Facebook Sharing: Best Practices

Sharing on Facebook is a great way to drive traffic to your Bindu pages. But it must be done strategically because FB’s algorithm changed in early 2018. It now prioritize content shared by individuals rather than publisher pages like Bindu. Sharing in groups, because FB users have actively chosen those affiliations, is also a great idea.

We recently experimented sharing your itineraries on relevant group pages. Each FB post caused approximately 150 people to click through to the Bindu itinerary. If half of us did that twice weekly, it would introduce Bindu to 90k unique visitors per month (!) — and most likely three times that number of page views (!) because travelers, once on the site, would click through to a couple more pages, at minimum…. Little drops of sand and suddenly it looks like the beaches of Thailand.

Follow these simple steps to drive traffic to your pages via FB. It should only take about 10 minutes twice weekly. Reap commensurate benefits to what you sow. You may or may not want/need to prep your post before sharing.

SHARE on your PERSONAL WALL => TIME: 2 to 5 minutes

Don’t be shy. Don’t assume your friends have seen your previous Bindu posts. Remember, FB displays only a tiny fraction of our posts to our friends.

Ask a question in your post to get a conversation going. Sound helpful rather than promotion-y.

Ask your friends to share your posts.

Make a pact with another Bindu colleague to share each other’s content.

Tag ‘@BinduTrips’ which will create a hyperlink to our FB page so we can keep the conversation going and track results.

***NEW in MARCH: BIG TIP: Be sure to set the visibility of a shared post to PUBLIC so as many people as possible can see it.

SHARE in a GROUP => TIME: 3 to 5 minutes

Type your destination into the FB search bar. Click ‘See all results.’ Choose ‘Groups.’

Choose relevant groups + ones with more than 1,000 members + ones that are active.

You often have to JOIN a group to be able to post. Once you are approved (it might take a minute or a day), post the link for your itinerary, POI or destination.

Sound helpful rather than self-serving. Ask questions, ask for members’ feedback, for their recommendations.

Tag ‘@BinduTrips’ which will create a hyperlink to our FB page so we can keep the conversation going and track the results.

Rinse, repeat.

***NEW in MARCH: To share a post from your wall/timeline to a group page, click here:

ENGAGE with PAGES => TIME: 2 to 5 minutes

Put social back in social media. Comment on other people’s posts. Include a link where relevant. Be judicious; you don’t want to be flagged as a spammer.

You can sometimes (but not always) upload a link in the page’s community section.

Tag ‘@BinduTrips’ (where appropriate) which will create a hyperlink to our FB page so we can keep the conversation going and track the results.

ONE TIME ACTIONS => TIME: 5 minutes

1.) Like the BinduTrips FB page so that when we tag you after posting/sharing your content, you’ll know and can keep the thread alive by engaging with it.

2.) Invite friends to like the Bindu FB page. After clicking the circled link below, customize a message to your friends: ‘I write itineraries for this new website and thought you might enjoy following our merry band of indie travel writers with our DIY trips. Our goal is to help people save time and money (i.e. not waste a single moment or have one bad meal on a trip). Check it out, see what you think, and please ‘like’ us. THANKS.’

3.) Under ABOUT on your profile, add that you work at BinduTrips.

4.) Turn Notifications ON for the Bindu FB page. They’re found under Following.

When we share your content on FB Bindu Trips, please do more than like/love it. (TIME: 2-5 minutes) Please:

–Share it to your own page/wall (if you haven’t recently).

–Add a comment with a link on our FB page to another piece of your content to keep the thread alive.

–Tag a FB page for an establishment you’ve recommended in the post. So they might share it too.

SUPER INTERACTIVE EXAMPLE

Australia wins tons of awards for their social media efforts. Check out their FB feed. Follow their lead. The techniques they employ all serve one end: to inform and inspire, to get you to their webpages and destinations. What do they do? They ask questions. Write simple/catchy captions as intros to their visuals. Offer super engaging videos and gorgeous photos. Tag other FB pages/groups to widen the audience. Offer real/helpful information in their own post’s comments section. Vary uploading pics and links. Always give photo/video credit.

SAMPLE POSTS

To make it easier to share your content within other groups, use these sample posts (or your own variation):

Itineraries

Post 1: I travel frequently to [INSERT YOUR DESTINATION] and take tons of notes for work. Since I get asked all the time for suggestions, I put my best ideas into itineraries on @BinduTrips. I’d love to know what you think! [ADD ITINERARY LINK]

Post 2: I’m just back from a research trip to [INSERT YOUR DESTINATION], uncovering local favorites for a series of itineraries for @BinduTrips. Did I miss anything in the itinerary below? [ADD ITINERARY LINK]

Post 3: This group has tons of great ideas for things to do in[INSERT YOUR DESTINATION]. Thx!! I wanted to share some too. Check out the itinerary I did for the recently launched @BinduTrips. My aim is to save travelers time and money. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know. [ADD ITINERARY LINK]

Destinations

I’ve been writing about [INSERT YOUR DESTINATION] for years, and love helping other travelers and sharing trip ideas. I’ve written some @BinduTrips itineraries — [INSERT YOUR ITINERARY THEMES HERE — weekend getaways, 24 hours, families, budget, summertime] — highlighting my favorites. What itinerary should I write next for [ADD DESTINATION LINK]?

POIs:

Post 1: With hundreds of places to go and see in [INSERT YOUR DESTINATION], I’ve come up with my own shortlist of favorites. At the top of my list is [INSERT THE POI NAME]. I’m curious to hear other travelers’ must-see spots!

Post 2: What’s your favorite thing to see or do in [INSERT YOUR DESTINATION]? I’ve been including some of my favorites for the recently launched @BinduTrips. Did I miss any must-see places? I just stayed at [INSERT POI NAME] and loved it. [INSERT POI LINK]

MISC: BEST TIMES + HASHTAGS

Weekdays: 9am-7pm (of your target market)

Weekends: 12pm-1pm (of your target market)

Don’t bother with hashtags on FB.