Kleinburg Brewery
- design
- / web
We all know how popular Facebook is, and how powerful it can be for businesses to reach the masses. With almost 1.5 billion active users each month, it makes sense to use this platform for marketing purposes. And with 655 million Facebook users strictly accessing Facebook via a mobile device, more and more people are tapping into their social media profiles on the go.
With these numbers in mind, Facebook Instant Articles has been recently launched to mobile device-using users to help publishers find a better way to reach their target audience via social media.
What Are Facebook Instant Articles?
Facebook launched this tool as a means to improve the reading experience for mobile device users. Facebook Instant Articles are HTML5 versions of content that provides a better viewing experience for readers. Compared to regular articles viewed on a mobile device from social media channels, Facebook Instant Articles opens content directly inside the mobile app. Load times are almost instant, and content is optimized for viewing, complete with high-resolution images, auto-play videos, and audio captions.
Thanks to this platform, publishers have experienced 20% more clicks, 30% more shares, and were 70% less likely to be abandoned.
It’s not necessary to publish any added content on Facebook with Instant Articles. You can sync this tool with whatever content management system (CMS) you choose. After your feed is set up, articles that are published on your platform are automatically pushed to Facebook.
For WordPress users, there’s no need to work on setting up a system of RSS feeds to make Instant Articles work. Instead, Facebook has partnered with WordPress parent company Automattic to create a plugin that deals with the majority of the work.
At the end of the day, you want to be able to give your readers something worth reading, and give them the best viewing experience possible. And you have a greater level of control over user experience using Instant Articles. Your posts can be customized, as can the buttons that appear in your articles to provide an overall level of consistency.
If you decide to sell ads within your articles, you can earn 100% of the ad revenue. If you use the Facebook Audience Network, you can take 70% of the profit portion while Facebook takes the rest.
Ultimately, by providing users with a better reading experience, it will inevitably boost loyalty and brand awareness, and entice users to want to view more of your content.
Getting Started With Facebook Instant Articles With WordPress
If you’re already working with WordPress, you’re already a step ahead. There’s just a simple setup and an approval process that you’ll need to do before you can start publishing.
- Look over Facebook’s Quickstart Guide.
- Set up a Facebook page (in case you don’t already have one).
- Sign up for Instant Articles.
- Connect Instant Articles to your business page.
- Set up a Facebook Business Manager account.
- Download the Facebook Pages Manager App.
- Download the WordPress Instant Articles plugin and install it.
- Connect the RSS feed to the Instant Articles settings manager in Facebook.
- Create custom style templates to specifically brand it to your business.
- Look over the formatting guidelines to create HTML5 compatible content.
- Review Facebook’s submissions checklist, then load your first batch of articles.
- After acceptance, be sure that your Instant Articles are working.
After you’re all setup, all you need to do is publish your content! With an optimizing viewing experience, your audience will be coming back for more.