One of the most common questions asked by those responsible for managing a Facebook page is “what do I post?”
It’s the writers equivalent of staring at a blank page. Fear not, in this post we are going to try to give you a starting list of content ideas for to help you get started.
Before we get into the detail it’s important to understand what is going to happen to our content once it is posted on Facebook.
Facebook has recently updated it’s Edgerank algorithm, the one that was tasked with determining what content people saw in their news feed with a new algorithm that takes into account over 100 thousand data elements in determining what to show in peoples newsfeed.
Now, don’t let that freak you out. The advice from Facebook continues to be the same.
“Create and publish and a variety of interesting content that will attract shares, comments, likes and clicks. That requires understanding your Facebook fans — from the types of posts they interact with to the different devices they might be using when they’re on Facebook.”
So first and foremost, think about your audience. And then engage them!
Here are a few ideas to make posting easier for your business.
Photo posts
Photo posts make up 77% of posts on business pages, and studies have shown they get 120% more engagement than other types of posts.
So don’t be afraid to use images liberally – it’s a great way to boost engagement for enterprise social media.
Examples of the types of photo posts you might use include:
- Your company’s products or services in action
- Behind-the-scenes photos of employees or the workplace
- Customer-submitted photos (develop a theme and ask for submissions!)
- Inspirational photo memes – choose something meaningful to your customers, and don’t feel that you have to feature your own products or services
- Holiday-themed photos
- Gift ideas for a variety of occasions
Links
Shared links are an important part of the Facebook experience, and they’re the second most popular type of post. Here are some easy ideas for different types of things you can link to:
- Articles on your site
- News items about your company
- Other relevant news items in the media
- Major contests or promotions on your site
- Coupons on your site, or on sites like Groupon or LivingSocial
- YouTube videos of products or services in action
- Surveys or research about your field
- Your other social media pages
- Partners’ sites or social media pages
- Blog posts about your field or related topics of interest
Text posts
Text posts give you an opportunity to be in-depth and descriptive in your enterprise social media efforts. Some ideas include:
- Detailed product or service descriptions
- Customer Q&A (cull content from your email box – if one customer has had a question, odds are others have, as well)
- Informal contests – users can reply directly in the comments. Need ideas? Check out 30 Facebook timeline contest ideas that drive likes and comments [link no longer works]
- Deals – promote a special just for Facebook fans, with a “code word” to use in-store
- “Click ‘Like’ if…” posts
- Trivia from your field or specialty
- Tips and tricks for your product or service
- Relevant quotes
- Polls – although Facebook retired its polling functionality for most business pages, you can do it informally, with answers in the comments
- Fill-in-the-blank questions answered in the comments
Remember to think like your Facebook fans and have them in mind when deciding what to post. It’s not just about posting what you want to say, but posting what they want to see.