September 23, 2018
There’s no question that Facebook is the king of social media, but is there a chance it’s so big, people don’t know how to use it? Worldwide, there are over 2.23 billion monthly active Facebook users for Q2 2018. That’s an 11% increase year over year.
There are currently over 40 active features on Facebook. Sometimes less is more, but if you understand some of these following applications, you can take advantage of the best features the platform has to offer.
Announced on August 9th, 2017, Facebook Watch is a video-on-demand feature operated by the platform. And since Facebook spends so much time getting to know you, it generally features content that is the most relevant to your interests. The original video content for the site is produced for the company by partners. They get to keep 55% of advertising revenue, while Facebook pockets 45%.
The feature offers personalized recommendations and categorized content bundles. These can depend on factors like social media engagement or popularity. The bundles have quirky titles like:
The video content is both long-form and short-form. So, you have everything from 15-second vids to episodic content that plays for over an hour. Facebook has put away a reported budget of $1 billion for the feature until the end of 2018. Facebook Watch officially became available to everyone worldwide on August 30, 2018.
In terms of business, the power of this feature lies in video marketing. Did you know that 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook videos a week? Or that 87% of online marketers use video content? So, the power is there to not only reach but entertain a lot of people. You just have to shoot the video!
This feature is incredibly unique and still in its infancy. The virtual reality (VR) application allows you to interact with your Facebook friends in a digital place. People can choose a personalized avatar that they then use to intermingle in a virtual environment called “VR rooms.”
Users can share any form of content with one another through VR headsets and controllers (Oculus Touch). The avatars are cartoonish, 3-D characters with a likeness of the user (or whatever they choose). In the Spaces rooms, people can perform actions like:
The Oculus Rift is the system required to network in Facebook Spaces but as VR becomes an increasingly popular form of interaction, more systems should become available—at cheaper prices.
Facebook created Spaces because they are trying to get an edge on virtual reality. As Zuckerberg was quoted as saying “VR will be the most social platform ever.”
The possibilities for business once VR becomes popular are also limitless. Why not set up a virtual shop for your ecommerce customers? Make purchasing online more of an experience and you’ll see a definitive return on investment. Perhaps there are a few years before this feature becomes a thing, but if you are first to set up shop there, there won’t be much competition.
What many people don’t realize is that the Facebook Messenger feature is so much more than a messaging app. Originally developed as “Facebook Chat” in 2008, it was later revamped and renamed in 2010. Through the messenger app, users can do things like:
The standalone feature supports using multiple accounts, conversations with optional end-to-end encryption, and even playing games. In addition to simply chatting up friends, Messenger is great for business.
In November 2016, Messenger ads became available, but many companies still haven’t caught on. With over 1 billion people using the feature, however, businesses are truly missing out.
Forget about Google Analytics. Facebook has its own analytics feature called “Page Insights.” The page will provide metric data that will allow you to monitor the performance of a business page. Want to know who’s in your audience? Or if they prefer music over cars? All that data is collected and aggregated on the Page Insights feature. Additionally, you can study social data like:
The most important part of Page Insights is that it demonstrates which content is your strongest.
Then you can use that data to guide your marketing efforts—i.e. repurposing your best stuff.
In August 2015, Facebook introduced live streaming. Users can shoot live and post it to their newsfeed. Then people can comment in real-time. The live broadcast is automatically saved as video content and put away. Then, in April 2016, Facebook introduced a live-streaming API that allowed developers to use any device (even drones) to live stream on the platform. To drive its adoption, Facebook even provided incentives to publishers and celebrities to perform live broadcasts.
Savvy marketers understand that video content encourages engagement, and even more so when it’s live. Out of all the Facebook features, live streaming is one that is going to make you the most money. It’s simply the type of content everyone prefers.
The biggest inconvenience to running a Facebook business page used to be that you couldn’t manage it mobily. That all changed with the Pages Manager app. The free platform for Android and iOS allows page managers to seamlessly post content from their phones or mobile devices.
Additionally, users can stay up-to-date with a live page feed, upload multiple photos to one post, and even manage events.
To maintain a steady stream of content, it’s recommended you schedule ahead of time. It used to be that you needed a social media management platform to schedule your posts, but now you can do it straight from Facebook.
Scheduling a post is simple. When creating a post to appear at a later date, there’s a clock icon on the bottom left of the sharing tool. Click that and select your future date. Just remember, posts can only be scheduled at 10-minute intervals to keep from flooding feeds.
Rather than telling people exactly where you are when posting, you can simply use the Places app. Facebook’s updated location feature allows users to add a specific location to their posts and pics using GPS technology.
This feature is great for a business. That’s because by adding your location, users can check-in when they arrive. This puts your company on their timeline and essentially widens your marketing circle.
Post promotion is one of the best tools for small business that Facebook has to offer. It’s the cheapest way to advertise on the platform. If you have a post that is faring rather well, you can “promote” it to an audience of your choice. Additionally, posting can cost as little as a few dollars. So, it’s the best way to get your brand out there without breaking the bank.
Make sure if you do promote a post, you keep an eye on it. You can always cancel a promotion if it’s not doing well or add money to one that’s doing stellar.
If you’re wondering what your competitors are doing, check out the Pages to Watch feature. Marketers can follow up to 100 brands or competitor pages to see what they’re posting that’s working. The pages are filtered by the top posts over the past 7 days and include social metrics like page activity and engagement.
Pages to Watch is perfect if you’re just starting out and want an idea of the content that works. See what your competitors are posting and follow suit. Look at their engagement and audience growth. It’s a great tool to see what people are doing right and what they are doing wrong. To access the Pages to Watch feature, simply click “Insights”
The better you know your business needs, the easier it will be to establish which Facebook features will work best. There are some that shouldn’t be skipped. Strategic digital marketing should always include features like Page Insights and Pages to Watch. Other apps may not be necessary. Perhaps you don’t need to manage anything mobily.
Your best bet is to familiarize yourself with what Facebook has to offer and then you’ll know what features will create the greatest success for your brand.
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