Many of us spend hours and hours on Facebook every week, month and year without ever having a clear objective. So today, I’m going to give you one! Here it is…

“You want to get as many people from your Facebook page back to your website as you can!”

The reason? Although there is a perception that many bookings and new enquiries happen through Facebook (and some certainly do), conversion is always going to be higher if someone visits your website.

This is because there’s more information to support their decision, which is increasingly important the more complex or expensive that decision is for the customer. If for example, you were looking to book a holiday, would you book it through Facebook solely on posts that you’ve seen, or would you do further research, check suitability and availability and make a booking through their site?

The answer for most is the latter, and this isn’t restricted to holidays. No matter if it’s professional services or handbags, people want information to make sure they’re making the right choice. Facebook is there to tempt and nudge, your website is there to support and convert a decision.

So now that I’ve convinced you on that, here’s five ways we can get you on the right path…

Every post should have a link…

Start with the obvious here – no link, no traffic! So, each of your posts (or at the very least most) should include a link. You should keep this down to one and it should be at the end of a call to action.

Most of us when writing a post won’t necessarily think about a call to action, but all content does actually have one! You never put every piece of information on a topic in a Facebook post (it would be too long), so even if your call to action is ‘find out more’ or ‘for full details’….. the link gives them the option to get the full picture.

Again – Facebook tempts, your website supports and converts.

Using links correctly on posts…

When you type your url into a Facebook post, it automatically gives you a large link with photos.

Here’s an example:

You’d think I’d say that’s job done wouldn’t you! In this case not! What you want to do is go on to add your photos after you’ve typed your link in. To do this you’re going to drag and drop your images into your post, which in turn will replace your link with a gallery if you add more than five.

What we now have is a link at the end of your written post, and a nice selection of images (more than five and less than 10) that will be turned into a gallery.

From the vast amount of pages that we’ve worked with, this is proven to get more traffic (from the inline link) and engagement (from the additional photos).

Stop sharing directly from Instagram!

I’m a big believer in saving time, but only when it helps! Sharing directly from Instagram to Facebook saves you minutes, but it also costs you in other ways. If I can use this analogy; would you send the same advert to Cornwall or Devon Life as you would to your local newspaper, even if it was a different size and for a different market?

The answer is hopefully no, so why do it with Instagram and Facebook?

Sharing from Instagram limits our ability to take advantage of the Facebook layout (it’s more often than not a single image which limits interaction), as well as get people back to your website, so when we’re on Instagram you want to post on Instagram, when you’re on Facebook, it’s key to do the same!

Stopping this and posting through Facebook itself will help to increase those visits we’re targeting!

Post at the right time

Every page is different in terms of the people that follow it and the lifestyles they lead, but posting when people are actually online is the holy grail of Facebook page management!

From my experience, regardless of age, furlough, lockdown status or lifestyle factor, most people are still online in the evenings. Because we’re in BST and the evenings are longer (hurrah!!), you can actually post later in the evening and it often proves effective to do so. The 6 o clock post can be made later, even as late as 8pm with the same or better results.

As long as you’re learning from what times work for your page then you’re on the right path here, which means because it’s been posted through Facebook and includes a link in the right way, we’re on a win, win, win scenario!

Final one! Send them to the right page

Have you got a sat nav? Most people these days do and also follow them religiously!

So, here’s my next analogy; When you put a destination into your sat nav, are you looking for the most specific destination possible or are you happy with getting nearby!?

For most we want to get to the place we’re going!

If we bring this back to websites, your home page is the ‘nearby area’ – a specific landing page is the destination!

Don’t send people to a home page – it means they’ve got to find the information for themselves, which means that conversion will be lower! Send them to the page that gives them the right and specific information that supports your Facebook post. If it’s about dogs, send them to the dog page that tells them all about it!

No matter what the topic, the page you send them to should give them the information they need immediately to support and convert the temptation caused by your post.

That actually means you won’t need as many visits to get the same results!

For more help and support on Facebook marketing or social media give us a call on 01566 23 23 23.