In last week’s blog, I shared with you the latest ‘best practice’ when it comes to using links in your Facebook posts. I hope that you have been implementing this and watching your organic reach increase as a result.
There are some other strategies that can have a serious impact on your organic reach. We know that sharing links in its own will improve your organic reach and we know what we can do to make the link and preview look better but there are a couple of other things we can action.
You had me at HELLO!
First impressions count and the heading or title that you give your link is CRITICAL. Do not EVER use the title that is generated from your link by Facebook. This title may be ok but we are not going for OK, we want great. Think about words that are going to entice people in to reading the link.
I try and give my blogs catchy titles as I find it fun and easy to do but not everyone has the time or energy to do this but don’t panic, it is 2014 and we have the internet at our fingertips. There are so many great websites that will randomly generate headings for you.
If you don’t want to try that approach, here are some guidelines to creating great headings:
- Engage
Many of us forget that we need to engage our audience. A good titles should be either actionable, intriguing or empathetic.
Here are some of my blog titles and what category they fit under:
ACTIONABLE
Have you connected your business and personal pages on Facebook?
An actionable title usually means that the article is going to teach you something. In the case of my blog, you will learn how to link your business page with your personal profile.
INTRIGUING
Have you got $5 to spare on marketing?
This title definitely makes you want to read more. $5 is such a tiny amount of money and you would certainly be intrigued to know how on earth $5 could be used on marketing.
EMPATHETIC
Are you worried about your privacy on Facebook?
This title suggests that if you are worried, this blog is going to help you understand why you are worried and what actions you can take to alleviate that worry.
- Get to the point
Your title needs to be punchy so keep it short and get to the point. There is no room for a really long heading in a Facebook link preview which helps keep us on track.
- Set an expectation
It is ok to be clever but do not lure the reader in with a title that is not even remotely related to the article or link. This is just annoying – we have all fallen for that one and it will turn the reader off from clicking any future links you may share so don’t give them a reason to be wary of you.