Featuring Mari Smith and George F. Snell III

Queen of Facebook Mari Smith and George Snell, head of content innovation + integration at 360PR+, held a wide-ranging discussion recently on how the changes in Facebook are impacting brands and marketers.

Mari and George responded to the audience question, “What is currently the biggest opportunity for marketers using Facebook?”

Both are in agreement – focus on video.

Mari said, “Although you might have a very good number of followers on your Business page, only 5 – 7% read your organic content. This is a missed opportunity,” and continued to say that only 0.8% of Facebook content is live video.

George added live video has seven times more engagement and views than on demand video. If you’re uncomfortable on camera, Mari recommended creating video with images, stock footage, and animation. Facebook Live has the best engagement of all video types.

Organic reach is most successfully achieved with informative and entertaining content that is relevant and provides value to your audience. They recommend including a video or image in your posts with captions.

George specifically recommended using Facebook Live while simulcasting on several platforms. Because Live videos become On Demand when finished, marketers receive both the benefits of live video and On Demand.

Mari closed the program by reminding marketers that building community is not just posting. Marketers need to ask questions, boost posts, and post images and video.

This blog post was written by Sarah Leaf-Herrmann, PR Club board member and president of The Idea Co.