Want to hack your way to a better Facebook experience? Facebook has an overwhelming amount of features, but some of its best ones are easily overlooked.
These include:
- Creating custom call-to-action (CTA) buttons
- Getting 3x more views on your videos
- Changing up the standard Facebook font to stand out on users timelines
Luckily for you, we’re breaking down the best Facebook hacks you need to know for your business, your personal timeline, and Facebook Messenger.
Let’s get started!
Facebook hacks for your business
Are you missing out on value from your Facebook Business page? Use these Facebook tricks to level up your content strategy, attract more leads and rack in those dollar, dollar bills y’all!
Add a CTA button to your page
On every Business page, you can add a customized CTA button. What it says is up to you, and you can change it to meet your specific social media campaign goals.
Some of the options include:
- Book Now
- Contact Us
- Use App
- Play Game
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Watch Video
Use your custom CTA to link to a landing page for your opt-in freebie, a contact page, a video on how to use your product, or drive sales to your services-based business with the book now button.
Create custom Facebook tabs
Another 100% free way to boost conversions from your Facebook page is with custom Facebook tabs. It’s a lesser-known Facebook trick that is fully customizable. You can use tabs to:
- Add more information about your business
- Add another CTA to sign up for a free offer
- Answer any frequently-asked questions
- Highlight videos or your community page
Most people leave their Facebook tabs as the stock standard. Don’t be like most people. Use the feature to stand out and get your potential customers stuck into your brand.
Go Live to skyrocket brand visibility
OK, Facebook Live isn’t so much a trick, but it’s a great format you can use to boost your brand’s visibility without feeding the Facebook Ad machine. In fact, a recent article shared several benefits of using Facebook Live:
- The feature has the greatest reach out of any post type on the platform
- It draws 10x more comments than normal videos
- Users watch Facebook Live videos 3x longer
- Facebook prioritizes Live videos by placing them at the top of News Feeds and sends out notifications to encourage people to join
The high performance of video content isn’t an anomaly. In a test run by Biteable, their video saw 25% more engagement compared to a still image, and it got 480% more clicks!
How to use Facebook Live for your business:
- Host tutorials, masterclasses, or demos
- Broadcast an event
- Announce the winners to a previous Facebook contest
- Go behind the scenes of your company
Depending on the production value you’re aiming for, running a Facebook Live may require a ton of preparation. Be sure to have a central hub where you can collaborate with your team during prep work.
For more business strategies, check out this complete guide to using Facebook Live.
Use Facebook Audience Insights
Audience Insights is a little different than your standard Page Insights. Instead of giving you information on pure Facebook engagement metrics, it helps you understand who makes up your Facebook audience.
For example, it will tell you:
- Detailed demographic overviews (age, gender, job descriptions, and education levels)
- User interests and hobbies
- What products a user is interested in buying
- Lifestyle (relationship status, income, family size)
Once you know how to use Facebook Audience Insights, it will become the most powerful analytical tool in your back pocket. You can use the information to:
- Create highly targeted Facebook ads (that actually get engagement)
- Learn about what blog posts to promote to your audience
- Create strong buyer personas
Install the Facebook Pixel
Got a budget for Facebook Ads? Install the Facebook pixel on your site before you start your next campaign. It’s a small bit of code that will track users’ interactions with your Facebook Ads and your website. You can use it to:
- Track conversions (e.g. click-throughs, sales, etc.)
- Optimize your ads by fine-tuning your targeting
- Build look-alike audiences for future ads
- Remarket to leads that didn’t convert
To create a pixel:
- Navigate to your Facebook Ads Manager dashboard
- Click on the hamburger icon and select All Tools
- Click on Pixels under the Events Manager section in the Measure and Report column
- Follow the prompts
General Facebook tips and tricks
Now that we’ve covered some of the basics, here are some lesser-known Facebook hacks to improve your experience on the platform:
Switch up your Facebook status font
On top of using amazing social media graphics, you can now capture your followers’ attention with this unique hack. To use the Facebook font page changer, type your text in the box, choose your style, Command + A to select your text and Command + V to paste your status into Facebook.
And your status updates will look like this:
Download Facebook photo albums
Did you go to a conference or birthday party recently? Want to download all the photos of the event, but you don’t have the time to go through each picture one by one?
Save time by using the DownAlbum for Chrome extension. It lets you download entire albums from your friends or pages you’re following.
Simply:
- Navigate to the album you want to download
- Click the DownAlbum icon in your browser
- Select Normal
- Once the new page loads with the album, use the Ctrl + S keyboard shortcut to save all the pictures at once
Check how much time you spend on Facebook
Are you a Facebook addict? Want to keep track of your screen time?
Thanks to an update of the Facebook app, you can see exactly how much time you spent on the site each day. Here’s how:
- Open the app and tap on the hamburger icon on the bottom right of the screen
- Scroll down to Settings & Privacy
- Tap on Your Time on Facebook
You’ll see a bar chart of your activity on the app and how many minutes you spend using the platform every day. Scroll down further to Set Daily Time Reminder, and you can use this feature to set an allocated amount of time for the app. Once you’ve exceeded it, you’ll get a reminder to log off.
Setting a time reminder is great but also make sure to work on your time-management skills for increased productivity!
Add an extra layer of security to your account
Securing your account goes beyond an intricate password full of capital letters, numbers, and symbols. Keep those pesky hackers out of your Facebook by adding three layers of security to your account.
It will help stop scammers from stealing your account data or sending malware links to your friends and family. Here’s how you can protect yourself:
- Enable two-factor authentication
- Enable alerts about unrecognized logins
- Choose three to five friends to help you regain access to your account if you get locked out
You can find these features by navigating to Settings > Security and Login.
Choose a legacy contact to manage your account
The legacy feature on Facebook is a morbid hack, but it’s something we all need to do.
When you select a legacy contact, Facebook will let that person manage your account after you pass. Your friend or family member will be able to:
- Write a post for your profile
- Respond to friend requests
- Update your profile and cover photo
- Download all your Facebook data
- Delete your account
You can set your legacy contact by navigating to Settings > General > Memorialisation Settings > Edit.
Facebook Messenger Hacks
Facebook Messenger isn’t just a tool for communicating with your friends and family – it’s also a powerful way to build your brand and make sales.
Reply to messages instantly with a bot
Great customer experience is important but replying fast on Facebook is even more important. When customers interact with brands online, they expect speedy replies. You can meet that demand for instant gratification by using Facebook’s Response Assistant.
You can use it to set up instant responses to all incoming messages. Here’s how to set up your Facebook Messenger bot:
- Go to your Facebook Business Page and click on Settings in the top right-hand corner
- Click on Messaging in the left-hand column
- Scroll down to Set Up Automated Responses and click on Set Up
You can set up a customized away message and instant reply. There are options for automated reminders for appointments, applications for jobs, and a section for frequently asked questions.
Selling in Messenger
Facebook Ads are no longer relegated only to the News Feed and sidebar. You can create sponsored messages that will go out to anyone who has an open chat with your page.
If someone is already messaging your account, that lead is a lot hotter than a random Facebook user who has never heard of your brand. Think of it as an instant email list.
Send and request money with Facebook Messenger
Gone are the days of using multiple apps to request money from your customers or payback that family member you owe. You can link your debit card or PayPal account to Facebook Messenger and use it to send and receive money seamlessly.
For added security, you can add a PIN or a fingerprint for all your financial transactions. To send money to a contact, tap the dollar sign icon in the text field, fill in the amount and tap Pay.
The takeaway
Facebook is a powerful platform that can grow your business and help you manage your virtual social life from a single platform – if you know how to use it. Which of these 13 Facebook hacks and tips will you start using?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on socialbakers.com. Any statistics or statements included in this article were current at the time of original publication.
