We have been covering different topics pertaining to Facebook Marketing – The “Why” and “How” in our 4 past blogs. We suggest you read them in the right numerical order starting from Beginners below:

1. Facebook Marketing for Beginners

2. Facebook Business Page Objectives

3. How to Target Audience on Facebook

4. Creating a Facebook Business Page

In our previous blog Fb Page we talked about how to create a Facebook Business Page for your brand and how to select the right template depending on your business, in this blog we will talk about the different formats that are allowed to be used on the Facebook Business Page that you have created and which formats are right for the particular case studies.

Facebook allows us to use 3 different formats to post on their platform like:

1. 1. Text Posts – Status updates just words.
2. 2. Media Posts – Photo/Video posts.
3. 3. Link Posts – Used to link to external URLs like websites/landing pages.

Photo/Video Formats:

There are 5 different types of Photo/Video Formats that can be further used:

1. 1. Upload Photos/Videos – You can upload single photos/videos using this format.
2. 2. Create Photo Album – Upload multiple photos to create an album.
3. 3. Create a Photo/Video Carousel – Build a scrolling Carousel with a link underneath each image or video in it which can link to external websites or landing pages.
4. 4. Create Slideshow – Add 3 -7 images that Facebook uses to automatically create a video using the uploaded images.
5. 5. Canvas – New format introduced by Facebook using which you can create a story with photos and videos which opens up like a magazine in a separate tab.

Let’s understand more about these – The What and The Why?

What is a Video Format?

Video format uses a thumbnail with a play icon which typically looks like this:

Why a Video Format?

1. 1. Having a Video on your page of your brand keeps your audience engaged.
2. 2. A video tells a stronger brand story by introducing colors, emotions, sub-titles and thus creating a human touch.
3. 3. A video plays with the sound off so the audience does not get disturbed while working on other windows on their computers.
4. 4. An interesting thumbnail option is available to get the audience to click on the video and play it for themselves.

Video Pro Tips:

Now that we know the What and Why of the video format lets look at some pro-tips.

1. 1. Make sure that the thumbnail of the video that you are choosing as a cover page is interesting which will encourage more people to click on the video to view what it is about. You can use a thumbnail from the video that you have uploaded or else Facebook also gives you a choice to upload a custom thumbnail which can be created by your video editor.
2. 2. Since the videos on the newsfeed in Facebook play with the voice off, make sure that you have added subtitles or connotations so the viewer can read through the text and understand what the video is about. This is very important as most of the people using Facebook use it in their offices so the video voice being off is a great feature for them but by adding the text to the video you can maximize your video effect.
3. 3. Make sure that the video is of good quality and is only 2-3minutes long at the most, it should be small and interesting rather than long and boring as your audience on Facebook can quickly scroll through to other videos if it does not grasp their attention in the first few seconds of the video.
4. 4. Always upload your videos on your Facebook Business Page directly rather than host the video on external sites like youtube, Vimeo and then posting a link on your facebook page. Facebook as a platform does not like to divert its users to other platforms and hence this move could penalize your video reach if not posted directly on the Facebook Profile page.

SlideShow Format:

What is a Slide Show Format?

Slideshow format creates a video automatically from the images uploaded. Facebook allows you to upload your own background music to the slideshow format or you can choose 1 from the list that you already have.

Why a Slide Show Format?

1. 1. SlideShow Format is generally used to engage audiences by creating a video using images so as to support low internet bandwidth connections. In India we have an issue with internet bandwidth mostly in Tier2/Tier3 cities hence this option is valid if your target audience falls in these cities.
2. 2. They are easy to build as it is as simple as uploading photos so you don’t need any help from an external video editor to shoot and edit any videos.
3. 3. They are ideal for e-commerce businesses/products businesses to showcase all their different products at one place.

Carousel Format:

What is a Carousel Format?

Carousel Format uses images to create a scroll through which can also point to external links underneath each image with details like:

1. 1. Title
2. 2. Description
3. 3. External Link

Why a Carousel Format?

1. 1. Since each carousel card has an external link it gives an option to the audience to only interact with a specific card of 1 product that they are most interested in.
2. 2. Tell a brand story using different images.
3. 3. Also can be used to showcase one long image or panorama.

Canvas Format:

What is a Canvas Format?

1. 1. Canvas format creates a magazine like a feel with an attractive image as a baseline and when clicked on, opens it as a separate tab on the audience’s device.
2. 2. It allows for interactive gestures like touch, swipe etc. and allows the audience to be more engaged.
3. 3. Also, this format is very apt when you want to showcase blogs or articles regarding your brand or products as it is well optimized for mobiles and other small devices.

Why a Canvas Format?

1. 1. Immersive mini-site like experience using gestures like type, tap, swipe etc. to make it easier to scroll through or to fill a lead form for your audience.
2. 2. Best used to engage the audience that is active on mobile and other small devices rather than laptops and desktops.

This concludes this week’s blog regarding the various Facebook Formats that can be used to create engaging posts on your Facebook Business Profile page.

Next week, we will talk about some pointers on how to engage with your audience and how to find useful insights from the information that Facebook provides on your Business page to use to increase this engagement.

Until next week, stay tuned for our weekly dose of School of Marketing.

To get a customized Facebook Marketing strategy for your brand reach out to me on sirisha@brandingbypixels.com.

Stay Tuned and have a great week ahead

Sirisha Varma,
Co-Founder, Head – Marketing

brandingbypixels.com

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