When you start marketing your blog using Social Media the very first platform you should target is Facebook. Why Facebook? you ask, well 3 in every 5 people in the world have a Facebook account, so your reach widens. Facebook is also better because you can market your posts on any topic with no restrictions unlike other popular social media networks that restrict you; with restrictions I mean twitter’s 140 character restrictions, Pintrest’s only image restrictions or Linkedin’s professional content restrictions. The only other platform that is as flexible as Facebook is Google+ but Facebook has a one up on the number of account holders which is why we should choose Facebookers as our major target audience.
You might have your personal Facebook account with a lot of friends and a lot of likes and comments popping in on your beach pictures or your Hawaii selfie’s but when you start marketing your blog it gets really difficult to get the same people to click on those links. Which is why you should try and avoid mixing personal with professional and have a fresh Facebook account for your blog promotions; I advise this because you need a wide audience reach when you wish to market your blog and you don’t want strangers having access to your most private pictures or crazy conversations, do you?
There are 15 Golden Rules to manage this professional Facebook account that you need to follow to be able to milk the Facebook click cow to your advantage, I learnt these how? by researching and applying these to my posts and noticing the increment in page views that Facebook got me. So here goes My 15 Golden Rules of Blog Marketing on Facebook:
1. Have A Kickass Profile
A new profile needs a lot more care and development because you don’t have the time to waste on growing gradually. Take out a day and work hard on creating a good profile, the movies you have seen, the books you have read, your interests, the places you have traveled all make a difference to the way people will perceive you. It may be a professional account but we don’t want people to think you are a spammer, so go all out and showcase your strengths so that when the audience reaches out they know you are a pro!
TIP: If you are a fashion blogger your profile should say that with the help of the books you have read, the movies you have seen and the pages you like; ditto for every other field of specialization because this shows you are connected and the information you reel out isn’t made up.
2. DP Matters
Your Display Picture is the first touch point of your reader with you and you need to be as authentic as you can about that. I agree with a lot of strangers accessing that account daily you do have your reasons to use general images instead of your own, Â but ask yourself would you trust the authenticity of a link posted by a pikachu or by a real person? (not that I have a bias against pokemons) but you craft your own authenticity and credibility, so do it wisely!
3. Be Generous With Likes and Shares
You can’t expect people to be nice to you when you are always rude to them, the same way before you expect any one to actually click on your links, if you are stingy with your side of likes and shares. Make sure you like and share things which other’s post on their walls or share, by doing this you get into their good books after all they are strangers and the only way in which you can connect is by making your presence felt in a positive manner.
4. Comment And Make Your Presence Felt
Same logic as in the previous point, comment on posts and shares but do remember don’t be fake about it, if using this account as your professional identity shouldn’t you be honest with your opinions? Don’t get too nasty or diabetic-ally sweet just make sure you let people know you are genuine and you have your set of opinions, helps them develop a positive attitude towards your posts in the long run.
5. Sharing My Posts On My Timeline
This is when the actual promotion part starts, believe me no body reads a link with a description saying my first post do read or written by me unless you are probably Robert Downey Jr or Salman Khan (though I doubt any of these would actually write, but that besides). You need to tell them why they need to read this and balance it off with the fact that you have written it so they trust the credibility. 15 ways to help YOU loose your weight, a must read! is so much better than: my post on weight loss do read; isn’t it?
TIP: Frame up your post as the description followed by the link followed by one of the catchy images you have used in the post and not the default drop down link, it always attracts more people this way!
6. Tags and Hash Tags
Once you do start realizing how to post on your timeline in a way that people want to read your posts, you can start attracting more audiences by using # (hashtags). # your key word from the link description, it will make your post visible with a list of all other posts with the same hash tag multiplying your reach automatically. Whenever you make a post ensure you have tagged about 10 active Facebook account users from your list in the same, this ensure those people will surely have a look at the post plus your link is visible to their friends as well!
7. Friend Requests Galore
When you have an attractive and active profile you are sure to get a lot of Facebook friend requests, accept people as these are your potential audiences. You can always delete people who create an issue whenever you want to.
8. Groupism and It’s Benefits
Posting your links on various Facebook groups boosts up your viewership but groups take time to accept you, so check out general groups or category specific groups but make sure the number of members are more than 1000 or else it’s just a wasted effort in posting links there. Be active on those groups don’t just post links or people will surely consider you as a spammer.
9. Sharing On Groups The Right Way
Sharing your links on groups will get you more viewers easily, but you should know how to do it. Sharing on groups needs to be done the same way you do on your timeline with the necessary hash tags, but sharing the tight content on the right group is what is important. You can’t share a post about Fashion tips in a group on automobile lovers! Don’t post because you have to do it as a targeted approach to get you dedicated audiences.
10. Page Views Per Share
Ultimately it all narrows down to the number of Pageviews your marketing efforts can get you and so it is necessary to work out the ratio of page views per share you manage. For me a 100 shares in targeted groups manage about 80-90 views and 100 shares in general groups manage about 50 views, once you start sharing you will start figuring out what’s your ratio and then you can work accordingly. This is the most important observation you need to make to be able to successfully leverage your social media to attain page views other wise it’s all a wasted effort.
11. Sharing On Facebook Fan Pages
If you have your own fan page and you share your stuff there, then you need likes as your first priority. Ask friends and family to pitch in to manage your first 150-200 likes rest will start coming in automatically. The best way to get fans is to have regular posts shared by a minimum of 10 active Facebook accounts and the reach multiplies automatically.
12. Sharing On Other’s Fan Pages
This is quite risky as this can get you blocked immediately. Avoid promoting or sharing on fan pages it’s a wasted effort as your post shows in a corner with the million of other contributors and it gets you blocked as well.Â
13. Avoiding Blocks
apart from posting on other pages, promoting the same link on a lot of groups in a short span of time can get you blocked. Promoting a lot on the same group in a short span of time can get you marked as spam can get you blocked. Adding a lot of groups, sending a lot of friend requests are among the top reasons for Facebook blocks.
14. Time And Tide Wait For None
In a single minute hordes and hordes of people are posting on Facebook and your timeline just can’t accommodate all of it so it shows up whatever or whoever you interact the most with. Try commenting and getting comments on your links that way your post will always be visible on people’s time lines.Â
15. Write- Post- Share- Repeat
 Facebook is like your pageviews cow and milking it the right way matters, but one thing that also matters is your frequency especially in your initial phase. The more you share the better your views and the better your views!
Liked this? Try: The Dummies Guide To Using Facebook For Content Marketing
If you would like to add a few points and your own experiences do comment and let me know, if you found it helpful do share it with as many as you can to ensure other benefit as well!
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facebook is a social webite tht helps to market ur product or service