10 Things Milspouse Entrepreneurs Should Be Doing On Facebook

Last week in our Milspouse Biz series we discussed taking better pictures of your products to generate more views to your website or sales. Today we continue the series with how you are using Facebook wrong and what you can do to utilize this social platform to your advantage.

Before you can use Facebook better you first need to understand how FB fans pages work. I’m not a total expert but I will break down for you my observations.

Let me start by stating that Facebook is a business. Yes, I believe it should be free to use as a social network, but if you are going to advertise your business on their platform, then there is no sense in being shocked that Facebook wants you to pay to reach your “fans”. Believe me if you had half of what they had you would want people to pay too. On average only 10-15% of your total followers aka LIKES sees your post. Because of this when you post an update to your business page its essential to post your best content (products). Below I’ve included 10 tips to get better engagement and reach on FB.

1. Post Frequency

As mentioned FB only shows a select percentage of your followers your content. I have found posting at least 3x a day keeps the reach of your page high, or at the very least steady. Nothing bothers me more than to see a business that only post once a week or a few times a month. How can people know your in business if your not posting your products and promotions often? Not to mention when your posting decreases-so does your reach.

2. What Should You Post?

I have tried various combos of the types of content I post daily but I find that the following combinations do very well.

Morning- A quote or pictures that resonates with your audience and the kind of content you post. For instance I will post quotes about deployment or being strong because I know sometimes that kind of encouragement is needed in my niche. Sometimes I post something funny or relatable as in the example below.

 

For those selling products here is a simple fun image created by my colleague for SpouseBox. It talks about friendship, but still relates it back to the product we sell and offers a giveaway.

Midmorning- I post my latest content. In your case post your latest article or newest promotion.

Afternoon- Post the latest news in your space. For instance I usually post the latest current events happening in the military space. If you sell a product-post teasers of things you are working on.

Evening- Post a question on a conversation starter. I usually like to ask questions pertinent to something happening that evening or that is light hearted. Examples on a Sunday night would be ” Hit the LIKE button if you’re a Walking Dead fan and share who your favorite character is?

3. Your Pictures

As of right now posting videos is supposedly doing better then pictures, but that’s the story of Facebook. There is always some new algorithm to be learned and something is always changing. Either way when posting pictures refrain from loading your pictures with text. Facebook frowns upon pictures that are covered with more then 20% text, and believe me you will notice by the amount of reach you receive. You can can use the FB grid tool by clicking here to make sure your image fits within their 20% guidelines. Pictures should be high quality because blurry pictures are a turn off. I wrote an entire post on creating better pictures with your smartphone last week here. I try to take great care to post quality images that will draw people in, and make them not only want to see what I’m sharing but also share it with their friends and followers. The picture above is an example.

4. Posting the link in the comments…no beuno

Once upon a time in Facebook years we all thought posting our links to our blog or website in the comments of a status would help us to get better views to that website or blog post. Stop doing that because it doesn’t work. Furthermore, if you actually get people commenting on that update- the link does not to stay at the top of the comments and gets lost. Now people have no idea where to go to view your products or articles.

5. Word Triggers

Being the conspiracy theorist I am, I truly believe certain words are filtered by some magical Facebook computer which will prevent certain posts from getting any views. I try to stay away from words like giveaways, deals, and spammy-ish words or phrases that sound like MLM or pyramid schemes.

6. How You Word Posts

Making sure you add a caption with a link is extremely important. I have seen people just post a link on their FB page, and the whole audience is lost because they are trying to figure out the connection. Also getting the meat of your caption in the first line is very important. Remember on news feeds FB will condense some of your post, so you want to be sure you entice followers to click that read more button. If nothing else you want them to know the key information even if they don’t click through. You don’t want to lose their attention.

7. Boosting Posts

There is alot of chatter about whether boosting posts really does anything. Again I don’t believe we will ever know. However, from my own experience I have had moments where I boosted posts and nothing happened, and then there were times where I posted and my reach and engagement skyrocketed. I suggest only boosting important posts and when choosing the targeting select “People Who Like Your Page”.  Starting out you just want to make sure your post are reaching the people who have already taken the time to LIKE your page. Believe me if your content is good, your current followers will share your posts and it will have a great effect.

8. Share The Love

I know sometimes its hard to want to utilize your Facebook real estate to post others people’s stuff, but surprisingly it may help you. Facebook is really focusing on making sure that their users see organic and useful content. There is nothing wrong with self promotion but unfortunately on FB over doing it can backfire on you. Share engaging posts that you think your followers can relate to and that are popular.

9. Those darn FB insights

FB insights can look confusing and like a bunch of graphs at first, but a closer look at them will reveal key information to help you prosper on FB. Insights will help you learn more about your audience, such as their ages, genders, and location. This can help you when targeting your ads and avoids you wasting money by advertising to people who could care less. I also like utilizing FB insights to view what my competition is going. You can do this by clicking “Pages To Watch” within your insights dashboard.

10. Buying Likes- No Bueno

FB recently announced the following: We’ve recently updated the way we measure how many people like your Page. Pages may see a decrease in likes after March 12, when we removed likes from inactive Facebook accounts. This may mean a very large decrease in page LIKES for people who obtained LIKES inorganically. Just ask all the Instagram people who brought LIKES and then lost them when IG cleaned up spam accounts. Your best bet is to cater to the followers you already have. Keep them engaged and you should see an increase in your reach.

What are your tips for using Facebook to promote your business?

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Army Wife 101

Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market. She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.

Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market. She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.