In January this year Facebook announced they would be limiting the number of promotional posts that appear in peoples’ News Feeds. This decision was based on feedback from users.
This is good news for individuals. People are quite happy not to see promotional posts given that they are being served up this kind of content by way of advertising. It’s bad news for companies, though.
With Facebook constantly rolling out new updates and making tweaks to their algorithm, the vast majority of SMEs and franchise owners won’t be aware of this change and will no doubt continue to post what amounts to nothing more than digital flyers. From what I have seen, pizza chains are especially guilty of this. Even if page managers aren’t aware of this change they should see this kind of content isn’t working. A quick glance at the various pages of the major pizza chains will show that.
I have heard of companies setting up personal profiles rather than using brand pages to ensure their content appears, and get around this, but that is beyond ridiculous if true.
NEW LAMB DISH
So how to get around this limitation and crucially help drive sales, which I seriously doubt promotional posts contributed to in the first place?
Sticking with pizza chains as an example and let’s say they want to promote an offer – rather than simply replicating their flyers and posters on Facebook, they need to get get creative and use Facebook’s others features.
Videos uploaded directly to Facebook continue to be an effective way of reaching people. So create a short video featuring a member of staff talking about an offer: “Hi guys, Dave here at the Malahide store. We have a great deal exclusive to our Facebook fans. Buy any 12’’ pizza this evening and get a free side. I am on the phone all tonight so just say you saw this offer on our page.”
Not only is this a creative way of getting the offer into the feeds of people, this type of content is more likely to appear, but also shows the social side of the store, makes the brand more personable and gives the store more of a local feel. Boosting the post to fans, or to non-fans, will ensure a wider reach.
Facebook offers are an incredibly effective way of monetizing your fan base. A recent offer for a client who runs a bar and restaurant resulted in a 9 x return when they used Facebook offers. Create a deal that’s exclusive to your fans as this creates value for them and makes it worthwhile for other users to like your page as well. Fans redeem this offer then place their order online or over the phone meaning revenue can be tracked from Facebook. It is very worthwhile spendimg some money to boost your offer to ensure it reaches more people, be it your fans or a wider audience.
These are just two ways of getting into peoples’ feeds and not just that but a far more effective way of measuring sales from Facebook.]]>