It’s something that is obvious to the social media savvy but less obvious to others that are still trying to figure things out. Facebook (along with Instagram) took a page out of Snapchat’s playbook and implemented a story feature. What does it mean and when should you use it?
Facebook Post
This is Facebook's “classic” option of creating content and posting it on your page’s timeline.
Facebook Story
This is content that shows up in the stories section of Facebook’s platform, never appears on your timeline and disappears after 24 hours.
When to use a Facebook Post
It sounds weird to describe, but this is Facebook’s basic functionality. You post to your timeline and people that follow your page have the chance to see your post show up in their timeline (depending on Facebook’s algorithm).
These posts can be text-based with links and include photos or videos. Let’s be honest, each post should include a link, photo or video if you really want to make it worth it. d
People can comment and interact with your post. The more they do, the more it will show up in other people’s timelines and snowball into popularity. Posts can be shared to other people’s timelines and links to posts can be shared as well. From a business perspective, this is the exposure you want to whatever information you’re sharing.
When to use a Facebook Story
The easy explanation is to use this for quick-hitting content. Something that you want to get out there but might not have as much time to prepare. Where are you at? What are you doing? What do you want your customers to know?
Again, this content will be available to everyone that follows your page for 24 hours. They can interact with it and even comment via Facebook Messenger (private message) to your business.
The content itself will be vertical format and maximized for cell phones. You can create it by taking quick videos and chatting or prepare templates and customized content to fit your brand. Essentially, how much time do you have to create this piece of content? If it’s not a lot of time, take a quick picture or record a quick video and share it. If you have more time, think about creating some customized graphic design to promote your brand.
There you have it
That’s the quick and easy explanation of these two ways to share content on Facebook. For businesses on social media, expectations might be higher from your audiences today than they were a few years ago. That’s because businesses are taking more time to maximize their efforts on these social platforms. Facebook Posts are in that higher expectation category. Facebook Stories offer more forgiveness for quick, unpolished content.
Don’t get us wrong, you always want to put your best foot forward. But you shouldn’t let that stop you from capitalizing on a perfect opportunity to promote your brand.
Good luck and happy posting!