Facebook Marketing Guide Part 2: Intermediate

by VitalStorm |

April 21, 2017

Facebook Marketing Guide - Part 2 - Intermediate

In Part 1, we discussed different Facebook terminology, the difference between a Profile and a Page, and some Facebook best practices. Now that you’ve set up a business page and gotten a grasp of the lingo, it’s time to move on to the more advanced stuff. Welcome to Part 2: Intermediate.

Facebook Marketing Guide Part 2: Intermediate

1. Optimize Your Page

If you are a business, you have already selected the right page for your industry. If not, go back to part 1 and make sure you select the page that most closely aligns with your business.

The first thing you want to do when you create a new Facebook Page is to choose a profile picture and background photo. If you don’t have a good image to use already, this would be the time to hire a graphic designer. If you need a designer, contact VitalStorm. If we don’t have the right fit for you, we can point you in the right direction.

How to add or change your Page’s profile picture:

First select the Page that you wish to add the photo to and then click the Edit Page button in the upper right corner. Hover over your profile picture from the page dashboard and click .

Click the “choose file” button and then attach whatever picture you want into the new Profile picture.

Ideal Profile Picture Specifications:

No matter what picture you upload, it will be cropped into a square. We recommend using a PNG image that is about twice the size of how it is displayed (170 px by 170 px on computers and 128px by 128 px on smartphones).

Upload a PNG image 340 px by 340 px for a crisper image.

Ideal Cover Photo Specifications: 

Your Page’s cover photo will display at 820 px by 312 px on computers and 640 px by 360 px on smartphones.

According to Facebook, your cover photo will load fastest “as an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes.” Also, it “must be at least 399 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall.”

We recommend keeping your file size as small as possible for faster load times, but you will probably get a better quality result by uploading a PNG file double the size of how it is displayed.

Upload a PNG image 1640 px by 624 px for a crisper image.

2. Take Advantage of Tabs and Sections

Once you have added a crisp profile picture and cover photo, you want to consider how your tabs are arranged. Use you tabs to promote the things that matter most to you, such as videos, landing pages, your website, or other important items. If you are currently hiring, you may want one of your main tabs to be a link to your Careers page.

How to manage your Page’s tabs and sections:

  • You need to be an admin or editor of the Page to manage tabs and sections.
  • When you arrange the sections to the left side of your Page, it will also reorder the Page’s middle section in the same order.

From Facebook:

To reorder tabs and sections:

  1. Go to your Page and click Settings
  2. Click Edit Page
  3. Click and drag a tab to reorder it

To remove a tab or section:

  1. Go to your Page and click Settings
  2. Click Edit Page
  3. Click Settings next to the tab you want to remove
  4. Click to select Off
  5. Click Save

Keep in mind that you can only remove the following sections: Events, Notes, Services, Shop, Jobs, Offers and Reviews.

To add a tab or section:

  1. Go to your Page and click Settings
  2. Click Edit Page
  3. Click Add a Tab
  4. Click Add Tab next to the tab you want to add

To reorder the sections on the right side of your Page: 

  1. Hover over the top of a section and click
  2. Select Manage Sections
  3. Click and drag sections to reorder them
  4. Click Save

3. Optimize Your Posts

After you have added a crisp image for your profile picture and cover photo, you’ll want to be just as conscious about the images that you post on your Page.

When adding a link to a post, ensure high quality images by following these design recommendations.

Ideal Shared Image Thumbnail Specifications (Also for Facebook Advertisements):

When adding an image to a shared link on Facebook, use these design guidelines:

  • Recommended image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
  • Text: 90 characters
  • Headline: 25 characters
  • Link description: 30 characters
  • Your image should include minimal text. See how the amount of text in your ad image will impact the reach of your ad.

The recommended text is generally a good rule to follow, but it refers to “how many characters of ad copy could be displayed on smaller screens.”

For more complete design recommendations for both Facebook and Instagram, visit the Facebook Ads Guide.

4. Create a Blog and Content Calendar

Your Facebook page is only as good as the content you choose to share. It’s well worth it to create an editorial calendar so you know what you are posting and when.

Since it’s a struggle to try to come up with something useful and/or interesting every day, we highly recommend seeking help from an agency that cane take care of all or most of your posts for you.

No matter if you produce content in-house or decide to outsource, you’ll want to utilize a content calendar. Staring at a blank page every morning and trying to decide what to do is something you want to avoid.

When creating your content calendar, try to stick to an 80:20 or 90:10 ratio for promotional posts.

Facebook’s algorithm changes over time, but one thing remains clear—if your posts aren’t connecting with your audience, your organic reach will decline. So try to avoid overly promotional posts that will negatively impact your organic distribution.

Intersperse your promotional posts throughout the year to highlight an offer or sale at the right time. The other content you should be posting are links back to your blog, 3rd party links, photos, client spotlights, behind-the-scenes photos, videos, etc.

Your content calendar will help you plan all your posts so you can reinforce the brand image and positions that you want, coordinate strategies across different mediums, and create a balanced news feed with a variety of posts. If you share your content calendar with your other marketing teams (PPC, print, TV, radio, etc.), you can capitalize your marketing efforts.

As always, watch what your audience responds to the most.

Learn How to Create a Content Marketing Plan.

5. Create Engaging Posts

Every business wants that seemingly magic viral video or post. This is a lot harder than you may think. In fact, it’s near impossible to consciously create a viral post, although that hasn’t stopped advertisers from trying.

If you created a great piece of content and tried to push it on Facebook, don’t be insulted if you didn’t get very much engagement. Sometimes explicitly asking for a response helps, such “what do you think?” “which one would you choose?” “A or B?” “do you agree?” or “caption this.”

In order to be a Facebook star, or a star in general, you should leverage your existing community first and then build on that solid base to create a larger audience.

But even stars need to pay for exposure. That’s why it’s highly recommended that you develop some sort of Facebook Advertising plan. Just like Google, Facebook is operating a pay-to-play business.

Access the Ultimate Swipe File for Home Services.

6. Utilize Facebook Audience and Page Insights 

Facebook Insights is the internal analytics tool for your Page. To access your Page’s insights, click on the Insights tab at the top of your page (you must be signed in and on business.facebook.com to see this). From there, you can click on the sections to the left, such as People and Posts. You can Export Data from the top right to share with your other teams.

While it might be more satisfying to just assume that you are succeeding on Facebook, the only way to know for sure is to analyze your Page’s Facebook Insights.

Use your Page Insights to:

  • See how your audience is interacting with your page and posts
  • View metrics on Page’s performance
  • Understand which posts are resonating most with your audience
  • Learn when your audience is on Facebook.

In addition to finding out which content is resonating most, you can also find out important aspects of your audience, which provides a wealth of information for your marketing efforts. The larger the audience you have on Facebook, the more information you can mine to figure out exactly who composes your audience, a mystifying aspect for many marketers.

Use your Facebook Audience Insights to improve your content and advertising strategy. The more insights you have (geography, demographics, purchase behavior, etc.), the better you’ll be able to deliver engaging messages.

Audience Insights are a bit different. Instead of just seeing interactions with your Page (likes, comments, etc.), it “looks at trends about your current or potential customers across Facebook” (Facebook).

According to Facebook, you can get aggregate anonymous information such as:

  • Demographics — Age and gender, lifestyle, education, relationship status, job role and household size
  • Page likes — The top Pages people like in different categories, like women’s apparel or sports
  • Location and language — Where do people live, and what languages do they speak
  • Facebook usage — How frequently are people in your target audience logging onto Facebook and what device(s) they are using when they log on
  • Purchases activity — Past purchase behavior (i.e. heavy buyers of women’s apparel) and purchase methods (i.e., in-store, online)

And you can view this information for three different groups of people:

  • People on Facebook (the general Facebook audience)
  • People connected to your Page or event
  • People in Custom Audiences you’ve already created (an audience made up of your current customers)

In addition to monitoring your Insights, you also want to be on top of what people are saying about your brand on the web in general. Many brands outsource the effort to monitor their web and social media activity.

For help with your Facebook and social media marketing for the Home Service Industry, contact VitalStorm for original content, marketing insights, and custom-tailored solutions.

Jump to Part 1 or Part 3.

Related Resources:

Start Advertising with VitalStorm

1-877-311-5695

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest for all the latest digital marketing news, tips and tricks.