By ADMA
Social media channels, particularly Facebook, offer unrivalled opportunities to reach customers with branded content in the form of paid, earned media impressions. According to Facebook, there are currently:
- 425 million mobile users
- 2 billion posts liked and commented on
- 500 million users logging in
- 250 million photos are uploaded
All in a single day. So how are we as marketers taking advantage of social by design?
Paid, Earned and Owned
Facebook provides a unique marketing channel that enables Paid, Earned and Owned Media to be leveraged to create a myriad of brand impact.
Owned: Brands use Search and other paid media to attract Fans to the organisations Facebook page. The question I ask is: How many of your customers are fans of your brand on Facebook? You should connect with the people who will want to engage with your brand; your customers.
Earned: You may ask once you engage a potential customer, why would you attract them to your Facebook page over your website? Simple. Facebook provides a platform for marketing communications that reaches fans, followers and friends of fans and followers far outreaching of any potential an organisation could make through their website. Once you gain a follower, communications potential and infiltration into their lives can be infinite. Word of mouth marketing, at scale, is the most valuable form of marketing. When your customers are engaging with your brand, let their friends know about it by either getting them to like your post, or providing a story that will appear in their newsfeed. Social advocacy is one of the strongest marketing devices.
Paid: In order to get the most out of your fans, communication can be complemented through paid display campaigns, such as Sponsored Stories and Promoted Page Posts, to maximise reach and brand resonance. You need to achieve a greater understanding of your insights: Paid reach counts the number of unique people who saw your post from a sponsored product, such as a promoted post or sponsored stories. In theory, your reach should increase when you run Facebook Ads or Sponsored Stories! Social media campaigns, such as a competition, can significantly increase the reach of earned media exposure. This also can have a knock-on effect of driving awareness and increasing the likelihood of fans and friends of fans to purchase your product or service. Make sure you extend your reach socially to its’ maximum ability to gain fans. Having fans increases purchase behaviour and drives sales. Also make sure you know what the rules are in terms of conducting competitions on each site.
Social Behaviour
It’s now getting easier to evaluate the behaviour and purchasing potential of those who expose themselves to your brand on Facebook. Marketers need to better understand how they can utalise their presence on Facebook. “The secret to social marketing success is having the right strategy at the right time. Identify your business’s unique qualities and assets, and leverage them to drive results in the four dimensions of social marketing: Connect, Engage, Influence, and Integrate”, according to Mark Cowen, Account Executive at Facebook. Connecting with your customers socially gives you a way to engage them directly and continually stay front of mind. If you’re doing your social marketing right, and creating valuable experiences for your connections rather than gimmicks, your Facebook fans should look like your current customers. Consistent interaction with your connections builds relationships and loyalty. Focus on frequent, high-quality publishing on your Page, and promote that content to reach more of your fans.
Measuring success
Facebook’s Ads Manager provides businesses visibility into the performance of their ads and sponsored stories with the ability to drill down into specific metrics.
Measure for success. Marketers should monitor the reach of sponsored stories to ensure friends of your fans are seeing your message.
Engagement
Post engaging content and post regularly. Use photo albums or pictures as they generate “2x more engagement than other posts”, according to Cowen. Find out when your customers are online. Facebook have a number of tools which you can use, like Page Insights to find when people engage most. According to Facebook, Restaurants or cafes post in mid-morning when people are figuring out their plans for the day and retailers post more late morning.
Engage
Finally, how are you making a better Facebook experience for your fans? Focus on frequent, high-quality publishing from your page, and promote that content. Avoid repurposing content from other channels. Are your fans telling their friends about your brand? Help your fans tell your stories to their friends. The strongest influence comes from sharing.
Mark will be presenting on the topic of social by design, and how you can maximise your fan acquisition strategy, by utilising new Facebook platforms to acquire fans and develop your e-commerce strategy. This briefing is FREE and exclusive to ADMA Members. The event takes place as part of our Member Lunch n’ Learn Series on Monday 6 August in both Sydney CBD and will be streamed live to Melbourne CBD. Places strictly limited. RSVP to membership@adma.com.au Successful registrations will be notified by Friday 27 July.
