As newsrooms shrink, here's how you can do more on Facebook with fewer resources
Create loyalty, build habits, drive dialogue through these best practices, say Facebook’s Ankur Mehra and Dara Levy.
Takeaways
The key is designing content that encourages interaction like comments or likes — it makes the algorithm happy!
By 2022, 79% of all mobile data will be video, so it’s time to start thinking about how to build audiences around your video content.
Context
All across the world, newsrooms are shrinking, even as digital audiences are growing, making a publication’s online presence more important than ever.
Journalists are expected to do more in their roles.
There’s a need to figure out how to maximize resources, including using existing platforms and networks, such as Facebook.
Ankur Mehra and Dana Levy, from Facebook’s Media Community Development team, work with emerging media partners, newsrooms and journalists by providing training programs and consultations.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the team works with over 2,000 partners in more than 12 markets, operating in 10 languages.
Getting to know your audience
How Facebook’s algorithm works.
First, there’s an inventory of all the content produced by your friends and pages that you follow.
Facebook then uses signals (such as when the content was posted, and who posted it, how relevant the content is to your interests) and predictors (for instance, how likely are you to comment on this content?) to generate a relevance score for each individual.
Even though the algorithm operates by the same general principles for everyone, this process results in a very personalized feed for each person.
“As you’re thinking about your content strategy on Facebook, just really be thinking about your audience and what’s relevant to them.”
Go for content that would prompt people to interact with it like commenting, liking, and sharing.
Know who you’re speaking to. That’s where Page Insights comes in: it gives you different types of information about your audience — such as demographics, interactions, and even what time they’re online — over a specific period of time.
Following this closely helps you craft content that speaks to them. Keeping track of your audience and knowing when they spend time on Facebook also helps you plan your schedule — people don’t actually distinguish between Facebook use in the weekdays and the weekends, for instance, so space your content out over the week to make sure you have something for them whenever they’re on the platform!
#protip: Use Pages To Watch to add pages you don’t manage to keep an eye on how they’re doing — this is handy for watching competitors and comparing your performance to theirs.
Video, video, video
People are more used to consuming video — on-the-go or sitting down to actually watch something — and there’s a variety of options for publishers to serve content to their audiences.
Create loyalty to your page by creating a theme. Think about what your audience can come to expect from you over time.
Having a regular posting schedule helps — it builds a habit with your audience, so they get a sense of when you’re going to publish new content.
People like to feel like they’re being seen, so draw your audience into a dialogue by doing things like pinning their comments, or responding and acknowledging what they say.
Remember, anything that lasts three minutes or longer will perform better on Facebook — use that duration as a ballpark when you’re planning content. Keep this in mind for Facebook Live too, because people are going to need time to discover your video and tune in.
Share, share, share — cross-post your livestream to other pages, ask associates to host Watch Parties, embed the video on your website or blog. The more places you put your video for people to find, the better it’ll do.
Make sure your video doesn’t get taken down by avoiding copyrighted content — make sure you have the permission to use all the elements you’ve got in your video.
If you need music, you can use the Sound Collection in the Creator Studio. Schedule a Live video up to a week in advance. This will trigger a post to go up reminding your audience to tune in.
If you’re on mobile, you can also use Live With to invite a guest — this is great for interviews.
You can also make the most of your live videos by editing clips from them to share as highlights later, which also builds your video offerings.
All about Stories
People follow their friends and family on Instagram, so they’re used to content that’s very personal to fit that mood.
Think in the first person when creating Stories.
Turn members of your staff into stars: build that personal connection and be authentic so people feel like they’re connecting with people behind your company and your brand.
Think Internet-y: have fun with memes and visuals. Go for things that are clear, concise, and easy to consume.
Provide a mix of visuals and interactive content to engage a young audience. And focus! Think hard about what it is that you can offer.
Again, remember you’re striving for engagement and building a community!
If you’d like to apply for some one-on-one time with Facebook’s Media Community Development team, head on over here.