First thing’s first. Happy New Year from Avocado Social. We’ve been reading plenty of these predictions and trends blogs for 2015, so thought we’d put together the top Facebook marketing tips for 2015. 2015 Facebook Marketing Tips Facebook reported more than 1.35 billion monthly active users (up 14 percent year-over-year) in October 2014, with a third of those being mobile only. Any reports that “Facebook is over” can be well and truly put to bed. Although it’s not the cool new platform like Snapchat, it’s certainly the most popular globally. Here’s our top 5 tips for Facebook in 2015: 1. It’s not just about the Like anymore. Facebook’s long awaited ‘Buy’ button is coming. Facebook is rolling out more options for businesses to include direct calls to action on their Facebook Pages, with a new button sitting to the left of the Like button. With a single click, Facebook users will be able to book a reservation, play a game, sign up for subscription services, or shop online among other options. Early testing showed good results, and the button is due in the UK soon. We predict some brands getting quite creative with this – could Paddy Power use a Bet Now button? What about a Taste It button for Cadburys? Perfect for short term deals and sales. 2. Saying that, last year Facebook’s algorithm changes meant a decrease in hard sales-oriented posts, in order to improve the user experience of the network. In order to see positive engagement rates, Facebook now requires businesses to post valuable and timely content that will resonate with your audience – rather than just uninspired copy with links to buy, buy, buy. If you don’t have a company blog, 2015 is probably the year you should really start looking to invest in one. See ‘Content Marketing Cure: How To Start A Blog To Remedy Decreased Organic Reach on Facebook‘ from Hootsuite for more information. 3. Using eye-catching, unique images on Facebook, preferably with people or a product in them is absolutely essential for 2015’s Facebook. Status updates with no images do not capture attention. Think about you users scrolling through Facebook on their phones quickly – will they stop to read your posts? If you’ve been to an Avocado Social Training Workshop, you’ll know how passionate we are about this! 4. Social video content is the much talked about trend for 2015, with apps providing users the opportunity to create very short video clips to share instantly. The benefits for brands are that it offers a great platform to tell a short story or showcase products. It’s also a great way of spreading your message quickly and easily. Facebook introduced auto rolling video last year, so expect to see these short form videos appearing in your newsfeeds soon. We’ve also seen influential vloggers and creative Vine users collaborating with brands to create video (such as Ian Padgham and Visa for Sochi Olympics) – so expect to see more of this user generated content being used by brands. Check out MAOAM’s 6 second Facebook video below here. MAOAM 5. Finally, understanding your engagement rate is much more important than how many Likes your Facebook Page has. If you haven’t realised this yet, then you need to catch up! Engagement rate is basically the number of likes, comments and shares made on a post divided by the total number of Page fans. The engagement rate of a page is calculated by averaging the engagement rate of all posts during a selected time range. By measuring your Facebook Page in this way, you can determine what kind of content does well and which promotions your fans have enjoyed the most. Finding the right engagement rate for your brand’s Facebook page largely depends on fan size, post frequency and industry. See Social Bakers article here, and begin 2015 with a clear idea of how to measure your Facebook activity. If you’re looking for some help with your Facebook Page then get in touch with us through our Contact page and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.