What content should I put on my business Facebook page?

How often have you asked yourself that question? You’ve done the right thing by creating your business Facebook page, but now what? Well, one thing you don’t want to do is don’t just post technical and sales information about your products and/or services. That will get old real quick and people will start hiding your posts from their timeline. People want to be entertained on Facebook. They are looking for interesting, popular, and timely content that they can share with their friends.

If you come from the days of old school media, this may be tricky at first. Back in the day, all you had to do was put together a smart marketing package that included newspaper, radio, and TV ads. It was (and still is) one-way marketing. You talk, the consumer listens. But Social Media is different. It is a two-way communication that has the opportunity to go viral. You speak to your audience and they speak back. Think of it like this: radio/TV/print media is a megaphone while Social Media is a telephone (on steroids!) If you are doing your job correctly, your friends will tell their friends about your brand. Kind of like that classic “Faberge” shampoo commercial from the 80s:

What pages do you like on Facebook and why? What are they doing that makes you pay attention to their page? What kind of content are you sharing with your friends? Here are a few good tips to ensure that your audience stays engaged with your brand.

1. Think like someone in your target audience. If you happened upon your business page while browsing Facebook, what kind of content would you expect to find?
2. Look at the competition. What are they putting on their Facebook? Don’t link to their page or post the exact same thing, but you might get a few idea-starters from those guys who are trying to put YOU out of business.
3. Go beyond text. Sure, a status update that details some information about your brand or industry may be of interest, but mix it up with other media.
4. A picture paints a thousand words – and nobody these days is willing to read a thousand words! If your status update can be told in a picture, then do it. You might even get that picture pinned onto Pinterest by one of your readers.
5. We are in the age of video. Nearly everyone has a camcorder on their phones now. Why not shoot a video of yourself demonstrating the benefits of your products or services?
6. Apps spice up a boring-old Facebook page just about every time they are used. Promotions such as sweepstakes, contests, coupons, etc., really get people talking. You can also create photo and video voting pages, links to Pinterest, Twitter, and your blog pages, and so much more.

Bottom line, content is king. Ask yourself the following when putting content onto your Facebook page:

• Is the topic interesting?
• Is the topic popular?
• Is the topic timely?

You want to create brand advocates. Sure, you may not have thousands of people liking your page, but those couple hundred fans that do like your page have thousands of friends. Make sure that everything you put on your Facebook wall is interesting, popular, and timely so that your friends will tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on…