ignored. When you reply (and reply QUICKLY for that matter), you create interaction. This interaction can help increase engagement and possibly draw more eyes to your content. And of course, this can ultimately affect your sales positively.

Another great way to build a strong audience is to invite customers you currently do business with to like your Facebook page. Since they already love what you do, there is a high chance that they'll be happy to follow you online, too.

STEP 4: MARKET YOUR PAGE PROACTIVELY

One effective way of doing this is to email Facebook influencers you know to share your [valuable] content to their followers or on their page.  You could also mention it in a conference/seminar/webinar you attend or speak at to create awareness.

You could also promote on all marketing materials which could be your marketing emails/newsletters, business cards, t-shirts, handbills, your website, other social media platforms, or anywhere visible. The more people get to see it, the more likely they are to follow you on Facebook. After all, what good is content lying dusty on a Facebook page if no one is reading it? There are many ways to market your Facebook page. Just be creative with it and think outside the box, like running a contest or giveaway that requires people to like your page in order to enter to win the prize.

STEP 5: UPLOAD EVERY OF YOUR BLOG POST TO FACEBOOK

While there are countless ways to promote your blog content, one of the best is posting them on Facebook.  As stated before, Facebook now has over 2 billion monthly active users. Active users are those which have logged into Facebook during the last 30 days.

Its extensive audience capacity has made it become increasingly popular among marketers as the go-to tool for promoting blog posts.

Here are some reasons why Facebook is great for promoting blog content:

• It is less stressful and time-saving than most other user-generated content hosting platforms

• It can reach a wide range of specified audiences who are likely to be receptive to your content.

• The cost per click is low when compared to other paid channels.

• It is free; unless you want to run paid promotions which increases your post’s organic reach and hence, more traffic. But hey, that is what you’re aiming at, right?

• It is easy to set up promotions and manage them.

The major challenge with blogging has always been getting people to read the posts, but with Facebook, it gets easier.  

Here's how:

-Copy your article’s URL

-Then post the link to the article on your Facebook page as a status update.

Encourage people to like, share, and click.

The blog title and image (if any) pops up on the Facebook feed and followers who clicked on it will be automatically redirected to your blog.

Simple, isn't it?

In short, if you're using WordPress, there are a number of plugins you can install to automatically repost your new posts to Facebook. No matter how good your content is, it’s important it has a catchy headline and high-quality picturesque image. Those are the things that attract clicks and build engagement on Facebook — great headlines and quality images.

Make your images visible and you’ll likely attract more traction. The study finds that Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. And since your blog already contains the content, the update description should be short and simple. And yes, irresistible.  You should leave your followers in suspense. Most people would click on the link just to satisfy their curiosity. With that, you'll be getting more eyeballs to your blog post.  You'll also want to repost your best-performing content at regular intervals for new followers to enjoy.

For starters, it is best to start promoting your content on Facebook free before engaging in paid promotions.

That brings us to the next step…

STEP 6: UTILIZE PAID PROMOTIONS OPTIMALLY

Paid promotions are a great way to bring your content to the eyes of people not following your Facebook page.

One paid promotion strategy is BOOSTING YOUR FACEBOOK POST.

All you ever need to do is to click on ‘boost post’ after publishing.

Facebook is marketer-friendly and would present various options for you to select from. You can also streamline your audience by age, location, interest, and other preferences. However, it is advisable to allow your post to grow organically (non-paying) for one or two days before you boost your post.

You don’t necessarily have to break the bank promoting content on Facebook. To begin, experiment with a low budget and for a short duration.  Afterward, take some time to analyze the results of your campaign which  Facebook reveals. If you are displeased with the results, perhaps you should look more carefully at the post again.  If the results of the campaign were good, then increase your budget and extend the duration of your campaigns.

Another promotion strategy you might want to consider is FACEBOOK ADS.

This is an advanced form of advertising. You can start a Facebook advertising campaign through the Facebook Ads Manager tool. You can access the tool by clicking 'Manage Ads' in the drop-down menu on your Facebook account. Click on the green button on the top right corner of your Facebook page to get started.

According to Facebook: “A boosted post is a post to your Page's timeline that you can apply money to in order to boost it to an audience of your choosing. This is the simplest way to advertise on Facebook. Boosted posts differ from Facebook ads because they are not created in Ads Manager and don't have all of the same customization features.”

"SIDE TIP:  When promoting content, give preference to that killer content that gets a lot of traffic."

Adapting that content into a short video can be a great way to repackage top content for the best Facebook ads, too. While YouTube is consumers' leading source of video content at 83%, Facebook closely follows at 67%.

More than 500 million Facebook users are watching videos on Facebook every day. You can take advantage of this by repurposing your top-performing content.

STEP 7: EVALUATE YOUR RESULTS

As you create content regularly, you can start to see what works and what does not.

Whether it is a video or written content, you can observe what brings a better reaction from your audience. As much as you can, try to replicate that and collate everything that works into a solid promotion strategy.

CONCLUSION

There is a whole lot you can achieve on Facebook.

Yet in order to benefit from it, you will need to put in the effort and invest where appropriate. You don't have to be too pushy to market your content, just optimize your page in rendering help, information, and entertainment till you build a trust-knit community of followers.

That is how things work.

Have any steps you've used before that have given you incredible results? Go over to our Facebook page and share your thoughts and experiences. You might also want to check out our array of unbelievably helpful SEO and content tools like Facebook video downloader used by top experts all over the world to get better results in their search engine marketing as well as Facebook marketing you can also find other blog posts about Facebook in our blog and share with your friends.