Facebook used to be predominantly about users socialising with friends and family in an online space, however, recent trends have seen this change. Users are now increasingly seeking to engage with their favourite brands on social media, with 62% stating if a brand engages with them online they are more likely to become a loyal customer, and 78% stating that they are more likely to make a purchase (Schawbel, 2015; Ahmad, 2014).

Although councils are not seeking to engage with ‘customers’ as such, they do have an online audience to build relationships and engage with through showing support and understanding how people in the local community feel (The Guardian, 2014). It is important, however, that Facebook advertising for councils seeking to promote beneficial behaviour is fully understood and embraced as a tool, so here are my top 5 tips on how councils can effectively integrate Facebook advertising into their marketing activities:

1) Produce content that is interesting

I know it may seem obvious, but Facebook users experience a high volume of content in their news feed, so it is fundamental that content is catchy, relevant and interesting. An effective way to produce content that is interesting is to explain how becoming part of something could help better the user’s local community. So, for example, rather than asking people to report pot holes in their local area, councils could explain that by reporting pot holes, people would be bettering the safety of the roads in their local area. This is important, because people are interested in how performing an action is going to benefit them (Hurwitz, 2013).

There is no doubt that we are moving toward a more visual marketing world, so using relevant images in Facebook posts is also a highly beneficial way to increase traffic, as users find this visually appealing in comparison to large blocks of text. Therefore, for you to heighten the appeal of the council’s posts, you should make a conscious effort to use high-quality, engaging images.

 Source: Social Bakers, 2014

2) Don’t just talk about yourself, show that you care for people in the local community

Facebook is a very effective tool for helping councils to gain the trust of user’s, therefore it is important that you show your audience that you care by showing support for people in the local community, not just asking for it. If users feel that by performing an action they are going to become part of a team, this is likely to make them feel positive and confident.

In this instance, it could be for creating awareness around the need for foster carers in the local community. By showing the online audience that the council already has a supportive network of foster carers supporting local children in need, people in local communities may feel that they also want to become a part of such a strong network.

3) Show behind the scenes, let people feel that they are part of what you are doing

You should try not to predominantly focus on advertising content; post behind the scenes content and photos of what the council is doing. For example, posts on how you are helping people in the local community. This makes people feel that they are part of what you are doing, humanises and explains the organisation on a personal level, and increases trust.

4) Identify the emotion that you want people to feel

Emotion shapes virality, people on Facebook share content that triggers the most arousing emotions (Berger & Milkman, 2012). Users might share a video with friends because it made them laugh, or may share a newspaper article because it made them feel happy or sad.

Every user is different, so posts are likely to affect humans in different ways, but it’s beneficial for councils to think ‘how do I want people to feel when they see this post?’. Decide it, and express it.

5) Have a clear CTA

Again, it may sound obvious to make it clear what you are specifically asking people to do, but I’ve seen a lot of Facebook advertisements recently where brands have advertised content, with a lack of call-to-action, making the advertisement in my opinion, a waste of advertising efforts. A brand may have a highly engaging post, but if it does not explicitly state what they would like the user to do, the success of the advertising is likely to be low.

Examples of effective call-to-actions for councils might be ‘Learn More’ or ‘Find Out More’. Or to spread awareness and create online word of mouth, a strong CTA would be ‘Share this post with a friend’, as users may feel encouraged to share the content with their friends.

Source: Salesforce, 2013

Conclusion

Of course, Facebook advertising is more complex than following 5 tips, but through the implementation of these recommendations, councils are likely to receive increased recognition, improved loyalty, higher conversion rates and richer audience experiences (DeMers, 2014).

References

Ahmad, I. (2014) ‘30+ Statistics On How Social Media Influences Purchasing Decisions’ Social Media Today, 24th January 2014 [Online] <http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/30-statistics-how-social-media-influence-purchasing-decisions-infographic&gt; [accessed 20 February 2015]

Berger, K. & Milkman, K. (2012) ‘What makes online content viral?’ Journal of Marketing Research [Online] Vol 49 (Issue 2) Available at <http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmr.10.0353. [accessed 20 February 2015]

DeMers, J. (2014) ‘The top 10 benefits of social media marketing’. Forbes, 8th November 2014 [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/&gt; [accessed 20th February 2015]

Gyarmati, L. & Trinh, T.A. (2010) ‘Measuring user behavior in online social networks’ IEEE Network [Online] Vol 24 (Issue 5) Available at <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5578915&gt; [accessed 20 February 2015]

Hurwitz, J. 2013 ‘Trust and online interaction’ University of Pennsylvania Law Review [Online] Vol 161 (Issue 6) Available at <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/ehost/detail/detail?sid=2bef2699-bbc1-48d8-87d11c51ea616486%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=88101954&gt; [accessed 20 February 2015]

Reynolds, H. (2014) ‘Seven tips for using Facebook if you work in the public sector’ The Guardian, 27th November 2014 [Online] <http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2014/nov/27/facebook-tips-public-sector&gt; [accessed 20 February 2015]

Schawbel, D. (2015) ‘10 New Findings About The Millennial Consumer’ Forbes, 20th January 2015 [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2015/01/20/10-new-findings-about-the-millennial-consumer&gt; [accessed 20 February 2015]

Salesforce, (2013) Calls to action The one simple secret to calls to action that convert [Online] <http://www.pardot.com/landing-pages/simple-secret-calls-action-convert/&gt; [accessed 21^st February 2015]

Social Bakers, (2014) Post types for all posts Are photos still king on Facebook? [Online] <http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2149-photos-are-still-king-on-facebook&gt; [accessed 21^st February 2015]