Are inefficient marketing practices slowing your growth on Facebook?

Stagnancy or decline in growth is something that all brands face in their marketing journey at some point or the other. Not every strategy or campaign can be foolproof and bring in XYZ growth numbers. And it's okay. 

When it comes to social media, and Meta-owned Facebook specifically, some practices may seem productive or sale-driven but are draining your time, budget and resources. In a survey of 4,712 businesses, Manta learned that only 50% of marketers felt that the time they invested in Facebook was worth it, in terms of positive ROI.

A platform that still holds the most audience than any other social media website, 2.96 billion users to be exact, has plenty of fish for practically every business to flourish.

Let’s find out some of the most common approaches we’ve seen that may be doing more harm than good.

1- Going overboard with promotions

Did you know that there’s a golden ratio for posting content? The modern user is very intelligent and more often than not, can tell when they’re being targeted with promotional content. Flooding a company page with advertising or promotional media can feel a lot like spam.

Instead of increasing sales, an overabundance of salesy content can have an adverse effect and push consumers away. The audience needs to be naturally interested in a brand and its journey so it naturally follows the product and builds a relationship with it.

What we recommend:

To tackle this problem, one of the best Facebook practices is to implement the golden 80/20 rule for social media. This means that 20% of the content posted would be promotional and 80% would be more useful, informational and entertaining content. Through interactive Facebook posts, the company page will not only be engaging its audience meaningfully but very subtly driving sales too.

2- Impersonalisation - The audience wants to see the real you

Incorporating informational and business-related content may seem like the best way to educate a brand’s audience but not anymore. Post-pandemic, 88% of users say that authenticity is a dominant factor when considering buying from a business. 

Also, considering how people predominantly use Facebook to keep up with their friends and family, all of your efforts to create great content may be going in vain. 

What we recommend:

The answer to impersonalisation is quite simple. Pull back the curtain! An average Facebook user appreciates the human side of a business. Whether your model is B2B or B2C, incorporating humanised elements, such as office pictures, team activity stories and such is a great way to reach out to potential clients.

We recently collaborated with a consumer electronics brand and created content that showcased the products being used in real situations by real people. The result? Significantly increased engagement and sales!

If you market B2C, it might be worth considering going the extra mile and engaging with your audience. Form relationships with them by addressing their concerns, listening to their feedback and devising your strategy accordingly will not only build loyalty but, increase your organic reach on Facebook and also make your audience feel heard!

Plus, by doing so, you’ll have a tonne of content to create!

3- Inconsistent posting

Content creation is a tough and lengthy process. We get it. But it's better to have 0 social media presence than an ill-kempt one. Posting regularly for a week and disappearing for months is not the best move. If consumers aren’t seeing your brand frequently on Facebook, how will they develop a relationship or interest in your company and product?

A regular posting schedule keeps your audience engaged while attracting new users too. When we say regular, it certainly does not mean posting multiple times a day or even every day of the week. Overposting may overwhelm your audience and frankly, your team too.

What we suggest:

As per recent developments, the ideal posting schedule for Facebook is not as high as you might think. You only need to post 3 times a week to maintain a healthy flow of content!

A bonus tip is to always include Wednesdays in your posting schedule as engagement levels are highest mid-week. As for time, it’s recommended to post between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Since we’re feeling generous, here’s another nugget: create a calendar specifically for the upcoming holiday season. Think of the times your core audience are most likely to be present on your platform.  Start brainstorming ideas and preparing for it in advance so it's easy for you to schedule posting on time!

4- Lack of community management

Whether it is merely a question, a remark, or positive or negative feedback, the way a brand engages with its audience can simply make or break it. It’s a common practice that most businesses prefer to indulge in positive comments and completely ignore the negative ones, but disregarding bad reviews is not the best customer service approach.

Ignoring or badly reacting to a negative review may not sit well and affect brand perception for other users. 

Our recommendation:

Facebook allows the option of turning off reviews completely. Turning reviews off may also deprive your business of hearing crucial customer feedback that can help better your brand. Another option is to carefully monitor and manage them through the reviews section.

Proactiveness is a brand’s best friend when it comes to bad reviews as it's always better to get ahead of the narrative and offer support. Responsiveness shows that a brand cares and if a bad review turns out to be wrong, the business will be justified automatically, but if it is the business’s fault, an apology and intention to smooth things over will be well-perceived by the users.

5- Not using reels/stories

The usage of Facebook reels is at an all-time high. The feature is available in 150 countries and statistics show that the Meta-owned platform has the highest consumption of short-form content, preceded only by YouTube.

Some B2B or even B2C organisations may be apprehensive about using the video format that the platform proposes. The content format may seem not aligned with their niche, creation may seem like an arduous task etc. The lack of video content incorporation may be resulting in huge monetary losses. 

Our advice:

Though professionally made reels may be the gold standard, your video content does not have to be as polished. User-generated content is one of the best content types that do exceedingly well across social media platforms. 

Research shows that an average user spends around 5.4 hours consuming UGC. Adding to that, 40% of the GenZ demographic prefers to see ads in the form of reels or stories.

Statistics aside, stories and reels on Facebook can also help you share behind-the-scenes content and help develop connections with your audience while guiding them towards a purchase.

For instance, a beauty brand could look into posting tutorials or how-tos stories or even the texture of their product for an added POV approach to their product. A cherry on top could be a UGC reel of a consumer using the product in real life and narrating their experience.

Conclusion:

By paying heed to the mistakes above, businesses from varying niches can reap the full benefits of Facebook marketing without spending a tonne. These are important to consider because the platform has the biggest audience pool with a plethora of marketers caught in the race to have their marketing message heard. Incorporate these pointers in your next Facebook content strategy and let us know how it goes!