Facebook Stories; Adding Them To Your Work Flow (Part One)

In our last blog series, we discussed how important and exciting Instagram Stories can be for your company and your ad campaigns. In this blog series, we are going to be discussing the pros of adding Facebook Stories to your workflow!  

Hello Summerville! It's been another strange few weeks. We are still open and operating, and very thankful to our clients during this time. We are also very thankful to do our business online and in the safety of our own homes. While we are still very busy, the safety of our clients and employees is at the top of our priority list. How much are you appreciating Google Hangouts, Google Duo, Zoom, Skype, and all platforms of video chats right now? We certainly are! Seeing the faces of our clients and employees right now in this digital fashion is so needed and so important. In turn, making the most of your digital fingerprints and social media platforms for your company is more important than ever before. We are all on our phones and computers more than we have been in the past, for work, to fill up our free time, and to keep some sort of normalcy in our lives. This is the best time to stay in touch with your customers and your audience, while they are sitting there waiting on their phones and computers just like you are. A reminder of your appreciation of them, that you miss them, and that you're thinking of them will be very appreciated and will help your company during this difficult time. It will also help amp you up to business speed once everything returns to normal again. We have just wrapped up our blog series on the importance of using Instagram Stories. We thought the next set of blogs should focus on the importance of using stories on Facebook and its many benefits. And believe us, there are quite a few! 

Think of how important and fun videos have become on all of our Facebook feeds, both on our professional personal Facebook pages. For the first time in history, social media is finally being used for what it is created for, thanks to the current situation. It is bringing us all together and keeping us in contact. We need one another more than ever, and having a personal connection via your social media platforms is the perfect way to do so. Why not stay connected to your clients, followers, and audience in a personal way to help everyone stay focused and positive? For the first time in our known history, you get to have face to face personal interactions without asking anyone to leave their couches or homes. As a matter of fact, you wouldn't want it any other way. 

Similar to Instagram, Facebook stories are one of the newest ways to connect and show off your brand and company in a very fun and creative way. The videos you post on Facebook stories last the same 24 hours and provide a very user-friendly platform for anyone who wants to create a live video, post a video onto your stories, or upload a video or picture to your stories. Think about it in terms of numbers. Facebook has over 2.23 billion active users every month. That is over three times the amount of users that its story rival Snapchat has. That is a HUGE group of people that could become potential customers and followers, and they are just waiting to meet you! 

• The Numbers Game

If you haven't guessed or know by now, we treasure our analytics. We swear by them! The more you can physically see the success in your posts and what does and doesn't work when you do post, the better you'll be at reaching your followers and demographics. You will be reaching them exactly how they want to be reached and with posts that they want and will enjoy seeing over and over again. One of the many great features of Facebook stories is that you can see who is looking at them and how many people are seeing them on a daily basis. It does take a little longer to track these findings, but it is worth your time to see who is tuning in. Experiment with more ways to pull in your audience and fine-tune your posts to grow your viewing audience and keep track when your viewers are tuning in. Keep track of any comments and use those to your advantage too! The more people that comment, the more you can see if there is a shared need or opinion that needs to be taken care of, addressed, or even changed. Listen to your customers, it will help you continue to do what you do best. They are giving you some excellent FREE advice! Take it! If you are going live in your stories, replying back to their comments or acknowledging them is a must. This makes them feel seen and appreciated and can help the live videos take on a very natural conversational direction and tone. 

• Natural Lighting 

A lot of companies and brands are nervous about using videos on Facebook for many of the same reasons they hesitate to use their Instagram stories. Many people believe that their stories and videos all need to look as perfect and professional as their websites, Instagram feeds, and Facebook pages. But, just like we discussed in our last two blogs, perfection isn't the key here. There is so much people can relate to when you look natural and normal, and not picture-perfect! This is such a draw to your clients because they get to see the humanity and real-life side of who you are as a company. They like seeing the normal over the picture-perfect. Seeing a company grow and live in a day to day fashion is a journey that your audience will love to join you on. This tool allows natural and organic interaction and connection in an everyday sort of way. This natural and real connection is so often looked over in most other ways to post and connect online, so it will boost your audience over your competitors. It also helps keep your company and the conversation you want to have with your audience right in front of their eyes. Stories are always right at the top of a Facebook feed. The more consistent you are about posting, the more your stories will be seen. 

• Sharing a Connection

Social media is so important right now, keeping in contact is so needed, and cultivating a relationship is key in staying connected with your clients. Remember that although it is important to talk about business and use these free forms of fun and creative advertisement to your advantage, don't just use them to sell your product. You need to show the heart and soul of your company and some fun! Using your stories to blast sales and products will turn your audience off and they will scroll right past you if that's all you talk about. Your audience whats to get to know and get behind the people who make up the company and product they so much, and why not let them? There are so many fun ways to share who you and your employees are.

• Share selfies and videos of you, your team members, employees celebrating birthdays or other big life events, your employee achieving a big milestone in the company, etc. 
• Share videos, articles, and news that relates to your company and why you do what you do. It's thought-provoking and a great way to start a conversation. 
• Use videos to show sneak peeks of new products, upcoming exciting announcements, and when big milestones happen. Celebrate and share with your audience! 

This is a great place to start! Don't worry, we still have a little bit more to share. That is the glory of a two-part blog! We get to see you again (virtually, of course) and you get to keep on learning! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay smart. We are here for you Summerville. We are in this together and we will get through this together!