engage | Beyond Your Side Hustle

In this Q&A episode of the Hustleburg podcast, Brett answers listener questions about Facebook in the second of two parts. This is the second episode of a platform-specific series on the Q&A episodes about the varying social media platforms. Episode 12 is the first part of this Facebook-specific Q&A series.

Should I be Using Facebook Stories, Live, or Watch Party? Why?

There is absolutely a benefit to each of these features for the small business owner.

Facebook Stories – Unlike Instagram, Facebook stories allow you to have all the same features, as well as swipe up capability without the need to pay for ad or be a large account. It’s also a great way to connect with younger users on the platform. The addition of stories to Facebook gives you a way of offering your community a glimpse “behind the scenes” of your life, business, or brand. It gives “insider access” to what you do, deepening the connection to your brand.
Facebook Live – If you have a good reason to stream live video content, this is a wonderful tool to do so. I like that you can create an event and hype around your business or brand that gives your community instant connection and interaction with you. It helps to deepen their connection, acting like a souped-up version of Reddit AMAs with real-time interaction.
Facebook Watch Party – I see the same value in offering the instant connection and interaction to your community that Facebook Live offers, in kind of the same way we used to call one another to watch a TV show or movie together, but separately.

What’s the Best Way to Grow My Facebook Likes? Should I Use Ads?

The key is to add value to the ongoing conversation that is social media. Your page should have plenty of content before you publish and even invite your mom or spouse to like it. Create 10 or so posts before you launch, so that visitors will have something to look at when they visit. This gives them an opportunity to decide if they want to give you the “like.” Tactically, invite those on your friends list to like the page slowly, making sure you utilize the tools Facebook has available to you. I’ve found better results when inviting people both through a notification as well as a well-crafted message in messenger from your personal profile. Both of these invitations methods are only possible on the desktop version. I answered a similar question in greater detail on Episode 4 of Hustleburg, where I discussed getting greater reach organically.

When it comes to ads, I’m not a big fan of paying for “likes,” because they are generally superficial, and I’d prefer that they come for something of value that you’ve offered. Using targeted ads based on demographic and psychographic information to drive them to something you offer that will add value to them is a great way to grow your audience. They’re more engaged than someone who just likes your page in a “drive by”

Page Messaging is Mystifying Me. Is This an Important Metric for Customers?

My answer about the importance of this public-facing metric is going to be different for different businesses. If you’re in a fast-paced environment and customers expect that you’ll respond quickly, this is something to make sure you prioritize with your page. For example, if you’re operating an auto repair shop and a potential customer wants to know if they can bring their car in today to have it repaired this afternoon, you’re going to want to make sure you can reply to that person nearly immediately, like fielding incoming phone calls. Facebook calculates this metric by measuring your response rate to private messages… ALL private messages to your page. They measure two things, the percentage of messages you respond to and the speed with which you reply. For the first, you’ll need to reply to 90% or more to have a “Very Responsive” label on your page. For the latter, you’ll need to respond in a very timely manner. An explanation of calculation for both is included in the episode.

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It’s Not Too Much

When you’re really putting out content, an amount you think is way too much, your most passionate supporter (probably Mom) can’t keep up with everything happening in your business’s social media life. Your marketing efforts should be aimed to seek attention from those most likely to patron your business, by posting as much and as frequently as possible.

Here come the caveats!

You can’t post just anything to “create” content. Junk is still junk, and your audience, current and future, will leave if they aren’t finding value. With their departure goes their attention.

You can’t go too far “outside your lane.” Your community expects you to stick to areas you’re the expert in. That’s why you are sharing, and that’s why they are paying attention. When you spend too much time outside your expertise, there goes their attention.

You can’t be anyone else. You aren’t as funny as Ellen DeGeneres or Aziz Ansari, so don’t try to be a stand-up comedian. You don’t act as well as Meryl Streep or Bradley Cooper, so don’t act as if you are. Be you.

Your content needs to stay relevant to your brand, important to the community you serve, and authentically “you.” If it isn’t, the attention you crave for your brand will disappear.

Don’t Chase an Algorithm, Add Value

Don’t worry about the mythology of the algorithm controlling who sees what you post. You won’t figure out the algorithm of each platform you use, and if you do, it’ll change. You may have a good idea of which pieces of content will resonate with your community, but you will frequently be surprised by what does and doesn’t “go viral.”

Social media is the ultimate meritocracy. The platforms need traffic to keep advertisers happy and spending money on those ads. If your content is good, they will keep showing it to keep the attention on their app or their site. If your posts aren’t being seen, it’s because your content stinks.

Yeah, I said it. Your. Content. Stinks.

It stinks to the community-at-large, because they aren’t engaging with it. No matter what happens with the magic of the algorithm, good content continues to win. Good content keeps being shared. Good content keeps attention on that app or site.

Think about it. What happens when you go through your feed? If you aren’t getting content worth your time, you keep scrolling. If you continue not to get value, you’ll eventually go away. Thus, for their own survival, the platforms have to show the good stuff.

Now that you know that there is no such thing as “too much,” when are YOU going to start putting out all the content that will add value to your community?