With death defying stunts, movie grade production quality, and a relentless drive to continually push the boundaries of how we define a brand, Red Bull has proven to be one of the 21st century’s marketing greats.
Yet most marketers don’t have even close to the marketing budget that Red Bull has to work with.
So there’s probably not much that we can learn from them right?
Wrong!
In fact, there are a number of lessons that we can learn from Red Bull, particularly when it comes to Facebook.
Today we’ll look at 5 lessons you can learn about optimizing your Facebook page directly from the Mount Olympus of marketing, Red Bull.
Lesson #1: Use Captivating Timeline Images
Facebook’s a very visual platform, so ensure that you make the biggest impact by using a strong timeline image.
Timeline images set the tone for your page, can help provide context about the products and services that you provide and give readers a sense of what your company is about.
Notice how Red Bull doesn’t even show their product in their timeline image:
By using a strong image that subtly suggests freedom, the outdoors, and excitement, Red Bull is able to position their Facebook page as in direct coordination with their overall brand strategy.
For the best looking cover photos, remember that your cover photo will display at 828 x 315 px on desktop computers, and 640 x 360 px on smartphones.
Pro Tip: Add a caption and description for your timeline image in order to drive traffic back to your website, blog, or to promote any upcoming events.
Lesson #2: Use Milestones
Milestones are a great way of showing off the history of your company while allowing fans to feel that they’re apart of your brand story.
Take a look at how Red Bull showcases some of their major events as milestones:
But don’t think that Milestones have to be limited to events. Consider adding product launches, office moves, industry awards, and other important dates to your company’s list of milestones.
To get started with Milestones, check out Facebook’s guide on how to add a milestone on your Facebook Business page.
Lesson #3: Add a Call-to-Action
Facebook allows you to add one of 11 different call-to-actions on your Facebook Business page.
Those include:
- Book Now
- Call Now
- Contact Us
- Send Message
- Use App
- Play Game
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Watch Video
- Send Email
- Learn More
- Request Appointment
Depending on what type of business you have, different call-to-actions will make more sense than others.
For example for a consultant, “Request Appointment” would make sense. For a spa, “Book Now” might be more appropriate.
In the case of Red Bull, their call-to-action “Contact Us” is used to send traffic back to their website where they can showcase more content and users can learn more about their brand.
Lesson #4: Promote Your Events
Facebook is a social platform, so use it to spread the word about your upcoming events.
Notice how Red Bull puts their upcoming events front and center when users first arrive at their Facebook page.
They even have a special “Events” tab which breaks down even more of their events and gives users a chance to “subscribe” in order to receive updates on upcoming events.
By using Facebook in this way, Red Bull is able to leverage their already popular Facebook page in order to spread awareness for any of their brand events.
Lesson #5: Use Third Party Apps
Sometimes what you’re looking to achieve with Facebook isn’t possible with the native tools built into Facebook.
And that’s where third party apps come in.
Take a look at this custom “athletes” tab that Red Bull has, loading each and every one of their sponsored athletes:
Another example of utilizing third party apps on Facebook would be to publish a Wishpond Facebook promotion on your Facebook page which will automatically pull in Instagram photos with a certain hashtag.
Or you could publish a sweepstakes as a tab that would allow users to enter into a contest directly from inside of your Facebook page.
Whatever you do decide to do, there are a ton of different options other than what’s provided natively inside of Facebook.
For more ideas on how to use third party business apps, check out this article from Andrea Vahl on Social Media Examiner “5 Ways to Grow Your Email List With Social Media.”
That’s a Wrap!
Hopefully these tips helped you take lesson out of Red Bull’s marketing playbook.
To recap, in terms of optimizing a Facebook Business page, remember to:
- Use Captivating Timeline Images
- Use Milestones
- Add a Call-to-Action
- Promote Your Events
Have any tricks you’d like to share about optimizing a Facebook Business page? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.
kevin-ho