We were committed to shifting our entire social media strategy to grow our viewership and audience, while continuing to engage with our audience where, when, and how they wanted. To successfully do this, we spent the year experimenting with how to best deliver content on all platforms, particularly on Facebook. Social Media Lessons from 2017 The most important factor on Facebook is still your audience. You know how you only have seven seconds to make a good first impression? It’s imperative to engage your audience in the first three seconds of your video, or you’ll lose them. And, like we’ve said, audience engagement is key to success. When something really big, good or bad, is circulating the news outlets, you’ve probably noticed the consequences on your newsfeed: instead of puppy videos and a friend’s engagement pictures, you’ll primarily see content related to that event. We decided to compare one of these non-native video posts with a native video almost identical in content. We had a clear winner: Facebook as a platform, and Facebook’s audience base, clearly favored native video content. For you to find the same level of success, you also need to dig deep to understand where your audience lives, and which content format your audience prefers.
2017 was a year of experimentation.
We were committed to shifting our entire social media strategy to grow our viewership and audience, while continuing to engage with our audience where, when, and how they wanted.
To successfully do this, we spent the year experimenting with how to best deliver content on all platforms, particularly on Facebook.
We succeeded in some risks and failed in others. It was a hefty undertaking.
Here, we’ve compiled our five biggest social media lessons from 2017. We are hopeful that these lessons will prepare you to successfully shift your own social media strategy (without any of the setbacks).
Social Media Lessons from 2017
- The most important factor on Facebook is still your audience.
- Live or die by the first three seconds.
- People want to be seen and included.
- Topical is key.
- Native is better than non-native.
1. The most important factor on Facebook is still your audience.
Facebook can be intimidating for social media teams, particularly those with smaller budgets. Fortunately, we found money isn’t the biggest factor when it comes to performing well (which is ideal, for both us and our audience).
The biggest factor is your audience, measured through views, view retention, and engagement.
Here’s the deal: Facebook is a discovery model platform. Its primary goal is to make the audience happy. So you’ll only get ROI if you create quality content for your audience.
For example, we put equal money behind a Walking Dead spoof video, and a Berlin city pride video. We had a firm understanding of both target audiences and posted at days and times best suited for them.
Our audience greatly preferred the Walking Dead video, which meant Facebook rewarded this video by expanding our reach and capturing more viewers.
Basically, we got more bang for our buck with this video because our audience liked it, not because we paid for it.
2. Live or die by the first three seconds.
You know how you only have seven seconds to make a good first impression?
It’s even shorter for video.
It’s imperative to engage your audience in the first three seconds of your video, or you’ll lose them. So we focused on telling our entire story in three seconds, and then retelling it with more detail throughout the rest of the video.
The better…
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