Social Media – What Works

The big challenge with social media is coming up with content that is worthy of being followed, liked, shared and commented upon, but there is a solution. Think of what people typically use Facebook for: following friends, family and funny stuff – the three F’s.

Most businesses make the mistake of posting mostly about their business, but visitors are generally selfish creatures, with the attention span of a gnat. They want to know “what’s in this for me!” As a general rule, content should be 80% entertaining, and 20% about the business. Once you get people to follow you, or your brand, for entertainment, you can then sprinkle information about your product or services. Don’t make the mistake of thinking “social media” is “sell-me media.” It’s not! It’s more about building relationships.

That’s how successful marketers do it. Think along the lines of Geico and Aflac. They spend more time entertaining, than selling, because they know job number one is to stay top-of-mind, so when a prospect’s time of need arises, they are thought of. They understand their product (insurance) is boring, and we can all benefit from understanding that prospects seldom share the same enthusiasm, and interest level, that we do about our business.

So where do you find entertaining content, and the bigger question – how do you tie it to your brand? It’s easy to find funny stuff to post on the Internet, but it doesn’t do much good if it’s not branded to remind people of what you’re selling.

One company, Fun Feed® Marketing, has come up with a turn-key solution for company’s looking for ways to develop large Facebook followings. Their monthly subscription service not only provides entertaining, and engaging content for you, but also incorporates your company’s brand and contact information into each humorous post so when it is shared, your brand goes along for the viral ride.

Another advantage of the Fun Feed® Marketing system is that it automatically posts the content on your Facebook page for you each day, 365 days a year; and you don’t have to lift a finger. Coming up with appropriate content can be very time consuming, and it’s hard to stick with it EVERY day. The first time you get busy, your Facebook page gets neglected, and your followers tend to drift away.

Fun Feed® also does what no other company does – it gives you a vessel for containing the delightful personality – a brand mascot. Again, think of how Geico uses the Gecko, and how Aflac uses the duck. Without the character, the humor wouldn’t have an iconic home that is likable and memorable. Fun Feed™ has a library of hundreds of pre-designed cartoon brand mascots – one for virtually every type of business. They also custom design mascots. Each post contains your brand mascot, logo and contact information.

If you are a real estate agent, insurance agent, financial advisor, or some type of independent sales person, you most likely serve as your own spokesperson, and don’t need a brand mascot. You ARE the brand, so the Fun Feed® posts can feature YOUR photo.

In addition to being humorous, many of the Fun Feed™ posts are engaging. That means they are designed to solicit comments, likes and shares. Why? Because Facebook measures the value of a post based off their EdgeRank algorithm, and it puts a higher value on posts that get commented upon, shared or liked. It is an indication that the visitor values your posts, hence Facebook is more likely to serve your subsequent posts on their timeline.

Timing is another factor that Fun Feed® has worked into their system. There is so much content on Facebook, that if you post something at two O’clock in the afternoon, by the time people get off work, and visit their timeline by six O’clock at night, your post will be buried under a landslide of other posts. Different people also use Facebook at different times of the day. This is why Fun Feed® posts are strategically timed to appear at four alternating times of the day: morning, noon, right after work and right after dinner. This way, your posts have a better chance of being seen by a wider array of people.

By David Thompson