Sunday, December 13, 2015

Mari Smith's 2016 Facebook Tips and Trends


Facebook marketing expert, Mari Smith, recently offered some great Facebook tips and trends to look for in 2016 during her presentation at the Inbound conference in Boston. Here are a few useful pieces of information that I took away:

1.  Mari discussed three critical Facebook trends:
  •  Facebook is disrupting TV and video. Will Facebook overtake YouTube? As of September 2014, Facebook's share of video posts was approaching YouTube's.  The new Facebook Live is a live-streaming feature that's only available to celebrity Pages right now. Strategize how to use live video for your business.
  • There will be a stronger emphasis on Messenger for Business. Facebook predicts that businesses will be using Messenger for all kinds of customer communication and transactions. Messenger will essentially serve as an inbox to connect with customers.
  •  Brand storytelling: Use Facebook to put the spotlight on your customers, to feature case studies, to use video, and to be more "people centric".

2. Mari also focused on Facebook marketing mistakes that businesses are making:
  •  Making posts overly promotional
  •  Targeting the wrong audience
  • Using only the Boost button
  • Promoting posts without a measurable ROI
  • Not having an effective landing page to tie in with your ads
  • Advertising without using a tracking pixel

3. Regarding content and engagement, Mari recommends that your posts either entertain, inform or prompt a call to action. Here are a few of her common sense content tips:
  •  Personalize your posts (write in first person when possible)
  •  Address people who comment by name
  • Use humor
  • Always be prompt in responding to comments/questions

4. While organic reach is on the decline, here are some ways to maximize it:
  •  Post more native video
  •  Try posting outside business hours
  • Mix up post types and post lengths
  • Repost popular posts
  • Include "@" tags of other Pages
  • Drive traffic from other sources
  • Embed posts and videos in your blog
Are you using any of these techniques effectively? What other trends do you see on Facebook?