Having an RSS feed for your Facebook page can be a great way to drive more traffic to your page and keep your audience engaged. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows people to subscribe to your content and get notified when you publish new posts. Here’s what you need to know about setting up an RSS feed for Facebook.
What is an RSS feed?
RSS is a type of web feed that allows users to access updates from websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. With RSS, you don’t need to visit all of your favorite websites to check for new content – instead, the new content comes directly to you as soon as it’s published. Some key things to know about RSS:
- RSS feeds provide summaries of web content like blog posts, news headlines, audio, video, etc.
- Users can subscribe to RSS feeds using an RSS reader or aggregator app. This allows them to easily consume content from multiple sites in one place.
- RSS feeds are often used to share blog and news content. But they can be used to syndicate any type of web content.
- RSS feeds let you push content directly to your audience without them needing to visit your site.
Why use an RSS feed for Facebook?
Here are some of the key benefits of having an RSS feed for your Facebook page:
- Increased reach and traffic: An RSS feed helps you expand your reach beyond just your current Facebook followers. Anyone can subscribe to your RSS feed and get your latest updates directly through their RSS reader.
- Better engagement: Those who subscribe to your RSS feed are likely to be highly engaged, loyal followers who want to keep up with all of your new content.
- Consistent updates: RSS pushes new content directly to subscribers as soon as you publish on Facebook. It removes the need for them to remember to check your page.
- SEO benefits: Your RSS feed provides another way for search engines to discover and index your new content.
- Automated sharing: Some RSS readers will automatically share new posts from your feed on platforms like Twitter, expanding your reach even further.
How to get an RSS feed for your Facebook page
Facebook pages do not have built-in RSS capabilities, so you’ll need to use a third-party service to create an RSS feed. Here are a couple options:
Use a social media feed generator
One of the easiest ways to create an RSS feed for Facebook is by using a social media feed generator like RSS.app or RSSbox. These tools allow you to simply enter your Facebook page URL, customize settings like number of posts, and generate a unique RSS feed URL.
The advantages of using a generator like RSS.app include:
- It only takes a minute to set up
- You can update the settings or regenerate the URL at any time
- Supports Facebook pages, groups, events, and user profiles
- Options to filter by post types, limit post number, and more
- RSS feed updates in real-time as you post content
The main limitation with this method is that if the 3rd party service ever shuts down, your RSS feed will stop working. However, most established generators are reliable and this is a minor risk.
Use Zapier to connect Facebook to a feed service
For a more customizable and automated option, you can use Zapier to integrate your Facebook page with an RSS service like Feedify or FeedPress. Here’s an overview of the process:
- Sign up for an account with the RSS service you want to use.
- Connect your Facebook page to Zapier using the Facebook integration.
- Set up a Zap in Zapier that automatically sends new Facebook posts to the RSS service.
- Configure your settings in the RSS service like post limit, content formatting, etc.
- Zapier will automatically trigger creating a new RSS item for each Facebook post.
- The RSS service provides you with a feed URL to share or submit to aggregators.
Going this more technical route gives you more customization options and ensures your RSS feed won’t rely on a single third-party provider. The downside is that it requires more set up work and technical knowledge to implement.
How your Facebook RSS feed gets updated
Once you’ve created an RSS feed URL for your Facebook page through one of the above methods, the feed will automatically update whenever you publish new content on Facebook. Here’s how it works:
- You create a new post on your Facebook page as normal.
- Within a few minutes, that post data gets syndicated out to your RSS feed.
- RSS subscribers will instantly get your new post delivered directly to their RSS readers.
- Post interactions like comments and reactions do not get syndicated into the RSS feed.
So you don’t need to do anything special to “send” your posts to the RSS feed. Simply focus on publishing great content on Facebook, and the feed handles the syndication automatically.
Where your fans can access your Facebook RSS feed
Once you have an RSS feed URL for your Facebook page, there are a number of places your fans can access it:
- RSS readers: Desktop and mobile apps like Feedly, Inoreader, RSS.app, etc.
- Web browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari and others support directly adding RSS feeds.
- Email: Many RSS reader apps allow email delivery of feeds.
- Podcatchers: RSS feeds can be added to apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. to follow as audio casts.
- Facebook: You can display your Facebook RSS feed on your Facebook page using a widget/tab app.
- Your website: Add a link or RSS icon to your site pointing visitors to your feed URL.
- Share directly: Include the RSS feed URL in your email newsletters, social bios, etc.
The key is to make subscribers aware of your RSS feed and provide them easy access to it across the web, mobile, and social platforms where they consume content.
Best practices for using a Facebook RSS feed
Here are some best practices to help you get the most value from your Facebook page’s RSS feed:
Promote your RSS feed
Let your Facebook fans know about your new RSS feed. Mention it in posts, pin a post about the feed, add it to your page description, and promote it in other channels like email and on your website. The more subscribers you can drive, the better.
Ensure a consistent publishing schedule
Sporadic updates may cause subscribers to lose interest and drop off. Maintain a steady stream of new content so RSS followers always have something fresh in their feeds.
Write compelling headlines
Your post headlines will make up the RSS feed headlines that subscribers see in their feed readers. Make them informative, attention-grabbing, and click-worthy.
Include images in posts
Posts with images tend to perform better across all channels. Adding images to your Facebook posts makes for a richer, more engaging RSS feed as well.
Watch your post length
Keep most posts short and scan-able for the RSS feed. You can always link to longer articles on your site for those who want more depth.
Promote other channels
Use your RSS feed posts to promote your email list, website content, events, and other initiatives to drive traffic across channels.
RSS feed tracking and analytics
Tracking subscribers and engagement for your Facebook RSS feed requires using a third-party tool. Here are a couple options:
RSS analytics tools
Services like FeedTracker, FeedPress, and Feedify provide analytics on subscribers and engagement for RSS feeds. Features may include:
- Total subscribers
- Subscriber locations
- Most popular content
- Click-through rates
- Subscriptions over time
- Average engagement by subscriber
These tools give you insight into your RSS audience and their interest levels that you can’t get from Facebook alone.
UTM campaign tracking
You can also manually track clicks from your RSS feed to your website using UTM parameters added to links. For example:
www.yourwebsite.com/blog-post?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=facebook_page
This would allow you to segment out RSS traffic in your web analytics. Just make sure to use consistent UTM tagging.
RSS feed optimization
Here are some tips for optimizing your Facebook RSS feed over time:
- Review analytics to identify popular posts. Do more content similar to your hits.
- Highlight your most engaging content right in your RSS feed using title tags.
- Trim low-quality posts or less popular recurring columns from your feed.
- Survey subscribers about what they like and don’t like seeing in the feed.
- Compare open and click-through rates across posts to ID what content resonates most.
- Stay on top of RSS reader trends and update your promotion channels over time.
Regularly optimizing your RSS feed based on data will help ensure you provide subscribers with content they want to see and engage with.
Conclusion
Adding an RSS feed is a great way to increase your reach, traffic, and subscriber engagement on Facebook. Whether you use a generator tool or integrate with an RSS service via Zapier, the setup process is relatively straightforward.
Focus on promoting your RSS feed across channels, writing compelling headlines optimized for feeds, and analyzing your subscriber data. With an effective RSS strategy, you can take your Facebook presence to the next level.