So time!
We all want more of it. When I ask people on twitter what they would like more of in their business around 80% say more time, closely followed by customers, a great team and more finance.
Time. It’s a measured thing, it never stops ticking away, and there is a finite amount of it. Alongside marketing, you’re actually running your business, getting new customers, networking, invoicing, emails, sorting tax returns and on and on. So we’re agreed time is a resource we all want more of!
In this blog we’re going to be talking more about the timing of things, well the timing of Facebook precisely, so that we can save time for other areas of our business.
It all goes back to knowing about your analytics, testing and adjusting. Because once you’ve got this social media thing sown down it will become second nature, it will flow and you’ll feel a lot calmer about everything. Ultimately giving you more time to focus on what you really want to do, which could be connecting with customers and making fantastic products.
So Facebook
The main rule with Facebook is that you want to create content (that just means the stuff you put out; images, words, links, videos) that is valuable. It’s definitely a case of quality over quantity. That said the accounts on Facebook that do best are those that post regularly, that understand their customers, know what they like and give it to them.
So big tip #1 – know your customers!
As a rule, you want to post content that will get the most likes, comments and if you get some shares you’ve hit Facebook gold dust! So you want content that…
Big tip #2 – create content that educates, inspires & entertains
It really needs to fall into one of those 3 categories. Now I’m not going to tell you (without talking to you) what to post for your business, but a good thing to do is research – look at accounts that you love, what is it that you love about them and ask you customers what it is that they love about you?
How much time do you have?
And so to time. Don’t waste your time posting everything all at once (your customers will not love it!)– a steady drip of content is best. So decided how often you want to post. It might be once a day or 3 times a week. Hold that thought.
Big tip #3 – know how much time you have to devote to Facebook
Now you’ll want to work out when your customers are going to be on Facebook and therefore most likely to read your content.
When are my customers on Facebook?
So lucky for us Facebook stores all this information.
If you have more than 30 likes (which I hope you do) Facebook gives you lots of insights into what works and what doesn’t.
When you’re in your Facebook business page, click on insights, then on posts. Facebook will show you by day and by hour when your audience is online. So now you can make a note of the time and days your audience is more likely to see your posts.
Big tip #4 – check your insights
Go back to the earlier thought about how often you wanted to post on Facebook. Match up how often you want to post with the best timings and voila you have the beginnings of your Facebook strategy!
What about content?
Have a think about content you may want to put out in the week. For example, a behind the scenes image and description, your latest blog post, a Facebook Live video, news in your local field or area, information about your products, collaborations you are working on, or something else.
Go back to your schedule of timings and match each piece of content to a day and time. Now I’m not saying you have to have the behind the scenes image done, you just know that you need something for Wednesday at 6pm and you can plan for it.
Big tip #5 – plan your content
This all means that you are saving time. By creating a replicable structure for your Facebook posts, you know the best times and days to post, so you’re not wasting time posting when no-one is there and your brain doesn’t need to be exploding with ‘but what can I post about today – eek’ thoughts.
Now get posting!
Right so, we’ve followed this strategy for a few weeks, we’re posting great content more regularly when people can see it, so hopefully they’ll be looking out for your fantastic posts. But wait there’s another part to this.
Make time to reflect
You need to go back and look at those likes, comments and shares. Does your strategy need tweaking? Is there something that didn’t quite work? Did the time of day you picked not have great results, could you try a different time or day?
Big tip #6 – reflect and adjust your Facebook strategy
Am I saving more time?
Now I can feel everyone saying ‘blimey, I thought we were talking about saving time, this all seems like a lot of work!’.
That is true, it is a bit of work in the short term, but in the long term it will save you tons of time because you’ve implemented a system and a strategy. You don’t really need to be using your brain so much because you’ve learnt what works and when, meaning you can save thinking for bigger things you need to do.
Some additional tips
Big tip #7– don’t go posting all your content at once!
Now, this tip holds true for all social media platforms. Please use the power of the scheduling tools. The last thing your customers want on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform is all your content is one big go, one after the other, it’s relentless.
I know you might want to get it out, or something happened and you’re behind your schedule and you want it seen. But does your customer really want to be swamped? No, and they might leave you behind because there’s too much filling up their feed. So space it out!
Big tip #8 – heed the 80/20 rule
And a final thought. There is the 80/20 rule, which in this instant boils down to be selling your stuff 20% of the time and the other 80% be adding value to your brand with additional content. So please no feeds of buy, buy, buy, you want to add to your brand with stories from your field, behind the scenes images – but and this is a big but – focus on your customers. Think ‘what would they like to know?'
If you are posting loads of your holiday pictures on your Facebook business page, thinking ‘yes, I’m not swamping my customers, I’m following the 80/20 rule’, but they don’t actually give a damn about your holiday pictures – you are ruining your brand!
You might think it’s great (and it may be), but please go back and look for likes and comments, because if there aren’t any (or they’re from your nan), then your customers doesn’t care about your holiday pictures!
So go back and think, what could that extra 80% be made up of? I reckon they’d like to meet the team, hear about big orders, see where it is you work. That would be a much more in line with your brand than your holiday pictures.
Because and this is a big Because it doesn’t matter how many likes you have on your page, if you’re not regularly getting them to engage with you through liking, commenting or sharing, Facebook will actually remove you from their feed. So they won’t be seeing your stuff and you’ll have to pay Facebook to advertise to get your brand back on their feed.
So!
Lots of people ask if their business really needs to be on social media. My reply, ‘remember Blockbusters’? Grab digital buy the horns, because if you don’t there will be another business just like yours coming up the rear and they’re gonna make friends with all your customers! Blockbusters could have been Netflix, but they're not!
Don’t be like blockbusters! Learn how to make the most of your Facebook business page, with my free Facebook mini-course!
