A picture is worth a thousand words

Liz KeenerMarch 26, 2013

Facebook certainly agrees. On March 7, Facebook introduced a newly redesigned news feed. Two of the primary features of the new news feed that will impact brands include a cleaner look featuring visually rich stories and the ability for users to select messages from multiple news feeds.

As a result of these new features, your dealership should examine your Facebook content strategy. First, focus on the quantity and quality of the images you post. How many of your Facebook posts consist of photos? According to Hubspot, photos generate 53% more likes and 104% more comments than the average post. There are many opportunities for dealerships to upload relevant images to their Facebook page including inventory, new customers and dealership events.

Second, take a look at your Facebook cover photo. Is your cover photo a visually attractive representation of your dealership? With the old news feed design, if a user “Liked” your dealership page, your profile photo would appear in the user’s news feed. With the new news feed, elements from your timeline including your cover photo will be displayed on the user’s news feed, making your cover photo more important than ever before. Also, the good news for brands is that, on March 20, Facebook relaxed their cover photo restrictions. This allows brands to include a phone number and call to action on their cover photos. There is still a 20 percent text restriction, but remember, the news feed emphasizes visual content.

Lastly, users can now select feeds based on a specific topic, which means they can filter out the messages from brands (your dealership). Increasing the quantity of photos you post, will definitely increase your opportunities to be seen. Your posts will not only be seen from the brands news feed, but they will also be included in the photos only feed.

The new news feed is slowly being rolled out by Facebook. Identify ways for your dealership to post more visually rich content so you reach more news feeds.

Laura Reinders is the marketing manager for PowerSports Network and Traffic Log Pro.

Contact: lreinders@powersportsnetwork.com