Facebook have recently released revised best practice documents.
It gives us a glimpse into how they see the social space, as well as some good tips for both Facebook and general social media strategy.
Ranging from tips to organisational structure to audience participation, Facebook have offered what they believe is the best way to manage social.
Ownership
Assign clear ownership. Have one person oversee all social activity. This person is a social media champion for the wider organisation, and works across many teams including marketing and digital .
A single team should own social. They operate with a “daily editorial calendar”, are responsible for engaging content and gleaning insights. They co-ordinate requests from other teams (PR, Legal, ecommerce etc) for space on the page.
Collaboration
This is about working with an agency to get the most out of your wider media strategy. Facebook see the agency as running the campaign and alerting the social team as to spend. The agency must be focused on “reinforcing Facebook content with marketing messages in other channels, both online and offline”. (This is a mark against solely social agencies – interesting move, Facebook)
Creative
A creative team can be used for participatory campaigns (apps) and must be across insights and ad manager to see what content is working. They must be fuelled by “what is inherently social about the brand” and focus on virality.
Facebook then go on to offer advice about making successful posts:
- Be succinct. Posts less than three lines of text see about 60% more engagement.
- Post at least five times a week.
- Post at the optimal time for your page.
- Know your audience. Use insider language.
- Be seasonal. Fans are more likely to engage with content that is already top of their mind such as current events and holidays.
- Post photos and videos. Albums generate 180% more engagement, photos 120% and videos 100% more engagement than regular posts.
- Use simple, bold visuals.
- Speak using your brand’s voice.
- Position your brand as a hero or problem solver.
- Give fans exclusive content, offers, competitions, events.
- Create a question or a fill-in-the-blank post.
- Include your call to action early – in the first 90 characters.
- Share posts from fans.
So that’s Facebook’s best practice – some of it only applicable to larger brands and those engaged with media agencies, but still some good nuggets in there.