Thumbstoppable – Do You Know What Your Content Is Doing?

Critics are claiming the sky is falling again for marketing on Facebook. Let’s look at what you should be doing to launch your success story.

The latest bunch of Facebook algorithm and profile setting changes, at this writing, have given preeminent power to personal relationships between users and their connections. Users, if they take the time, can now select who and what they want to see at the top of their newsfeed in addition to the algorithm giving more weight to pages and people the user actually interacts with.

This, again, just proves our Thumbstoppable theory.

Just like snowflakes, no two personal Facebook timelines are the same. The content on the Facebook page for your business, organization, or nonprofit is in competition with the friends, family, sports, or music of your fans. Everything they Like, including your posts, is in competition for their eyeballs when they scroll their newsfeed.

Your content must always educate, inform, or entertain them more than everything else they see as they scroll their phones, tablets, and screens with their thumbs. If your stuff doesn’t stop their thumb, you have failed with that piece of content. If it does stop their thumb, then they scroll back up and click your post to see what’s up and you have succeeded.

Think about it: most of us use Facebook exactly the same way. Think about what stops your thumb and put those tactics to work for you.

Remember this, Facebook makes money when their billion-plus monthly users spend more time on the platform. You make more money (if that is your goal) when your fans spend more time on the platform and more time on your content.

Things to think about:

• Educate, inform, or entertain with every post you make.
• Use links in your posts to drive the audience back to your website so you can build a closer relationship with them.
• Something isn’t working? Try different tactics: post from a mobile device, post multiple photos, post at different times of the day.
• Use hashtags. While they will never be as popular on Facebook as on Twitter and Instagram, they still work and you don’t lose reach by using them. Insert relevant industry or geographic hashtags to connect with others using and clicking those tags.
• Post photos. If you haven’t figured out that people want to see what you are talking about and posts with pics stand out in the newsfeed then Facebook management might not be the place for you.
• Post video. The reach and interaction of video which is uploaded organically to Facebook blows YouTube out of the water. Plus, you can tag yourself in the video (if you are in the video) which is a legitimate way to get your business in front of the thumbs of your personal connections.
• Use your Insights. Facebook gives you all the power in the world to know who your audience is and what they are doing with your posts. Use it to your benefit to find the best times to post if nothing else. (Hint: it is most often in the evening hours.)
• Study who interacts. If people who are more likely to do business with you interact with you in the evening, plan your business-focused content for the evening. If it is your Christmas card list fans who like your stuff during the day then focus on lighter material during those hours.
• Live locally. This is critical for those of you who depend on driving people through actual doors to do business with you. Make and promote content that focuses on local opportunities, landmarks, and activities so your neighborly street cred builds.
• Focus on what works. Maybe your audience is unique and responds to text only updates at midnight. If your Insights say that is working then keep at it. If you see no one responds to your $1000 professional product photos but they dig your cell phone pics, well, it’s easy to see what works.

When your content is stopping thumbs and driving clicks and clients to you, then you will know your it is succeeding for you!

The thing to remember in all of this is that social media changes on an almost daily basis. Stay on top of those changes and how they can impact your business (Folllow and Fan The Rocket Group, obviously) and be prepared to roll with the changes.

Thanks for the time and if we can ever help you regarding your business, organization, or nonprofit, then email me at Gus@RocketGroupLLC.com, tweet me (where I will catch up the fastest) @RocketGroup, send up a flare, whatever, let’s talk.