Planning and creating engaging social media content can be challenging, especially for a platform as big as Facebook with over 2 billion monthly active users. With Facebook’s algorithm favoring content that sparks meaningful engagement between people, it’s important to have a good content strategy in place. Structuring your planning around audience needs, platform best practices, and relevant topics will help set your Facebook content up for success.
Know Your Audience
The first step in planning successful Facebook content is getting to know your target audience intimately. Consider who they are, what they care about, their demographics, psychographics, desires, pain points and more. Ask questions like:
- Who is my ideal audience?
- What do they need and want from my business?
- What kind of content would provide value to them?
- What are their interests and pain points?
- What emotions would I like my content to evoke?
- What action do I want them to take after engaging with my content?
Really dig deep into understanding your audience so you can create content specifically tailored for them. The more relevant your content is, the better the engagement will be.
Set Goals
The next step is setting S.M.A.R.T. goals for what you want to achieve with your Facebook content. Example goals include:
- Increase brand awareness by 15%
- Drive 500 clicks to the product page each month
- Generate 25 new leads per week
- Increase engagement rate per post to 5%
Having specific goals will help inform what kind of content you create and how you measure success. Make sure your goals align with your overall social media marketing strategy.
Plan Content Themes and Topics
Now it’s time to start mapping out potential content topics and themes that align with your audience and goals. Consider:
- Industry news and trends
- Expert tips and how-to’s
- User-generated content
- Behind-the-scenes company photos/videos
- Q&As and AMAs
- Fun contests and giveaways
- Relevant holidays and events
- Rich media like infographics, ebooks, and more
Brainstorm a list of potential topics then narrow it down by choosing ideas that are timely, relevant, and compelling for your audience. Organize the topics into themes to create a content calendar with different focuses each week or month.
Mix Up Your Post Types
Facebook offers a variety of different post formats to choose from including text, images, video, live video, 360 photos, Stories and more. Use a mix of different post types to keep your content fresh and visually appealing. Here are some post type suggestions:
- Photo posts – Images tend to get high reach and engagement. Use stunning high quality photos.
- Video posts – Both short form videos under 2 minutes and longer videos can help tell your brand story.
- Live videos – Broadcast live events or Q&As to engage your audience in real time.
- Carousel posts – Share multiple images or videos in one post.
- Stories – Post ephemeral in-the-moment content that lives for just 24 hours.
Test different post formats to see what resonates best with your audience. Just be sure to use relevant visuals that complement your message.
Optimize Post Length
When writing your post captions, the ideal length is around 40-80 words or 2-3 short sentences. Posts with less than 80 characters see the lowest engagement. Long blocky posts may not get fully read either. Find a happy medium where you provide enough context but are still concise and scannable for viewers. Consider sharing longer content in blog posts then linking to them.
Use Effective Calls-to-Action
Every post should have a strategic call-to-action that aligns with your goals. CTAs help guide viewers on what you want them to do, whether that’s visiting your website, signing up for a webinar, downloading content or making a purchase. Some CTA examples include:
- Shop now
- Learn more
- Start your free trial
- Register today
- Get your copy
- Browse the collection
Place your CTA prominently at the beginning, middle or end of your caption. Use action-driving language and make it stand out visually.
Engage With Comments
Responding to comments shows followers you care and helps facilitate two-way communication. Aim to respond to as many comments as you can in a timely manner. Thank people for engaging, address questions and concerns, and provide any helpful information requested. This helps build community and increase engagement.
Promote Content Amplification
You can expand the reach of your Facebook content by encouraging followers to like, comment, share and otherwise amplify your posts. Foster content amplification by:
- Asking followers to tag friends who would find the post relevant
- Having them answer a question in the comments
- Running contests for shares and likes
- Publishing share-worthy content
- Following up with influencers and brand ambassadors to help promote your content
Content shared organically by followers typically gets higher reach than your own promoted posts.
Use Hashtags Strategically
Hashtags help surface your content to people interested in certain topics. Prioritize 1-3 branded hashtags per post and occasionally mix in a few relevant generic hashtags. Posting with too many hashtags looks spammy and will limit reach. Place hashtags at the end of your caption. You can also include some in the first comment to keep your caption clean.
Tag Relevant Pages
When applicable, you can tag other Facebook pages in your posts like partners, influencers, or references. This helps notify them of the post and may lead to a share or amplification. However, only tag brands that are highly relevant to avoid looking spammy.
Make the Most of Insights
Analyze the built-in Facebook Insights to see what types of posts, topics and formats resonate best with your audience. Look at metrics like reach, engagement rate, clicks, impressions and more. Use these learnings to refine what goes into your content calendar moving forward. Continuously test and optimize to improve performance.
Schedule Posts in Advance
Creating and scheduling social media content in advance is essential for consistent posting and to save time. Use social media management tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Buffer to easily plan and schedule your Facebook content weeks or months ahead. However, still allow room for being agile and responding in real-time as needed.
Promote Your Best Content
Once you see a particular post is performing very well, you can give it an added boost with Facebook advertising. Promote your best content with:
- Page Post ads – Drive more engagement on successful organic posts.
- Video Views ads – Get more views for video content.
- Carousel ads – Promote engaging image or carousel posts.
Target these ads to lookalike audiences who share characteristics with your existing engaged followers.
Outsource Help
If managing social media feels overwhelming on top of your other marketing, customer service and business tasks, don’t hesitate to outsource help. Many affordable social media management platforms like Hootsuite offer add-on services for content creation and community management. Virtual assistants are another option for delegating social media work.
Conclusion
Planning and creating high-quality Facebook content tailored specifically to your target audience is key for driving engagement and results. Use these tips to inform your content strategy, expand your reach, spark meaningful interactions with followers and promote your brand effectively on Facebook. With some planning best practices and experimentation, you can master social media content that converts.