A social media marketing strategy that works (for in-feed re-sellers)
This article is for the resellers of social media pages. Specifically those that are reselling “sponsored” posts on their Facebook page feeds to third parties.
I’m going to ignore for now the fact that it’s a violation of Facebook’s TOS and that your Facebook page can be shut down if you are reported, but if you ARE going to do it, let’s at least do it the right way.
Yes, there is a right way that it can be done that does not violate Facebook’s policy, but you have to be VERY VERY careful in how each campaign is created and executed.
HERE IT IS STRAIGHT FROM FACEBOOK’S TERMS OF SERVICE
ENOUGH OF THAT.
HOW DO WE DO IT RIGHT?
I’m glad you asked. First of all, and this is so important that I can’t emphasize this enough; we don’t create ads. What we do is provide entertaining content for our Facebook audience that contains, mentions or is about our advertiser.
Our aim is to increase the exposure our advertiser receives for their product or service from our audience by being featured in our entertaining content feed as part of our content.
Think of it more of a conversation than an ad.
GOALS
Before creating the ad.. uh… I mean the conversation, lets take a second to understand what the goal is for our social media campaign.
First, we want it to create a buzz and we want it to be engaging.
We measure that engagement through the number of views it receives as well as the number of likes and shares it gets.
The better the content is, the higher the engagement is.
Our goal is to create highly engaging content or series of featurettes placed at optimum times on the right pages reaching the desired audience.
That’s how we make this product better and thats how we become even more successful.
HOW TO DO IT
DO NOT MAKE AN AD, start a conversation. (What does that mean?)
An advertisement generally speaking, explicitly features the product or service along with the logo and slogan. It probably contains a call to action or invitation to the website. Boring.
In conversational content, advertising elements can be present, but they are not the centerpiece of the content. Let’s take a look at an example FICTIONAL EVENT and how we can promote it without violating the TOS while at the same time creating interest and positive brand experience for our followers.
The following poster is pretty typical of what a client will bring us and what they want us to post on our feed.
Instead of just posting their poster over and over every other day until the day of the event. (it will get ignored, and muted, and you will get unfollowed, and reported, and potentially get shut down)
A better Alternative.
We can turn that poster and that event into a useful and fun conversation that will entertain and make our audience really appreciate us while informing them about the event.
Here are some examples that don’t get ignored and create a higher engagement, i.e. have a higher chance of success.
Tip of the day
(feature a photo that has a useful tip or talks about a fun new trend, or use humor.)
Behind the scenes photo
(Show some of the preparation work happening, something energetic.)
Featured happy customer
(Show someone using the product, or showing off the product, smiling, or jumping for joy, with a positive quote.)
Focus on Charity work
(Show people loading a truck or handing out help or donating a check to help a charity and mention the sponsor.)
Having fun Working
(Show how much fun it is working at the business or how cool it is to do that profession. )
I see what you did there
We created entertaining content that fans of our page will enjoy. They will like it, and some may even share it. We have indirectly but still obviously promoted the event without being “in your face” about it.
If you create a series of these and spread the posts out over the lifetime of the campaign, you’ll find that you’ll get an increased interest and greater engagement for your content. In addition, your client will appreciate the added value in such an engaging style of campaigning.
Entertain don’t sell
CARDINAL RULE! Do not, I repeat, do not repeat(re-post) your message.
10a.m. …brought to you by Carls Jr.
1p.m. …brought to you by Carls Jr.
6p.m. …brought to you by Carls Jr.
Treat your page like you would your personal feed.
You wouldn’t post the same photo of your dog over and over again. Would you? All your friends would stop following you. Ok then. Don’t do it for the marketing campaign.
Its just bad form and you’ll actually hurt the page you are posting it on.
FRIENDLY SUGGESTION
Change your message to fit the topic of the page your advertising on.
Example: If your advertising a Vision (Optometry Company) on a Rock Music Radio Station Facebook page, you should maybe do a funny meme featuring a guitarist who can’t see and is about to fall off the stage with a statement saying “He should have gone to ….”
TECHNICAL STUFF
When you upload an image to Facebook or send it through Hootsuite, Facebook alters that image to fit a wide variety of gadgets. It makes multiple sizes and crops some of them. The image below shows the full size, and highlights in yellow, the safe area that will ALWAYS show regardless of cropping or size. This is where you should keep important info.
Technical Specs (for images) jpg format (1200 x 1200) recommended
