We’re pretty big believers in owned content. So why are we now telling you to boost your content reach on Facebook? Glad you asked.
Yes, your company’s owned content – its website, blog, ebooks, white papers, and email communications – are under your control. No tech titan can touch what you publish, nor will your content end up in some virtual recycle bin when your social media platform of choice goes belly-up. “Impossible,” you say?
Think again. Remember MySpace?
Putting all your corporate marketing eggs into your social media basket isn’t a great strategy, particularly for large enterprises. However, leveraging Facebook’s massive community to extend your content’s reach can be one of the quickest ways to build a larger audience for your owned content.
When you link your Facebook posts back to your blog and then include an invitation to join your email list, you have a good chance to convert them into subscribers. Provided your content lives up to its promise to help these prospects solve problems, they’ll likely become paying customers down the road.
So, how do you extend your content’s reach – and more importantly, its potential for conversions – by using Facebook? Use these 9 simple secrets to boost your content marketing success.
1. Schedule Your Posts at the Optimum Time
Your content won’t reach your target audience if they’re asleep when you post it. Using Facebook Analytics, learn the locations where your target audience lives and works. From their demographic and online behavior data, you can even learn when they’re most likely to get on Facebook.
Then, use a content automation tool to post your content when most of your followers are active on Facebook. To boost your posts’ chance of engagement, use eye-catching images and effective titles to grab your followers’ attention.
2. Post Content Your Followers Will Share
When you post content that provides information that other likely prospects can use to solve problems or inform others, your followers will be more likely to share it, thus increasing its reach. Additionally, if you take a multichannel approach to automate your content, you can increase your content’s reach across platforms.
For example, if some of your followers enable their Facebook account to post automatically to Twitter or other social media platforms, their share will do double duty, reaching likely prospects on other platforms as well.
3. Use Facebook’s News Feed Targeting Feature
If you’ve ever used Facebook ads to boost your best-performing posts, you are no doubt familiar with their targeting feature. You can use the social media giant’s news feed targeting feature to limit your post’s organic reach to likely prospects.
Use demographics, location, and likes to boost your posts’ chance of reaching the right audience. As Search Engine Journal’s Brent Csutoras points out, this little-known strategy can improve your conversion rate.
4. Use Boosted Posts and Facebook Ads to Magnify Your Audience
If you have content that is either time-sensitive or an older post that still is valuable to your target customers, Facebook’s boosted post feature can help it get into the right hands at the right time.
Again, use Facebook’s audience targeting feature to amplify your content’s reach among your target customers. Content reach is only valuable if it happens among your prospects.
Reaching out to horse owners with your blog post on dog nutrition, for instance, won’t produce the kinds of results you need. Limiting your audience to only dog owners is a wiser investment of your marketing budget.
Make your paid campaigns part of your overall content strategy. Having an organized approach to your Facebook and other social media posts will create a consistent, dependable presence your followers will turn to often.
5. Invite People Who Have Engaged with Your Posts to Follow You
One way to ensure that your content will reach the right eyes is to invite people who have liked or otherwise engaged with your past Facebook posts to become followers, as Social Media Today’s Larry Kim advises.
Chances are, if they cared enough about your content to react to it, they are likely to be potential customers or know people who are prospects. If they do become followers, the likelihood of their seeing your posts goes up.
6. Post Video Content
Since Facebook prioritizes video in your news feed, it’s essential to include video content among your posts. Videos that provide solutions to challenges your prospects face, how-to videos, or videos that explain how a new product works are all excellent choices.
Even better, leverage the power of Facebook Live videos to boost your reach with your target audience. As Social Media’s Mari Smith points out, the immediate nature of live video boosts audience engagement, tripling the time they spend watching your content.
7. Include Insightful Content from Industry Thought Leaders
Posting third-party content from other authoritative sources within your industry only helps to extend your company’s reputation as an expert in its field. When prospects unfamiliar with your brand see a familiar name in their feed, they’ll be more likely to engage with the post – and your company.
Make sure that the shared content is relevant to your target audience and provides the information they need to know. However, limit third-party shares to about 20 percent of your total Facebook posts. The majority of your posts should be original, informative content from your owned assets.
8. Use Keywords and Hashtags to Increase Search Visibility
When your target audience gets on Facebook, they’re likely to search for information about topics in which they’re interested in by using keywords and hashtags. Including them in your content can help them find your posts, increasing those posts’ reach.
9. Ask and Answer Questions to Involve Your Audience
When you ask your audience industry-related questions, they will be more likely to share your posts with their interested colleagues and friends to involve them in the conversation. Be sure to engage in the conversation, too, with your company’s own insights on the topic.
Similarly, when you answer audience questions with a thoughtful, detailed reply, it builds your brand’s reputation as a thought leader in your field. If one of your blog posts provides more insight on the topic, include a link to it in your answer.
When you have a comprehensive content marketing platform that can take you from planning your posts to measuring the results of your campaign with robust content analytics, you can make the most out of your extended audience, growing it even further. Having a single place to integrate content production saves time, reduces duplication, and creates a consistent brand voice throughout all the channels on which you publish content.
DivvyHQ can do all that and more. Fully integrated with a variety of other platforms, it makes posting on Facebook and other social media sites more efficient and effective. With our 14-day free trial, you can see what it can do for your social media strategy with no obligation. Get started today!