When I first started diving into Facebook marketing for business I was happy to simply send out an error-free post.
No typos? No poorly-cropped images? No negative feedback? Perfect!
But with each new post came new learnings about Facebook marketing best-practices until it came to a point where I could explore all of the useful features that Facebook has to offer.
For the more than 1.8 billion active monthly users on Facebook, scrolling through the feed and catching up with the latest news is easy enough. But for the social media managers and marketers managing successful Facebook pages, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes – Making it a challenge to keep up with all of the new features they’re rolling out on a daily basis.
That’s why it’s important (and fun) for us to share all of this useful Facebook marketing information so that we can create a better experience for our audiences. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about the user.
In the spirit sharing, here are 10 hidden Facebook marketing features and hacks for social media marketers to try today!
Check out all episodes of the Buffer Podcast (The Science of Social Media) on:
1. Pages to Watch
Though we’ve written about the Facebook Pages to Watch feature in the past, it still warrants a top mention here because of its awesome capabilities. Marketers can follow up to 100 different brand pages, allowing for a quick comparison of page activity (filtered by top posts over the previous 7 days), engagement and audience growth to your own.
To access the Pages to Watch feature, click “Insights”
Then find the Pages to Watch tab – directly under the “5 Most Recent Posts” section.
Add the pages you’d like to watch to your list. Once they’re added, hover over the name, click, and watch the magic happen. Facebook provides a detailed view of every one of their posts from the current week. This allows you to quickly check the top posts from every page you follow in a matter of seconds.
2. Search previous posts for specific wording and insights
Many social media marketers are familiar with the standard post performance data under the Insights tab. It’s a powerful tool for measuring performance on pervious posts with stats on: reactions, link clicks, shares, likes on shares, page unlikes, hide posts, and much more.
But some marketers may be unfamiliar with another great Facebook marketing feature that I like to call the Published “Post Search” tool under your page’s “Publishing Tools” tab.
I love this feature because I can easily search for posts around certain topics and see what wording, images, or a combination of both has worked previously.
It’s also very useful for brands that post content more than once throughout the year (which we find very successful here at Buffer with our Rebuffer tool) as it helps to avoid duplicating poor-performing content.
Before posting an older article, ask: Have I posted this content before?
- If no – What other sorts of posts have recently been successful and how can I replicate that success?
- If yes – How can I repurpose this content to ensure that it reaches a brand new set of eyes?
3. Like a Page as your brand
A great way to support and show some love towards other brands on Facebook is to like their page from your personal page. But did you know that you can also like other brands’ pages as your business page? Yup!
This nifty little feature from Facebook allows marketers to support their favorite brands from their own business page.
To like another brand from your business page, search for the page you want to “Like” and go to their timeline. Then, click the small gear icon and select “Like As Your Page”:
All of the Facebook Businesses Pages that you manage will appear in the dropdown menu and there you can click “save.” Voilà!
4. Save an article for later
With Facebook’s “Save for Later” feature, you can save and bookmark some of the things you see on Facebook to view later, like the links or videos your friends post, upcoming events, Pages or photos.
I love this feature because I’m often on-the-go when perusing Facebook and so it helps me to save things I may want to share later and tag important news about marketing or social media that I should read.
To utilize the save feature:
From your news feed, click the arrow in the right corner on an update you want to save:
From a page click the “gear icon” and then select “Save Link”
From an event click the “ribbon icon” and then select “Save”
To view saved posts or articles:
You can go directly to www.facebook.com/saved or access your saved articles from your news feed on the left hand side as shown below.
Happy saving!
5. Suggest Your Page to Email Contacts
Talk about little-known, but totally awesome Facebook hacks! This one is buried within your Page options and magical once you find it.
As a small business or a brand that’s just getting started on Facebook, it’s beneficial for you to be able to invite your email contacts to Like your Page for initial growth.
All you have to do it click on the “…” button on your Business Page:
Then, select “Suggest Page”:
Once you select “Suggest Page,” a pop-up menu will give you the various email integration options that you can use to import your contacts. As seen here:
Keep in mind that there are a few limitations here. You can only upload 5,000 contacts per day, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re trying to bring in a large customer or subscriber list. Still, 5,000 contacts per day is a fantastic start!
6. Audience Insights
One of my favorite hidden Facebook marketing features, especially with the prevalence of paid advertising, is Audience Insights. Facebook’s Audience Insights provides detailed information about your target audience so that you can create more relevant content. The more relevant content that you deliver, the further your Facebook advertising dollar will go.
It’s also an amazing tool to create interesting and engaging statistical graphics about the global Facebook audience or your specific page’s demographic information. SproutSocial dug into their demographic data to create a fun infographic for their blog and various social media channels – proving that the opportunities are endless.
7. Invite people who have engaged with your post to Like your Page
For small businesses and brands looking to get the most out of every single Facebook post, there’s a hidden option to invite people who have engaged with your content on Facebook to Like your page.
To access this feature, locate the hyperlink underneath the each post that shows how many people have liked it and the number of comments. It looks something like this:
Next, click directly on that link (works for both desktop and mobile). That will bring up the full list of people who have liked the post. On the right hand side of the pop-up menu it’ll show which people currently like your page or not. If they don’t, you can quickly invite them to Like your page directly within that list. Done!
8. Facebook Pixel
For social media marketers looking to measure ROI on social media, utilizing the Facebook Pixel is an absolute must. Facebook provides detailed instructions on setting up your Facebook Pixel for the first time. And have no fear, you don’t have to be a developer to easily set it up.
Here’s how:
The Facebook Pixel allows you to:
- Build Custom Audiences from your website for remarketing
- Optimize ads for conversions
- Track conversions and attribute them back to your ads
If you’re spending money to advertise online, social media ads may very well earn you the biggest returns, but it’s important to closely track your results.
9. Pin posts to the top of your Facebook page
Pinning posts to the top of your brand’s page is a simple, yet extremely useful top-of-mind social media marketing strategy to point your audience to important company posts, announcements, and events.
On your timeline, find the post that you would like to pin, click the down arrow in the corner of the post, and click “Pin to Top.” It’s as easy as that!
One important thing to remember about pinning posts to the top of your page is to keep them fresh by rotating pinned posts often, especially if they are time-sensitive.
Mixing it up also allows you to showcase a much larger variety of posts. I recommend changing the pinned post once every two weeks or so.
10. Customize the Look of Your Facebook Business Page
Facebook recently rolled out a cool new feature that allows businesses to customize the look of their page based on their business type. This is a great option for businesses looking to rearrange their page and put the most important content first.
To access this feature, go to Settings under your business page and on the left there’s an option to “Edit Page”:
You’ll then see a new “Template” option you can edit.
From there, you can choose from the default Standard template or other awesome layouts for businesses such as:
- Services
- Non Profits
- Venues
- Politicians,
- Restaurants
- and more!
We currently have the Standard template set up where reviews and recent posts are shown at the top followed by photos and videos that we’ve shared recently. But there are so many great layouts!
Over to you!
Did we miss any hidden Facebook marketing features or hacks above?
We’d love to know which features you use as social media managers and marketers to help make your Page stand out from the crowd!
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