What is Facebook Instant Articles and why should you be using them in your social media campaign? Facebook Instant Articles are the equivalent of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP Pages for short. These types of pages are blog posts that load faster and can be pushed to the top of search engine search results on mobile. For anyone using social media and blogging as part of their business marketing campaign, this is very important and useful to help gain an audience.
In the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world, having a web page or website load fast is essential especially on mobile. Google sees a fast loading page as a very good thing which ultimately affects your PageRank (along with your keywords and content). As we move towards a more mobile friendly ecosystem, it is becoming more and more important to have mobile friendly websites and web pages as the vast majority of users are shifting to mobile devices.
Now take that same approach to tradition SEO and apply it to Facebook. Instant Articles works the same way as Google AMP pages. Instant Articles will load faster and run smoother on mobile; how fast you ask? Speeds up to 10 times faster have been reported. By using Facebook’s Instant Articles your PageRank will increase within Facebook over other competitors who are not optimizing their content. This is such an affected tool to use especially for smaller blog sites that could use that extra push in their Social Media campaigns.
Research has also shown that Instant Articles are shared 30% more than mobile web articles on average. This is thought to be because the articles are being read at a much higher rate. In fact, users are 70% less likely to abandon the article before reading. Those are users who could potentially become buyers, contributors or enthuses of your brand, product or company.
Also, blog post shared to Facebook in the Instant Article format receives up to 20% more clicks over the mobile version of the article. This is crucial, in developing engagement with your audience. How can you engage with your audience if they never open your content?
How to setup Instant Articles
Facebook Instant Articles are still blog posts just like any other type of articles you will publish on your site. The only difference is when you share your blog post on Facebook, either your business account or personal account, the web page will be loaded faster and it will appear more mobile friendly verse a normal post being shared to Facebook.
All the magic is done behind the scenes in WordPress. WordPress now has a plugin that can be installed that will allow you to load up your blog post as an instant article. This plugin works with Facebook to compress the content in HTML 5. This process allows the web page to load faster and be optimized for mobile.
All this mean is your Social Media strategy doesn’t have to change. Still, share your articles and content to Facebook just like you normally would. The difference will take place within Facebook itself. Facebook will reward users who optimize their articles as Instant Articles; those users will be placed higher in priority and PageRank.
How does it work?
The Plugin will compress your article allowing users on mobile to view your content much faster. Just like Google’s AMP pages, the web page is compressed. It’s optimized for mobile within HTML5 for faster performance.
How will Facebook Instant Articles affect my content?
When your page is loaded as an Instant Article all the CTA’s, sidebars and tabs in the header will be removed (just like in Google’s AMP Pages). This is to keep the user focused on the content at hand. This will keep users on your page longer and have them engage in your content. Similar to a landing page, the content itself is the focus.
While other sidebars and CTA’s are removed. WordPress will allow you to have specific images, infographics and other visual related content within your blog post. This is useful for mobile users as it will be more specific and designed/optimized to be seen by mobile users.
Major takeaways
Enabling Facebook instant articles is something you should consider especially if you’re doing a lot of Social Media marketing and blog posting. This is a useful tool that content creators can and should be using on their Website to get their content in the hands of users. The goal is to continue to refine your approach and keep up with industry trends as things continue to morph and change around us. Here are some key takeaways.
· Faster load times for mobile users (Up to 10 times faster)
· Boosted in Facebook PageRank over competitors
· Receive up to 20% more clicks that the mobile version of the article
· Once someone clicks on an Instant Article, they’re 70% less likely to abandon the article before reading
· Instant Articles are shared 30% more than mobile web articles on average
· Monetize Instant Articles – if you have ads running on your site Facebook gives you 100% of the revenue
SEO & Social Media Expert at DISH Network , YouTuber & Videographer
