Welcome back to the final part of our series on utilizing EdgeRank for Facebook marketing. If you missed it, in the first post we broke down what exactly EdgeRank is and defined what elements make it up. In this post, we'll be talking about practical applications of EdgeRank and ways you can utilize it in your own Facebook marketing.
An Affinity for Affinity
Of the three elements of EdgeRank, Affinity is the most important to your Facebook marketing efforts. You need to get your messages onto your followers' news feeds for them to be effective. Did you know, for example, that generally less than 1/5 of your fans see any single post you make? Simply Liking you on Facebook isn't enough. For them to see your message, you have to get them participating on your page.
Here are some suggestions for this:
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Encourage people to Like and Share your posts, so their friends see your content. Occasional contests help with this.
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Invite discussion with interesting questions. They don't need to be directly about your product. In fact, they often have more widespread appeal if they don't. Comments give a great boost to your affinity.
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Plan ahead! If you know you have a big announcement coming in a month, now is the time to start cultivating affinity, so you'll have it when you need it.
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Hold special events on your Facebook page, like a streaming webcast or a live chat. These sorts of activities will boost your affinity with each participant for quite some time.
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Watch your fans' pages and make your own comments when appropriate, to build that engagement. There are free tools for this.
Weighty Matters
Leveraging the Weight of your Facebook marketing activities is more clear-cut. The most basic applications are obvious: since videos and pictures outrank shared links or status updates, you should use more of those. Some of the most popular pages on Facebook are ones where the owners spend a lot of time posting pictures, even ones not related to their field of work. (Actor and activist George Takei, for example, has over a million fans -not all of them Trekkies- and the majority of his posts are funny pictures.)
Obviously, you may not want to fill your business's page with cutesy pictures, but the principle remains the same. If you can post pictures or video that your users want to share, it helps your EdgeRank in both Affinity and Weight. Shared links that invite discussion do the same thing. Choose content based on how much you think your fans will want to share it, not just what pushes your message.
Time and Time Again
Time is probably the hardest aspect of EdgeRank to leverage for Facebook marketing. For one thing, you need to be constantly posting. You should make at least one post a day, and some studies have suggested that 2-3 a day is optimal. Since not everyone is on Facebook constantly, a post made in the morning will have already seen its Time ranking drop off sharply by the time workers get home in the evening.
Also, try to make use of current events. Discussing a recent news item, or (if you're brave enough) venturing a political opinion will usually spark a flurry of activity. Since timeliness is part of the Time ranking, mentioning major news increases your EdgeRank.
In Conclusion...
EdgeRank is a complex and difficult business, especially since Facebook is pretty stingy about its details. However, understanding how EdgeRank works and using it to drive people to your page will make your Facebook marketing ventures vastly more profitable.
To find out about Social Media as a means to market your business call for your free fifty minute consultation with DeepSky Marketing today. Call 707 823-3888 to set your appointment.
