Undoubtedly, Facebook is the greatest social networking site in the world, sporting billions of users globally. Facebook is regularly releasing new features for its users. Now everyone is aware of Facebook features like chat, share, fan pages, like, comment, etc. However, it has some amazing features that are lesser known among users. To help you find these hidden gems, I have compiled a list of Facebook tricks and other lesser-known features that could help drive your business goals on Facebook.
Table of Contents
1. Save links for later read:
Sometimes searching for content can be a time-consuming part of social media management. When you find content on Facebook, did you know about a cool Facebook trick to help you save content for a later read? This helps you better utilize your time, especially when you’re busy searching for multiple forms of content.
Whenever you like a story that someone has shared in your news feed you can easily save links to read for later. On Facebook, you’ll find the “save” option in the drop-down menu under the top-right corner. There might be several posts including videos, music, news and much more on your feed.
If you don’t have time to read at that moment, it is not necessarily an easy task to get back to the post you wanted to read later on. In the first image, you can see that the save feature allows you to set aside your articles. In the second Facebook image, you can see your saved links to read for later according to your preference.
To view what you have saved, go to your homepage and click “Saved” next to the Like, Follow and Messages buttons at the top of the page. Once you have saved a few, you’ll notice a new menu item in the left sidebar of your homepage. Just click on “Saved” and you will get all posts and pages you’ve saved.
This is one of the most underrated Facebook hacks on the list.
2. Follow people rather than friends:
This one, in particular, can sometimes be one of the most sneakily hidden Facebook tools. By using this feature on Facebook, you can follow someone without friending them and others can follow you without becoming your friend also. You don’t always have to be somebody’s “official” friend to see what they post on Facebook. Sometimes you can just follow that person. However, if their profile is open to the public, you’ll be able to engage with their posts.
When you follow someone, you can see their posts in your newsfeed, just as you would when you become friends with someone. The main difference between friend and following is that there need not be reciprocation from the other person. For example, if you want to see what Jeff Bullas posts, but Jeff Bullas doesn’t return your friend request, you can follow instead.
Want to know how it works? When you’re on the profile page of someone who has this feature turned on, you’ll see a “Follow” button to click, along with an “Add as Friend” option.
To turn on the following feature for your own profile, go to your Facebook settings. Click on the Followers link in the left-hand menu, and change “Who Can Follow Me” from “Friends” to “Everyone.” If their profile is open to the public, you’ll be able to engage with their posts.
3. Manage your “posts to page”:
Other people can post to your business page by tagging your name in their updates. You can see this post from others in the sidebar section below your photos as “visitor posts”. If this post is tailored correctly then it can be an asset to your page.
Other people can post on your business page, even if they are not an admin of it. This type of post helps you to find ways to engage with people who mention you. Maybe you will find something worth re-sharing to your main page as well.
By using this option on your Facebook page, you will have valuable data to help you understand how people use your page and what works best for your business.
4. Interest lists:
Want to get full control over the news feed that you see on Facebook? If so, start sorting friends & pages with custom Facebook interest lists. It is the best way to manage the stuff you need to keep track of everyday. Actually, you can extend your reach by using a Facebook interest list.
If you like a fan page, but you notice you are not seeing any updates from that page in your news feed, an interest list can be useful. When you create an interest list and fill it with fan pages you have liked, that list appears in the left sidebar of your Facebook home page. If you like something, then you can add it to the list of favorites so it is easily accessible.
On Facebook, you can group people and pages into interest lists so you can sharpen and focus your attention. This way, you won’t get caught up in the eternal scroll of the news feed.
In addition, you can choose pages to add to your new list. In addition, any time you want to see updates from your liked fan pages, simply click the name of the list and those updates will be right in your news feed. If you want to add pages to an existing list, visit that page and click “Add to Interest Lists” in the drop-down menu.
5. Embed Facebook post:
Did you know that any public post, whether it’s on a page or a personal profile, can be embedded into your website? First, embedding actual Facebook posts into your website and blog is easier than you think. Just you need to use the Facebook embedded code on your website.
Just look for the little drop-down arrow at the right of any Facebook post. Then, click the option to ‘Embed Post’. Facebook will then generate a piece of code you can drop into your website.
6. Reorder your page sections:
You can reorder the page sections on your Facebook page quite easily. I explained in the above tips that “posts to page” show up below your photos by default. Well, they don’t have to if you don’t want them to. Facebook page admins can rearrange the order of the sidebar elements. On Facebook, the “People” and “About” remain anchored in the top two sections, but the remaining page sections can be dragged and dropped into your preferred order.
If you want to see this option, filter the title of any of your sidebar sections and click the gray icon to manage.
7. Check best days or times to post:
Suppose you are posting everyday updates on your Facebook, but haven’t checked what times and day’s most of your fans are online. You are missing out on some big information! It pays to know when your fans are online before you thing about scheduling or publishing posts. When you know the times they are generally using Facebook, this can help you decided when best to post. Additionally, this info can help you to get seen more often and boost your organic reach.
To check out times/days of your post, go to your page insights and look for the posts menu.
8. Pin post:
Pinning posts to the top of your Facebook page is a simple and very useful social media marketing strategy to point your audience to important posts, announcements, and events. On your timeline, find the post menu you would like to pin and just click on the down arrow in the corner of the posts. Then you simply click “pin to top”; it’s as simple as that!
However, this is something most important you’ll need to keep in mind about pinning posts to the top of your page. Keep these posts fresh by changing pinned posts often, particularly if they are time-sensitive. You don’t want to leave a stagnant post at the top of your page that discusses something that has long since expired.
You can mix it up all the posts on a regular basis. As a result, this allows you to display a much larger variety of posts. At a minimum, I recommend changing pinned posts once every two weeks or so.
9. Search previous posts with specific words:
When it comes to social media marketers, many are familiar with the standard post performance data under the insight tab. It is a great tool for measuring performance on previous posts with statistics, link, clicks, shares, likes on pages, reactions, unlikes, hidden posts and much more.
However, a few marketers may be unfamiliar with another great Facebook marketing feature called “Published Post search” tool under your page’s “publishing tools” tab.
It’s a great feature. You can easily search for posts around certain topics and see what wording, images or a combination that has worked previously. It is most useful for those brands who have posted content more than once throughout the year. Also, it helps to avoid duplicating poor performing content.
Before posting an older article, you need to check to see if this content has been posted earlier? If it hasn’t, you should ask yourself, “What other types of posts have been successful and how can I get that success”? If it has been posted earlier, you should ask yourself, “How can I re-purpose this post to ensure that it reaches more people or brands?
10. Fast advanced stats for any page post:
Now you are able to get a quick look at how your latest Facebook page post is performing. Facebook displays stats for reach and click on the page and the news feed level.
You will likely already be familiar with the “number of people reached” note at the bottom of all your page posts. Have you ever clicked on it? If you click on it, another dialogue box opens, displaying your current reach stats for that post. In the image below, you can see that 1209 people reached.
These insights, which you could also possibly grab from Facebook analytics, show you all types of statistics like the breakdown of likes, comments, and shares. Additionally, you can see how your post appears in feeds and which actions people took regarding the post.
What’s your favorite hidden gem?
There are few awesome Facebook features were left off this list and it wouldn’t feel complete without your contribution anyway. Therefore, share your favorite “hidden Facebook features in the comments below.
