If you post your products regularly on Facebook and want to see a significant improvement in your sales, this will be a game changer for you.
If you don’t post your products on Facebook, this will open your eyes to what you may have been missing.
In my free time, I often check out online sellers and store owners to see how they use Facebook for marketing.
The things I see are interesting.
I have seen Facebook pages with over 100k likes and follows but almost no likes, comments, or reactions on their posts.
I have also seen Facebook groups with about 2,000 members but with engagement reaching 500 for just one post.
How can a store with a truckload of audience members to market to, for free, struggle to get attention while another store with a meager audience crushes it?
What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? How can you replicate the right things in your business?
In specific terms, how do you:
1. Make your cold, unresponsive Facebook page followers and likes, Facebook group members, or Facebook profile friends and followers (let’s call them your audience) so in love with your posts that they can’t wait for your next post and are eager to buy your stuff.
2. Build a super-responsive audience that loves your posts and products, if you are starting from scratch.
It’s NOT rocket science. You only need to understand how these 3 simple ideas work.
A. Posts reach
B. Audience homogeneity
C. The psychology of Effective Facebook posts
A. Posts Reach
Have you noticed that NOT all your friends, page likes, followers, or group members get to see your posts?
Not because they don’t want to see it.
But because Facebook decides who sees it and who doesn't.
This is what Facebook's post reach is all about. It is the percentage of your audience that sees your post.
So, if, for example, you have 1k Facebook friends and Facebook showed your last post to only 100 of them, you had a post reach of 10% because only 10% of your audience saw your post. 90% didn’t.
But how does Facebook decide who sees your posts and who doesn’t?
They consider a lot of things.
Some are within your direct control. Some are indirectly under your control. And some you don’t have any control over.
If you understand and learn to control the ones under your power, you will influence Facebook to give you a high reach every time.
What are these factors that are under your control?
There are a handful, but you need to focus on just three.
1. Initial engagement
2. Previous posts
3. Medium
1. Initial engagement
The best way to explain what this means is with an example.
Imagine 2 scenarios:
In the first scenario, you made a Facebook post. Let’s call it “post A”.
Now, out of the first ten people who saw the post, only 3 liked, commented, shared, or reacted to the post (we call this engagement).
In scenario 2, you made a Facebook post. Let’s call it “post B.”
Now, out of the first ten people who saw the post, 7 people liked, commented, shared, or reacted to the post.
Which of these two posts will get a higher reach?
If scenario 2 is your answer, then you are correct.
This is because the initial engagement you get from your post is one of the biggest things Facebook looks at to decide how many people see your post.
The more initial engagement you get, the more people will see your post.
But how do you get the first few people who see your post to interact with it?
We will discuss that in a moment.
Let’s now look at the second factor Facebook looks at to give your post a higher reach.
2. Past posts.
Let’s say you made a post yesterday and got lots of engagement. When you make another post today, there is a tendency for Facebook to show your new post to more people.
Thus, if your past posts get lots of engagement, your future posts get improved reach.
On the other hand, with little or no engagement, the reach of your future posts tends to keep reducing until it gets to a time when almost nobody sees your posts anymore.
One obvious reason for this is the way you are creating your posts. Another is the type of audience you have built.
We will talk more about them in a moment.
But the third thing that affects your reach is...
3. Medium
What part of Facebook are you uploading your posts? Facebook profile? Facebook page? Facebook group?
For people who don’t know the difference:
A Facebook profile is the part of Facebook where you send and receive friend requests.
It’s where you stay in touch with your friends and family. It’s what everyone who opens a Facebook account gets first.
Most people don’t know this, but people who are NOT your Facebook friends can now follow your profile and see your posts on their timeline.
A Facebook page is a representation of your business on Facebook.
It’s where your customers and prospects can like and follow up with your updates. It’s also where they can find all your business information.
A Facebook group is Facebook’s version of discussion boards and forums.
It’s where people with similar interests gather to discuss their interests.
But does it matter if you post on a profile, page, or group?
Yes.
Reach is NOT the same for all three.
If you want better reach, a Facebook page is the worst place to post.
Why is that?
Because Facebook made it so.
Facebook wants businesses to run ads. To encourage that, they reduce the reach pages get.
It’s just how it is, and Facebook is unapologetic about it.
So, if you want a better reach, a Facebook profile or group will serve you better.
Does this mean that you should abandon your page? Should you ditch all the audiences you’ve worked so hard to build?
No.
There are advanced activities where you combine the power of pages with the power of groups (or profiles) to get next-level results.
One such action is to move your page likes and followers to your groups and profiles.
How? Two ways:
1. The group invite feature.
Facebook has a feature to invite active page members to join your group. That way, you can get your page likes to become your group members.
How do you do that?
Countless YouTube videos show you how to do that. A simple search will pull them up. So, let me skip that and focus on the information you won’t find easily.
2. Send a friend request.
The group invite feature works for only active members.
But does it mean that all inactive members are bad for your business?
No. Not really.
Remember that one of the reasons some of your page audience may be inactive is because of reach.
Some inactive members may NOT have seen your post for a long time.
These are members of your audience who would have naturally engaged with your page. But because Facebook doesn’t show your posts on their timeline, you stopped hearing from them.
One neat little trick to reach them is to create a new profile.
You will use this profile to send them friend requests. Please use your company's name and logo for this.
That way, as soon as they see your request, they instantly recognize you.
If your audience loves your business, the tendency is high that they will accept your friend request.
B. Audience Homogeneity
What does this mean? Let me explain with an example.
Let’s say you sell fitness products. Let’s also assume that you post your products on your Facebook profile.
Let’s assume that you have 1,000 Facebook friends; out of these friends, only 100 are into fitness.
Now, remember that the biggest factor Facebook looks at to determine how many people get to see your post is the initial engagement that your post got.
This means that Facebook will randomly show your post to some of your audience to see how they respond.
If the engagement is high, they show it to more people.
So, if you post your fitness stuff to your list of 1,000 friends, of which only 100 are interested in fitness-related things, what is the probability that the first few random people who see the post will be interested in fitness?
Low, right?
If the probability is low, what’s the chance they will engage with your post?
Low, right?
Now, if they don’t engage with your post, what’s the probability that you get a good reach?
Low, right?
That's the point.
A homogenous audience is one with a similar interest.
Your page likes and follows; your group members; your profile friends and follows. Are they interested in what you are all about?
If they are not, then you will struggle with engagement and reach.
So, how do you build a homogenous audience?
For profiles…
The Facebook profile you use to stay in touch with your family and friends; do you use this same profile to market your products?
If yes, then creating a new profile is your first step.
This new profile should be strictly for business. Feel free to invite your friends who are interested in what you are all about.
That way you don’t alienate your family and friends with product posts they don’t like seeing.
And of course, they won't engage with your posts because they are genuinely NOT interested. Thus, your reach will suffer.
If you already have a profile strictly for business, that's fine. But there are changes you may need to make.
First, you need to prune your audience.
Before now, you may have been sending (and accepting) friend requests from everyone.
This means that some people who are your Facebook friends should be removed. They aren't supposed to be there.
You have to visit each profile and see if they are the type of people likely to be interested in what you sell. If they are not, remove them. If they are following you, block them.
That way, these people don't get to be part of the first few who see your posts.
They would naturally NOT engage because they are genuinely uninterested. So what's the point in keeping them?
Secondly, if you use your business logo and name. Change it. You want to use your face and name.
This is because the next step requires you to connect with strangers. And on social media, people connect more easily with faces and human names than logos and business names.
You will be joining groups related to what you are into.
Group admins may hesitate to admit you if you go with your logo and business name. That's another good reason to use your name and face instead.
If you are into fitness, for example, join fitness groups. If you sell baby stuff, join groups where moms gather. If you sell gadgets, join Facebook groups for people passionate about that kind of thing.
Do you get the point?
By joining these groups, you meet people with similar interests as your business.
When you join these groups, the next thing you want to do is engage. Make engaging posts and respond to other people’s posts. Get known in these groups.
The next step is to start sending out friend requests to group members.
You can send friend requests to anyone who engages with your posts. You can also send friend requests to people who engage with other people’s posts.
A third way to send a friend request is to go to the member section of the group. There, you will see the list of all the group members. Go over to their profile and check them out. If they look like a good fit for your business, send them a friend request.
Some of these people will accept your requests. Some won’t. The idea is to do this consistently. Over time, your friends' list grows.
This way, you build a list of very homogenous people. That way, your posts will have significantly improved engagement and reach.
For groups…
There are a few tips you need to pay attention to.
For example…
If you already have a group, prune your group. Check out your members' profiles and determine if they fit your group well. If they don't, remove them.
Also, be on the lookout for fake accounts.
These are accounts that hardly post anything on their profiles.
They are one of the major reasons most groups don’t get great engagement because these accounts are part of the first few that see your posts.
If they don’t come online, how do they engage?
And if they don’t engage, how do you improve your reach? Besides, you need real humans only.
Before you accept requests to join your group, it's best to check their profiles to ensure they are right for your group. It's also a good idea to check that they are NOT fake accounts.
Also, don’t send a group invite to every tom, dick, and harry.
Ensure that only people who are a good fit for your group get these invites.
Remember that having quality members is better than quantity. So stick to building quality. They will serve your purpose best.
For pages…
Besides ads and page invites, you don’t have control over who follows and likes your page.
But the beautiful thing about pages is that those who like and follow it organically tend to be people who are interested in your business.
You can also check out the profiles of your followers and block those who seem not to be a good fit for your business.
Do these things and see your engagement soar through the roof.
C. The Psychology of Effective Facebook Posts
The homogeneity of your audience is one of the biggest factors that affects your reach, engagement, and sales.
The effectiveness of your Facebook post is another big factor.
This section is about how to create Facebook posts that are so effective that they engage your audience and make them eager to buy your stuff.
I see a lot of Facebook pages, groups, and profiles that post their products back-to-back.
That’s the worst approach. It doesn’t work on Facebook.
Instead, it kills your credibility and makes your audience avoid your posts. It’s the easiest way to kill your reach.
The only people who get away with this a bit are people in the fashion space.
That’s because fashion items are inherently engaging. But even at that, they still lose so much reach, engagement, and sales by posting just their products. This never works well.
Imagine turning on the TV, and all you see are ads. No programming. Nothing. Just ads.
Would you watch TV again? Probably not.
But that’s what most businesses do with their non-paid Facebook marketing and then wonder why it’s NOT working.
Facebook is a social media site. It’s NOT called social “MEDIA” for nothing.
Like your TV and print media, people are NOT on Facebook to consume your promotions. They are there for leisure. They want to unwind, relax, and get entertained.
If you want their attention, give them what they want first. Only then can you earn the right to promote your stuff.
It’s just like your TV programs. They show ads. But not without giving you the entertainment you came for. You probably still watch your favorite programs despite all the ads, even if you don’t like the ads.
Once in a while, you stumble on an ad that catches your interest. And you buy.
That is why the best approach on Facebook is to post content designed to engage, delight, and entertain your audience. Then, sprinkle in a dose of powerful promotion.
The best part is that, with Facebook, you can create promotions that delight your audience—ads they enjoy seeing.
That way, even your promotions will keep your audience happy and buying.
Why is that?
Unlike your TV, which appeals to a wide range of audiences, your Facebook accounts allow you to build a homogenous audience.
When you think back, there are ads you probably liked.
There are also people like you who probably liked those ads.
What if a TV station existed for everyone like you who liked similar ads? What if it was only related programs and advertisements that the station shows?
How much love would you have for that station?
So much love, right? That’s the best way to understand effective Facebook marketing.
You create posts that engage and delight them. Then you sprinkle it with promotions that they enjoy seeing.
Now if you build a Facebook page, profile, or group with these characteristics, what force on earth will prevent them from buying up your stuff with a big thanks on their lips?
None, right?
Now, let’s get into the details of how this is done.
Let’s recap.
One of the signals Facebook looks at to give you a great reach is how people engage with your posts. Specifically, how the first few people who saw the post engaged with it.
The second signal is how well your past posts performed in terms of engagement.
With these facts in mind, here is the best way to go about promoting your stuff on Facebook:
Before you make a promotional post, make sure you have made a handful of posts designed to engage your audience.
It helps your promotional post get a better reach.
So, for example, your first four posts may be designed to engage. Then, the fifth may be your promotion. In essence, you make a promotional post after four engagement posts.
And when you make your promotional posts, don’t just dump the link of your product page. It’s a bad idea.
Use copywriting to tantalize them about the product. Make them want it. Make them love it.
If you want to make a lot of sales on Facebook easily, copywriting is essential.
If you don’t have a copywriter on your team, get one.
If you’re a small business that can’t afford one, learn it. It’s one of the most valuable marketing and sales skills you can master. And there are lots of copywriting courses online.
To further buttress how important copywriting is to your success, imagine this: a store owner was trying to sell a unique pair of jeans to her Facebook audience.
Her audience seemed engaged.
But when she posted about her jeans, she got only a few clicks back to her product page. She was copying the link to her product page and posting it to her Facebook page.
When she talked to a good copywriter about it, the only thing he did was write a copy for her.
He then told her to use the copy in her post. The result? Clickthrough increased 15 times.
This is NOT uncommon. It’s how powerful copywriting is. I can’t stress this enough.
In essence, there are two types of posts you should be making.
1. Posts that are designed to engage
2. Posts that are designed to promote.
They come in different flavors. Let’s explore them.
1. Posts that are designed to engage.
The best way to make posts that engage is to create posts that people have an opinion about, posts that teach something valuable, or things that elicit emotional reactions in people (e.g., funny posts).
The stronger the point of view, the stronger the engagement.
Below are 18 examples of these kinds of posts:
1. Ask questions.
They can be yes or no, open-ended, multiple-choice, or even rhetorical questions.
They should be simple questions that your audience would love answering.
Here are some examples (templates): “What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received about [relevant topic]?”, “if you had to pick one [choice], what would it be?”, etcetera.
2. Funny memes related to your brand or niche
Some people erroneously believe that the secret to a successful meme is to make posts that are new or goofy to them.
No. It’s not.
The secret to creating engaging memes is to post memes around ideas that your audience can relate to or agree with.
3. A vs. B-type posts.
These are poll-type questions.
You can put two images side by side and ask your audience to choose one.
For example, if you are into fashion, you can put pictures of two clothes side by side and name one “A.” The other, you name “B.” Then ask them which they like most.
4. Trending topics
One way to make engaging posts from trending topics is to piggyback on pop culture, current events, or even events in your industry.
5. Fascinating facts and statistics
Infographics and shocking statistics related to your audience can spark a huge engagement.
6. Tell stories
Great stories are powerful. They engage in ways that words cannot describe.
The story could be about your company, audience, or a customer. What’s important is that you write it in ways that speak to their heart.
7. Behind the scenes
Behind-the-scenes posts humanize you. It helps your audience feel more connected to you. That’s why they love it.
One place where this works the best is in Facebook stories. Use them a lot.
8. Tips
You can post tips that your audience considers useful.
9. Inspirational posts.
The secret to creating an inspirational post that engages is NOT about saying something new or catchy. The secret is to post quotes that your audience can agree with or relate to.
10. Fill in the blank type posts
These are posts where you write something and then leave a blank space for your audience to complete your statement. For example: “My favorite color is _________. (Fill in the blank.)”
11. Guessing games.
These are posts that ask your audience to make a guess. They are fun and very engaging.
E.g. “Guess the meaning of the word/the word that matches this definition”, “Guess which product is yours vs a more expensive alternative”, “How many are in this picture?”, “Guess the price.”
12. “Caption this photo” type post.
This type of post asks your audience to post a picture that best describes a concept.
E.g. “Funny pictures from the office”, “Employee pets”, “Photos taken of customers at your location”, and “Photos representing the problems your product/service solves.”
13. Do a throwback post.
You can take a throwback photo of your business. This type of post gets lots of engagement.
14. Contests and giveaways
People love free stuff. They also love to win.
Contests and giveaways are one way to get your audience excited. It also attracts new audiences to you.
Please ensure that whatever you use as a reward is related to your business. That way, you attract only people likely to be a good fit for your business.
15. Get people to share their stories.
You can encourage past customers to share how your product has improved their lives.
16. Highlight your successful customers.
You can interview your customers who have succeeded with your product and post it on your timeline.
17. Milestones and awards
Celebrate your milestones and awards with your audience. It’s one of the easiest ways to get lots of engagements.
18. Holiday greetings
Holiday greetings are another easy way to get lots of engagement. Use them.
Test out these 18 post types and see which resonates most with your audience. Then stick to them.
More tips to boost reach and engagement
1. Use @highlight, @follows, and @everyone tags to increase reach
These are some of Facebook’s newest features.
When you use them, Facebook sends notifications to most of your followers, likes, group members, and friends about your new post.
That way, people who may have missed your posts on the timeline get to see it via their notifications tab.
2. Reply to comments
Replies have become an expectation in today’s social space.
People respect a social response within four hours of commenting; timely responses are a game-changer. People overwhelmingly want to interact with brands.
3. Pay attention to what time you post
Your Facebook posts have a lifespan.
The newer the post, the stronger its ability to get into people’s timelines.
But as it gets older, it starts to fade away. This is called the recency factor.
To take advantage of this, it is best to make your posts when most of your audience can see them.
There are 2 schools of thought on this.
1. some people believe that you should post at the time when your audience is online the most.
You can get this information from your Facebook analytics.
If you are new and don't have enough analytics data, it's best to post at a time when people are generally on Facebook the most. This is 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
2. Some people believe that you should post at odd hours.
Why?
Because posting during peak hours (when most of your audience is online) is an invitation to competition. Other businesses are posting at those times too.
So, many posts will be competing in your audiences’ timelines.
Posting at odd hours means only a few of your audience members will be online.
But your competition who will be posting online will also be few (or non-existent). The idea is to get initial engagements that spill over to peak hours.
You can try the two and see what works best for you.
4. Pay attention to your post frequency
Don’t post too often, and don’t post too sparsely.
You should post once per day. If posting more than once is inevitable, don't go beyond 2 posts.
Give a 12-hour interval between posts. This helps your posts get better reach, as the reach of your previous posts tends to diminish when you make a new post.
5. Pay close attention to your post type and quality.
Text posts. Video posts. Image posts. Gifs. Imagified texts. Mix them up.
Observe the types that get the most engagement. Then post more of them. Also, make sure that your posts are of high quality.
6. Shorten your posts.
When in doubt, keep your posts as brief as possible.
2. Posts designed to promote (sell)
There are 3 powerful ways to sell on Facebook.
1. Direct selling (when done right)
Most businesses dump the link to their product page and wonder why people are not clicking and buying.
Here is a formula for creating promotional posts that work on Facebook:
Product photo (or video) + well-written copy text + message button or
Product photo (or video) + well-written copy text + link to product page
Of course, your products and videos have to be of high quality. You can also give discounts once in a while to drive more sales.
2. Purchase-inspiring blog posts
Instead of just posting your products on Facebook, there is a more powerful way to sell on Facebook.
You can create a blog post that teaches people something related to your product. Then, at the end of the post, you drop a link to your product or category page.
This can make someone who would normally NOT be interested in your product eager to own it.
For example, let’s say you sell fitness stuff. Let’s say you are trying to sell resistance bands. You could make a promotional post about it. But what if the people who see it aren’t looking to buy resistance bands? What’s the chance that they will buy? Slim right?
What if instead, you made a blog post about “7 simple ways to lose belly fat fast using resistance bands.”?
What if, at the end of the post, there was a link that directed readers to where they could buy resistance bands? What’s the chance that they will buy? High, right?
The secret to making this work is to make your post so good that you can put a price tag on it (except that you would give it out for free).
Giving out a list of tips with shabby descriptions will not cut it. You must make your posts attention-arresting, insightful, or thought-provoking.
3. Live Shopping
In case you don't know yet, Facebook has a feature that allows you to do live videos. These types of videos let your audience see you in real-time.
It's very powerful. People love live videos. They are very interactive. Facebook Live inherently has a better reach. This means that more audiences get to see it on their timeline. Facebook also sends automatic notifications to most of your audience whenever you go live.
So, why not use it to host live-streamed shopping events? That's what live shopping is all about.
Facebook Live Shopping allows you to personalize your business and engage with your audience in a more personal and interactive way.
In a live shopping event, you can present your products in real-time, give product descriptions and options for payment, and communicate with existing and new consumers directly through the live broadcast.
Facebook even has a feature that allows you to display your products directly on the live broadcast.
The secret to making it work is to keep your audience engaged and involved by hosting a game for them, demonstrating the use of your products, and asking them what they think.
You can also do real-time surveys with customers to see which brands they like and what things they want to see in your store.
With these powerful tricks, you turn your engaged audience into happy customers.
In conclusion…
Building a homogenous audience and making posts that engage and delight your audience will help you sell more on Facebook.
Your head may be swimming right now.
You may have realized that the old way you have been marketing on Facebook has wasted your effort, time, energy, and money.
Maybe you are thinking that any extra day you spend marketing the old way is a waste.
Take it easy. Start slowly. With time, you will get it right.
If you need my help, I’m available. There are 3 ways I can serve you:
(1) Consulting. This is for businesses that are doing great on their own already but want to take what I know and add to theirs so that they can perform even better.
(2) Training/Coaching. This is for businesses that are struggling with results and would love an expert to show them how to do things right.
(3) Done-for-you services. These are for businesses that would prefer that I perform the tasks myself. I can perform all the tasks (full service) or just the parts you want (partial services).
If interested, click here to message me on Facebook Messenger. Or send me an email at anthony.maduka.marketing@gmail.com
About the author
Anthony Maduka is a Facebook marketing expert who helps online sellers make high-profit sales. You can learn more about him here.
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