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What to Talk About on Your Facebook Timeline – Other Than What You Ate

Mandy Pennington
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When it comes to managing a Facebook page or now Facebook Timeline, the same statements always seem to come up:

For any business owner, Facebook can seem like a giant time suck. However, when used correctly, Facebook can be a powerful marketing tool that has the potential to start conversations, build customer relationships, and drive traffic. For SEOs, that traffic driving, relationship building, and conversation starting can have a lot to do with the success of our campaigns. We know that having a solid social media presence can correlate with higher rankings, but more importantly, we have to recognize that our roles as SEOs have changed. We now wear a lot of hats and sometimes, it's a social media manager cap.

So, if you're an SEO who manages a Facebook page/Timeline (or a one-person show business owner), here are a few actionable types of updates you can make.

You Can Post What You Ate - If It Matters

If you're representing a business with a passion for food or perhaps a restaurant, posting about what you ate or what other people ate can be great way to garner some attention. Food photos on Facebook can be a bit of cliche, but you can also gain a lot of insight from it. For example, posting a photo of an experimental recipe your chef is trying out may be a good way to gauge customer interest.

Though the more important takeaway here is visuals. Facebook Timelines that offer dynamic content through photos or video may mean higher levels of engagement. Update your Facebook Timeline with video tours of your business, product review videos, photos of new additions to your selection, or candids of your last event.

Attaboy!

Have a customer testimonial that you'd like to share? Post it on Facebook and thank the customer for sharing their experience with you. Be gracious. Better yet, see if you can get your Facebook community members to provide their own reviews and testimonials on your Timeline. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback. If you'd like to know about the experience your business offers from a customer's perspective, just ask. Customers like sharing their experiences and you can gain insight from what they have to offer.

Mark Your Calendars, Folks

Event marketing is a job in and of itself, but if you're in charge of managing a Facebook Timeline, it makes sense to share what's going on with your customer base. Use Facebook events, post calendar images, flyers, or any other important information that can help drive up the attendance at your next event. You can even create Facebook specific promotions to sweeten the deal (e.g. Tell us you like us on Facebook at our event and we'll give you a coupon for X% off your purchase).

Check Out Our Latest...

New product additions, new services, new location...anything new and noteworthy is worth sharing with your Facebook connections, especially if it's something they would care about. Keep them abreast of any changes that could improve or affect the customer experience. Answer questions and be open. For example, if you're doing renovations, post pictures of the process to build the anticipation of the finished space while at the same time, giving customers a first hand look at why your hours may have changed. Posting about company events or employee achievements can make your business appear more human, so you'll want to also look at sharing things employee of the month photos or business milestones (e.g. Celebrating our 25th anniversary today!).

You also have a unique opportunity here to create additional touch points with your site content. If you have a new blog post, e-book, article, video, or webinar you'd like to promote, share a link to it on Facebook. Not only will this help drive traffic to the content, but it can also mean a social ripple effect where your content doesn't just get seen - it gets shared.

Crazy Weather We're Having

Conversation is a big part of what makes a Facebook Timeline successful, so please mix in a few conversational status updates. You don't necessarily have to talk about the weather, but you can definitely talk about events happening in your community, things happening in the world at large, or timely stories of interest. Just be careful about what you post - make sure every status update is in line with your company's brand and values. Still stuck? Try asking a question that pertains to your business or industry to get the ball rolling. For example, "Which item on our menu is your favorite?" or "If you could wear our little black dress anywhere in the world, where would it be?"

Now these are just a few of the things you can utilize in Facebook Timeline management. Depending on your goals for Facebook (yes, you need them) and your brand, the types of updates will vary. Experiment with updates to find out what works for your community. Use Facebook Insights data to see what types of posts have traction and what ones are falling flat.

Here are a few more posts that can help in developing a Facebook Timeline management strategy:

As you develop your strategy, keep this one thing in mind: you have to offer value.
For Facebook to work for your business, you have to offer something worthwhile. Think in the long-term when it comes to your Facebook page, understand that building a community will take time, and most importantly, put quality above quantity - both in connections and status updates.