Facebook marketing trends for 2018 (that will make you bigger than Beyonce)

Get ready for 2018! This year, no matter what kind of business you run, your resolution should be to make it bigger, and better.

Your marketing is a big part of this. Let’s take a look at the role Facebook has to play and how you can leverage the world’s biggest social media channel to help you ‘slay like Beyonce’.

Facebook marketing trends for 2018

Video

Video has been a ‘trend’ for a few years now! But this is because it works. Facebook users are watching BILLIONS of videos every day, many of these from their favourite brands.

How to:

How you use video depends on your business, your budget and your strategy. Videos can be candid and shot on a smartphone camera. You can also post highly produced works of art.

Post DIY content or employ a production company to create feature clips or advertisements that will resonate with your audience.

What not to do:

No matter what your message is, make it strong and clear! It is a mistake to put up blurry, vague content which is difficult for users to understand. Even if your content is meant to appear spontaneous, put some thought into it and think about the message you wish to convey.

Agoda

[Travel site agoda cleverly uses an attention-grabbing caption to encourage users to engage with their video content]

Better Help
[This 15 second video promotes the Better Help brand and has had over 800,000 views]

Live Video:

You may have noticed me going ‘live’ on Facebook in 2017. This trend is really beginning to catch on, with businesses realising how irresistable those little ‘Live Now’ notifications can be.

According to mediakix.com, viewers spend 3 times longer watching live videos than pre-recorded ones. They also comment at 10 times the rate of regular videos thanks to the feature that allows them to be part of the conversation as things happen.

How to:

To use Facebook Live, all you really need is a phone. Open your Facebook app and tap on ‘Live’ under the space inviting you to share a status. Add a description, choose the people you wish to broadcast to, hit the red camera icon and you’ll be broadcasting to the world.

Once you have finished, check the stats and viewer engagement numbers. This will allow you to track the success of your Facebook Live Videos.

What not to do:

Before you make your first broadcast, think about what you have to say and how it can add value to your viewers. Have a practice and see which camera angle works best for you.

Post an announcement ahead of time to let your audience know you’re about to start streaming live. Be ready to respond to comments during your broadcast, using people’s names as much as possible.

Atlanta Journal

 

[This video from the Atlanta Journal is one of Facebook’s most watched Live videos]

Influencers

If your audience numbers are lacklustre, try tapping in to someone who has already built up a following in the hundreds of thousands.

Influencer marketing is less expensive than hiring a celebrity spokesperson and can be more effective at reaching your target audience.

How to:

Here’s a hypothetical case study:

Brand X sells vacuum cleaners and is looking to promote a hand-held dust-buster. Their social media following is decent, at 30,000. They connect with Blogger B, who has 700,000 followers on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Blogger B is a guru of home organising, and posts gorgeous shots of beautifully arranged pantries, laundries and wardrobes.

Blogger B’s followers are mostly female, with children under the age of ten. They are not particularly affluent but are seeking ways to be organised for less. Keeping their house clean and organised is one of their main aspirations.

Brand X engages Blogger B to create a short how-to video on keeping your laundry organised. During the video, Blogger B will use the hand-held vacuum to demonstrate how to quickly clean shelves.

Blogger B posts the video to her Facebook followers (or broadcasts live) and it is seen by 80,000 viewers. She follows up the post with some static before and after shots that demonstrate the power of the vacuum. This content is also shared across YouTube and Instagram.

This kind of marketing costs a fraction as much as a paid TVC and is far more effective at reaching your target audience.

Take a look at another case study from food brand Unilever:

ttps://digiday.com/marketing/unilevers-micro-influencers-fit-less-advertising-strategy/ 

What not to do:

There is a fine line between blatant advertising and promoted content. Make sure the video or image you produce is interesting and shareable for the user rather than a thinly veiled advertisement.

Cake
[Influencers + great content = marketing success]

Masterchef
[Former Masterchef contestant and Surfing the Menu host Dan Churchill works with sportswear brands to promote a healthy lifestyle]

Chatbots

There are now over 100,000 facebook chatbots in operation via Facebook Messenger. These use artificial intelligence to interact with customers, responding to frequently asked questions, sharing products and driving them down the lead funnel.

A great example is property website Domain. Link to this brand on Facebook and type a postcode into Messenger chat. Your bot will instantly share the properties for sale in that suburb.
You can also enter the address of any property to see an instant price guide.

Domain

How to:

You can hire a digital developer to custom-build a chatbot or have a go at making your own from a template.

Chatbot platform ChatFuel sells chatbot templates starting at $100. Using one of these, a car dealership, for example, can showcase vehicles for sale, book in test drives and gather information from customers to discover if they are looking to buy or sell.

If you’re not technically minded, you might be better off outsourcing the work to someone who can create a chatbot for you quickly.

Chatfuel
[Chatfuel’s chatbot template]

What not to do:

Don’t expect your chatbot to replace your customer care completely! You still need to be on hand to respond to in-depth customer questions.

Panoramics / 360 Video

Add some diversity to your images with a 360 degree view. This can work for stores, real estate agents, restaurants, travel businesses, food brands and many more types of businesses.

Basically, if you have something attractive to show off, you can maximise its exposure with a 360 degree image or video.

How to:

To use this feature, switch your camera to panoramic mode and turn slowly on the spot to capture the image from all angles. Upload it to Facebook and your followers will be able to feel like they’re standing in the exact same spot you are.

If you have the budget, you can take this a step further by creating and uploading 360 degree videos. This allows your users to view your content from any angle.

What not to do:

Don’t use a panoramic photo or 360 degree video for the sake of it. Make sure your visuals are something your audience will be interested in engaging with.

Take a look at this video from National Geographic of South Africa’s Victoria Falls. It is a great example of maximising user experience and engagement. Even on the small screen, looking directly over the edge can make you feel dizzy!

National Geographic

Facebook Stories

Taking a leaf out of Snapchat’s book, Facebook now offers ‘Stories’. This is content that is only available for your followers for 24 hours and can only be viewed twice.

This feature is relatively new and allows brands to create a point of difference for themselves before everybody jumps on the bandwagon.

When using stories, create a storyline with short bursts of content. You may wish to promote some new products, highlight specials or hint that you have something exciting coming up.

How to:

You can post a story from your business page as well as your profile.

To do this, visit the page from your mobile and tap on ‘Create Story’. This will direct you to facebook’s in-app camera so you can create a photo or video. Get creative and have some fun by adding filters, effects, captions and locations.

Stories from Facebook Pages will appear for 24hrs and won’t be shared on your Pages’ timeline or the News Feed. Users will see them at the top of their feed and must tap on them to view the content.

What not to do:

You can certainly use Stories to have fun and appear spontaneous with your business promotion. However, make sure your filters and effects are in context and that your message still makes sense to your audience.

Also, remember that your Story is only available for a day! Don’t go overboard on the production value or you won’t be in line for good return on investment.

SLSNSW
[7News adds locations and captions to their Facebook story content]

As with all social media, you need to come up with a goal (e.g. increasing followers) and a strategy to help you meet that goal. Trying all the above without any plan in place won’t get you very far. Choose a couple of these and be consistent with your efforts before testing your results.

I’m interested to hear from you! Are you still using Facebook to engage with your audience? What strategies work best for you?

 

Tim Hyde

Tim Hyde

Tim is an Infusionsoft certified partner, fixer and seasoned business growth strategist with real world business experience. Tim works with coaches, consultants and small business owners to help them get more time money and freedom from their business by optimising and automating the customer lifecycle.

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