If you have ever managed a brand’s social media channels, you quickly realize how hard and time consuming it can become. Yeah, there are a lot of tools and things out there that might help, but honestly, it just takes up a lot of time. Fortunately, there are ways that make things a lot easier on the Facebook managers out there.
Step 1: Use Buffer or Hootsuite
Buffer and Hootsuite allow you to schedule posts ahead of time. This gives you the ability to line up a week or two’s worth of posts in a matter of a couple minutes. Yes, Facebook provides a scheduling feature, but the process takes longer to accomplish than if you use either of these applications. Buffer and Hootsuite allow you to also post to other social accounts which can further decrease the amount of time spent on managing your social media.
Step 2: Line up your posts
What kind of posts should I share? This is your main question and should require some experimentation for a while. Generally, it is a good idea to share several different kinds of posts by spreading them out and distributing them equally. Typically, you might want to share a lot of images and videos which are particularly easy to share among Facebook friends. You may also want to include articles and posts from other blogs and websites that can easily compliment yours. Some text posts sprinkled in the mix will also do very well.
Some types of posts that do particularly well, are the image posts that have some kind of feel good quote within it. These spread like wildfire as every follower likes and shares it with their friends. These can be tough to create yourself if you don’t have the right tools. Most often you can do an advanced Google search for creative commons images with the proper rights. However, if you can’t find the right pictures for you posts, check out QuotesCover.com. They allow you to either pick a quote or make a new one and place it in an image of your choice. This makes for some quick and easy Facebook posts that are sure to boost your shares and likes.
Step 3: Analyze and Optimize
It is extremely important that you keep an eye on the analytics of the entire picture. You need to know when the majority of your followers are even on Facebook. This is thankfully provided to you in the insights of your Facebook page as long as you have 30 or more followers. This will show you exactly how many people are on the Facebook at what times. This really helps when determining when to schedule your posts.
Also, it is crucial to determine which types of posts are doing well among your followers. Different audiences will prefer different things. Perhaps the 4 o’clock crowd prefers image posts opposed to the 9 o’clock crowd which likes a video. Depending on these metrics, which are all available in your page insights, you will be able to better determine the proper times and types of things to post, allowing you to further optimize your Facebook marketing while saving time and money.