Since being created in a Havard dorm room 10 years ago, Facebook has come a long way, ingraining itself into our daily lives. With a staggering 1.3 billion monthly users, roughly 1/7th of the world population, there are no signs of that growth slowing down any time soon.
As a result, Facebook is a digital marketing dream. With so many diverse users in one place, businesses of all shapes and sizes can generate revenue with just a touch of a button.
However, this all depends on impact. To be truly successful on Facebook, you need to ensure that your posts are engaging, stand out from the crowd and grab user’s attention, in an instant, for you to get more conversions.
It seems that this is where so many companies fail to take advantage. Your business could double its online leads in a matter of days if you truly master Facebook engagement; and in this post we will tell you how to do that by using using imagery.
Engagement makes money.
There is no doubt that, over the last 15 years, we have become a more visual marketing world and this shows in social media too where, as users, we often prefer consuming visual content to reading blocks of text.
[hubspot graph picture]A recent Hubspot study discovered that using photos on Facebook generates 53% more Likes than text-only updates! They say, “Today’s social media platforms reward visual content. It should be a major piece of your content strategy.”
The secret however lies not in merely chasing ‘Likes’, but in having the ability to transform those Likes into engaged, receptive sales leads.
This introduces a whole new question: How can I use images in my Facebook marketing to generate more sales?
The Variety of Post Styles
Before you can start engaging your fans, you need to put in place a strategy plan. Start by asking yourself what it is you truly want to achieve from your posts; ultimately you will want to attract new leads and convert as many of them as possible into new clients.
There are many creative image-based ways you can enchant Facebook users to engage with your posts and we suggest you try and test each angle. Remember, different businesses have different results. Some ways may work better for you than others and vice versa. Testing different variations will give you a better judgement on what works for your business. Always be mindful of your brand, however, and try to pick image styles that fit with the atmosphere you’re trying to create.
Here are a number of variations that have proven to be successful:
Quotes on Images
One of the most popular and highly engaging image posts are of quotes laid over images. They not only bring in a large traffic of likes, they also make a great source for comments and shares.
You also see this style of image frequently used on pages aiming to be motivational or inspirational, which is perfect for our fitness industry.
Expansive Prospects
This style of image post works well for brands that are looking to attract an outdoor audience. These are post pictures of people in action, or of breath-taking landscapes. The idea here is to appeal to the side of people that want adventure.
There’s always something people want to achieve – hence the reason ‘New Years Resolutions’ are still made by millions year in year out. If you’re a PT, for example, posting pictures of you or your students doing a fun workout in an awesome location can be a great way to draw engagement – just like the official CrossFit page has done in the image above.
Popular Culture
Taking advantage of current events and using them to promote your company is just genius, right? Oreo’s Facebook page is incredibly good at the pop culture and current events posting.
The worldwide brand innovatively takes advantage of current events, placing their delicious treats in football-themed pictures for the recent Superbowl, Festive themed for Christmas and so on. This creative style will not only generate engagement on the post, if you match it up with a limited offer based around the current event, it will drive sales too.
Be Personable
Too many businesses feel the need to be extremely professional on social media, which isn’t always the best method. Not only will it limit engagement, it will also show your company as quite corporate and not human.
Take a look at the big brands for example. Coca Cola ensure that they give users the feel of a human brand. This goes for Denny’s, too, who often post images like the one above. The picture looks natural and has clearly been taken with a camera phone – plus the caption works well with it too. Nice and light hearted. Posts like this will grab user’s attention, when scrolling their newsfeed, as they will look like a friend’s post rather than a business post.
Bragging shots
A style that will truly draw in engagement for fitness businesses alike has to be, what we like to call, bragging shots.
These posts are body transformations of your clients or of post-workout images of yourself. Look at Michelle Lewin’s post above. Lewin has turned herself into a worldwide brand and this is purely due to her posts on Facebook and other social media platforms. And what do the majority of her posts contain? – Bragging shots. She shows off her sculpted abs and powerful Glutes with style, drawing in on average 250,000 likes per post!
Bragging shots are really in trend right now and they will draw huge amounts of engagement to your posts.
Remember, these are some of the most highly engaging post styles for Facebook marketing and, as mentioned earlier, we do suggest you try and test each style to see which works best for you.
Sourcing Your Images
When it comes to the image you post, we would always suggest using your own images. This will not only generate engagement but it will give your company a human feel, along with making users feel that your brand is legit and safe to spend their hard earned cash with. As mentioned earlier, Denny’s do this often and it works perfectly.
If however, like us, you sometimes want to use professional images then maybe of somebody performing a certain exercise etc. then you need to legally source these images online. Google image search is a no-go.
You may strike lucky and find an image that is free for commercial use on Google, however 9 times out of 10, this isn’t the case and isn’t worth the risk.
Do not fear, every cloud has a silver lining and the World Wide Web has many safe and friendly websites that allow you to download free stock images for commercial use.
Type ‘Free Stock Images’ into Google to find a number of great websites.
Creating your images online
We realise that not everybody has Adobe Photoshop at hand, but for your image to look truly professional and stand out, it may need some slight editing. Plus, Facebook has certain dimensions that you must stick to for your image to retain resolution quality etc.
There are many easy-to-use tools online, one being Canva. This web app is free to use and has many enhanced tools. We have included a step-by-step beginners guide to Canva in our Free Handout.
More factors to your post’s success
Once you have chosen your style of post and determined which image you want to upload, you need to perfect a number of other ingredients to ensure you receive maximum engagement.
An important factor to go along with your image is your textual content. According to a recent study by Simply Measured, the length of your text content really does matter. In fact, their study suggests that the most engaging length is between 50-99 characters.
Your call to action
Your image is attention grabbing and your textual content is short and snappy. But this won’t draw in engagement alone. Every post you upload needs a call to action – it’s essential. Why? Because people won’t do squat unless you tell them to.
Joseph Campbell was right when he said:
Every hero’s adventure begins with a call to action.
Problems will forever exist, but a hero only gets involved when it’s clear that he has to. A hero needs to be made aware that it’s time for him or her to do something heroic. In this case, it’s your Facebook audience that are the heroes, but without giving them a clear CTA, they will never begin their adventure with you.
Don’t make the mistake in thinking that your posts are compelling enough to drive engagement alone; you have to tell people to interact.
Your CTA can come in many different formats. If you’re looking for people to engage in your post with comments, ask them a question, for example:
“Which is better – Squats or Deadlifts? Tell us in the comments!”
If your aim, however, is to drive people to your website or landing page then tell them to click the link and tell them why they should right now:
“Looking to transform your body in 30 days? Click here [your link].”
We believe that every post should have a call-to-action, whether it’s for likes/comments or to visit your website/blog. It’s the key factor to making your Facebook marketing a success.
Static Imagery on your Facebook Page
Engaging images don’t just stop there. Ever since Facebook introduced its new cover photo design in 2011, it has become one of the most strategic spots to place an engaging image. But very few businesses use it to it’s full potential.
When people land on your page, your cover photo is one of the first things they see; hence the reason a call to action on here is essential!
Take a look at our cover photo above. Not only does the image grab user’s attention, it also has an obvious CTA – “Get more clients with our Free Strategy Session”. For added incentive we have included two arrows pointing towards the ‘book now’ button.
Furthermore, if you have an upcoming event or offer, use your cover photo to spread the word.
With such a large image and with it being one of the first things users see, you don’t want to post just any old photo up there. Take advantage of the space and use it to bring in more leads.
Don’t forget your links!
No matter what image you are uploading, whether it’s your cover photo or a new profile picture, you need to ensure that each image has a CTA in the description. You wouldn’t believe how many of our clients contacted us from a call to action link while just casually browsing through our images. Try not to leave any stone unturned – each action can result in a sale.
Measuring your Engagement
Once all the above is put in place and your posts are up and running, you need to determine what is and isn’t working. This is crucial to maximising your engagement and testing different aspects of your posts. Measuring engagement has been made easy with Facebook Insights.
Facebook Insights is a powerful tool allowing you to track all the stats of your business page. Insights can be seen by all the admins on your page and it can help you track the number of active users to better understand your performance.
By using Insights you’ll be able to determine how well posts are working, the best days of the week to post and even the best time! Another great thing about Facebook Insights is that it constantly updates with figures reflecting to your page. Make sure you keep an eye on these stats to stay in the loop.
To view Facebook Insights, simply click the gear wheel on your business page and select ‘View Insights’.
Remember Facebook’s Nature
If you’re only going to take one point away from this post, we beg it to be this one. And that is to remember the nature of Facebook.
The 1.3 billion users merely log in to the social media website to connect with family, friends and the brands they love.
Remember not to come across too “salesy.” Facebook users don’t tend to like being sold to and will rarely like an image that strikes them as a sales ad. This is a social media website, not a sales channel. Make announcements, but try to steer clear of using too much marketing language.
Final Thought
The world of Facebook is a tremendous place for marketing. With each engaging image, your business profile will grow, and with this will come new leads. Zuckerburg and his team have given us a great platform to digitally market our products and services – we must take advantage of it. And with this guide, we believe that you will be able to do just that.
Download our Free Handout now to help you get started in editing your images, ensuring they’re perfect for Facebook.
Great post! Yes I post 2-3 times daily but I’m lucky to get any likes or comments.
Time to change things up, thank you
With the tips from this post, Chris, you should see more engagement. Please let us know how you get on 🙂