Optimizing Facebook Feeds — Photo by Milestone Inc.

Have you ever noticed that even though you have 430 friends on Facebook, only one tenth of them will show up on your news feed? Odds are, your Facebook friends and businesses are still posting on Facebook but a lot of times you will never see their updates. Does that mean that your carefully planned posts might not have even shown up on your Facebook's fans page? According to the Daily Beast, that is possible. The reason for that is Facebook's News Feed Algorithm called Edgerank.

There are two settings on your Facebook News Feed: Recent Stories First and Highlighted Stories First. Recent Stories First, as the name says, shows the stories generated by your Facebook friends and brands in chronological order. Highlighted Stories First, filters the posts based on Edgerank and displays content that friends and brand users engage with the most.

Because of EdgeRank, having a marketing plan for your hotel's Facebook page has become even more important. Here are some tips on how to create optimized news feed updates that are more likely to appear on your fans' Facebook page:

  1. Keep it fresh. The Facebook Stream moves quickly. Talk about current events, themes and stories. What is happening in your area? Make a Social Media calendar and write down focus, theme, keywords and events that can be used each week.
  2. Ask questions. Sometimes, simple status won't move you to the Top News feed. Encourage interaction by asking questions. Posts with a call to action get more engagement than regular posts. And also remember Facebook is a free focus group; take advantage of it to ask questions you really want to know the answer to!
  3. Post more photos and videos. They do really well on Facebook! A lot of users like to watch more than read and in a feed full of texts, a photo or a video will really catch the users' attention. Photos and Videos are also favorites for sharing which can be a good way to bring new fans to your hotel page.
  4. Be human. Be spontaneous. Talk to your fans about things that are not related to hotels. Wish them happy holidays, ask users questions about their personal lives, and of course, thank them for sharing stories with you.
  5. Keep it simple. A lot of businesses think every time they post something on Facebook, it has to be compelling, incredible and contagious. Instead of writing a paragraph about 5 different things, choose one topic. Studies show that less characters gets more engagement.

While Facebook EdgeRank can be a little intimidating, if your hotel follows some of these NFO tips, your brand page will have a high chance of being noticed on your fan's Facebook feed. Also remember to promote your Facebook page. Reach out to your employees to like your page and status!

Contributed by Caroline Mitchell, eStrategist, Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc.

Sources:

Cracking the Facebook Code – Thomas E. Weber

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/10/18/the-facebook-news-feed-how-it-works-the-10-biggest-secrets.html

Facebook Edge Rank – Top Tips for Brands to Consider – Selin Maurice http://blog.milestoneinternet.com/web-2/facebook-edgerank-tips/

About Milestone Inc

Milestone drives online discovery and customer acquisition with our digital presence platform and performance marketing services. Over 2,000 companies in Hospitality, Retail, Financial Services and Automotive industries use Milestone to drive online growth. Our customers include global brands in hospitality, banking, retail, automotive, including Marriott, US Bank, One Nevada Credit Union, VMWare, Nissan, Motel6, Preferred Hotels, Sun Outdoors, mid-market companies, and SMBs.

Milestone platform includes Website CMS, Schema Manager, Local listings, Reviews management, FAQ Manager, and Analytics. In addition, Milestone offers Performance Marketing Services - Content, Design, SEO, Paid Marketing, and Analytics to our clients. Annually, over 300 million visitors use websites developed on Milestone CMS, 540M consumers click on content powered by Milestone Schemas, and 3.7B consumers search for businesses powered by Milestone Local. Milestone platform is amongst the highest-rated Martech platforms with awards and recognition from Forrester, G2, Adrian Awards, US Search Awards, Search Engine Land, CMS Wire and many more organizations.

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