5 steps to create the perfect Page update

Being able to create compelling, relevant updates for your most important audiences is the foundation of effective marketing on your website. Posting regular updates from your Page builds your connection to your community and opens up vast organic marketing potential through sharing among your followers and employees. It also plugs you into the interests of visitors and provides a great platform for amplifying your marketing to a wider audience.

Perfecting the art of the update doesn’t require vast resources. Follow these five steps to start sharing content, joining conversations and raising the profile of your brand in your audience’s:

The Content Suggestions feature on your Web page can show you the topics that different audiences are engaging with on internet, and the posts driving the most engagement for those topics. This gives you a checklist of subjects that your audience are interested in hearing about right now, and it’s a great starting point for planning your updates.

There are several different ways to use Content Suggestions when developing your updates. Publishing original content is the best way to drive engagement from your web Page, and seeing what your audience is already engaging with is a great source of inspiration. Alternatively, you can share the posts that are already generating great engagement on your website– and join the conversation. If you filter your search, you’ll be able to see content that’s been posted by your followers or employees. Sharing this content, and calling out the people posting it, is a great way to engage with your community. It will keep your brand prominent in your followers’ feeds, even when you don’t have new content to share.

When it comes to writing an update, keep things short, simple and spicy. Aim for a maximum copy length of 150 characters, which gives you plenty of room to share a compelling image or a piece of video as part of your update. Spice things up by asking a thought-provoking question, sharing a surprising stat, or leading with an impactful quotation.

When it comes to your call to action, aim to keep things as simple and compelling as possible. Be clear about what you’re asking your audience to do and why. Ask yourself, ‘Would I click on this?’ and create an accessible URL that doesn’t take up too many characters. Bitly or another URL shortening tool can help here.

Updates with images or video generate far more engagement than those without, but not all visuals are equal. Be original by shunning stock photos and commissioning some shots of your employees to show the authentic face of your business. Look for images that complement text. You can use a few well-chosen words as part of your visual to highlight the connection – but leave it to the picture to tell the story.  If you’re using video, aim for the sweet spot for length: somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

Aim to follow the 4-1-1 Rule when planning your updates. For every one post that you write about yourself, aim to share one post that a third-party has written about your company, and four others that add value for your audience but aren’t about your business. This could be content that you’ve created for your visitors – or content from others that you share.

It’s a good idea to bring out the relevance of your posts to your target audience by calling them out directly (‘here’s one for all you tech marketers out there…’). Referencing the people you’re talking to is a proven tactic for generating greater engagement. Every time you post an update from on your website or page, you have the option to target it at specific segments among your followers. This enables you to tailor content to the topics they are most interested in.

The job of creating a successful update isn’t just about writing the copy and finding the right visual. There are some very useful habits worth cultivating to make sure you get full value from the content you post. Bring your best content and most engaging updates so that they appear at the top of your Web Page. Insert tracking links to those short URLs you create, so that you can see how much traffic your Web Page generates. Use Page Analytics and Direct Sponsored Content to test variations of different updates and see which perform best.

Build on your success with Sponsored Content

If you’ve created an update that’s resonating with your followers and generating great organic engagement, why not give it the opportunity to do more for you? Sponsoring your most successful updates gives you a valuable content asset that you can use to raise brand awareness and build your follower numbers. If your update is sharing a content asset or a research report that you’ve created, you can use it to drive leads as well. It’s a great way to get full value from that perfect update you created.