Don't Sleep on Facebook

Featuring an interview with Bari Rosenstein, social lead for Auntie Anne’s and Jamba.

May 25, 2023

With the amount that Facebook gets dunked on by the general public, it’s easy to see why so many brands have gone into autopilot mode on the platform. “We post there but we don’t invest much in our strategy” is what I typically hear.

But people are still on Facebook. In fact, there are approximately two billion daily active users on Facebook. That is certainly not nothing!

Brands that are taking advantage of the eyeballs are seeing impressive results.

Wendy’s has a unique Facebook strategy and it’s working—this post racked up 14K likes. (Shout out Emily Schultz for pointing out their account, which is basically just the brand posting like a boomer, in the Link in Bio Discord.) FitBit, Netflix, and Jones Road Beauty are also all still actively posting on the platform and, from what I can tell, seeing good engagement. Plus, ask any publisher or media company which social platform drives the most traffic and there’s a good chance they’ll tell you Facebook.

example post from wendy's that uses boomer-esque create mode to post an update about "barb's cat passing" and to bring "burgers and nuggets only"

So when Bari Rosenstein, social lead for Auntie Anne’s and Jamba, tweeted “just popping in to remind you to not forget about facebook” with a screenshot of a post that had organic reach of over 270K, I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Still, I needed to hear more.

For today’s interview, I chatted with Bari about Facebook strategy, what types of posts perform there, and why brands should invest more in the platform.

Photo of Bari Rosenstein, social lead for Auntie Anne’s and Jamba, wearing a blazer and standing with her arms crossed — Bari Rosenstein, social lead for Auntie Anne’s and Jamba

Rachel Karten: First can you tell me about your current role and any previous social (or not!) roles you've had?

Bari Rosenstein: Hi! My name is Bari Rosenstein and I lead social for Auntie Anne’s and Jamba! In my previous role, I led social for Honest Tea, Zico Coconut Water, and Costa Coffee at The Coca-Cola Company and before that I started my career at two different agencies in Baltimore.

RK: What's your social media philosophy? How would you distill down the way in which you approach this industry?

BR: My social philosophy is about showing up for the community and serving them content that is interesting and entertaining. Really making it feel like there’s a human behind the username. I like to understand the “why” behind people choosing to follow you on social and that is what becomes my north star. I think being authentic, relatable, and not taking yourself super serious is they key to success.

tweet from auntie anne's that says "we love all of our nieces and nephews"

RK: What are your priority platforms for the two brands you work on?

BR: Such a hard question because they all serve such different purposes that are so important to our internet ecosystem BUT if I had to choose, Instagram and TikTok.

@auntieannes i mean…its true 👀 #fyp #auntieannes

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RK: I initially reached out because I saw you tweet that you were getting really good organic reach on Facebook of all places. Tell me more about that!

BR: FACEBOOK IS NOT DEAD, I REPEAT, FACEBOOK IS NOT DEAD.

I can’t scream this enough!!!

I had this idea to copy and paste a top performing tweet to our Facebook page, kind of resembling an old status update that we used to do on Facebook. It got 88K impressions and 426 comments. I was floored because it felt too easy. So, after that, I just started posting regular old text-based updates on Facebook on a weekly basis and saw those numbers get higher and higher.

I mean, it makes sense. For both of my brands, Facebook is our biggest community—Jamba has 1.6M Facebook fans and Auntie Anne’s has 993K fans. We really wanted to wake them up and post content that they care about and engage with. This has created an impression engine that continues to grow and surprise us.

example FB post from auntie anne's that asks "if you could only eat one thing from our menu for the rest of your life what would it be?"

RK: How would you describe your Facebook strategy currently?

BR: We like to post fun, relatable, and shareable content. So many buzz words, but you get the gist. If you think about how people act on Facebook, they LOVE to comment, tag friends, and share on their own feed. We want to cater to that. We love to post just text-based status updates and mix in images from our Instagram feed. But the content that does the best is just basic status updates, especially asking questions and asking for opinions—like this and this.

facebook post asking "how do you pronounce our name? ant-tie or aunt-tie"

RK: Tell me more about some of the results you've seen!

BR: In 2022, we saw 11M impressions and 340K engagements alone on Auntie Anne’s Facebook!

Since my time at Auntie Anne’s (I started in 2021) this has been our best performing Facebook post—it received 26K likes, 1K comments, and 1K shares resulting in 1.4M impressions. I would say that we went viral on Facebook LOL.

Our best text-only Facebook post was this—it received 8K likes, 863 comments and 1.1K shares.

example facebook post from auntie anne's that says "will you..." and then shows a photo of pretzels spelling out "be mine"

RK: What advice would you give to a brand that has given up on Facebook? How do you get that audience re-engaged?

BR: I think you just start posting. Whether you have a small community or a big one, I think you just start posting text-based statuses. You can honestly just copy and paste your tweets! In general, I think one of the only ways to be successful on social is to be consistent. If you want your community to show up for you, you have to show up for them. When you post consistently, you can start learning about your audience and tailor your content accordingly.

RK: Tell me about a recent post (on Facebook or any other platform) that you are proud of!

BR: For April Fools, we “opened” a new concept store called Uncle Danne’s. We posted about it on all our social platforms and of course, Facebook was part of that. Our Facebook post BLEW UP. It received 622K impressions, 537 comments, and 530 shares. This was unexpected knowing that April Fools content usually goes crazy on Twitter. The comments are top notch and that’s one of the best parts of Facebook, reading the comments. People have no filter and tell you exactly how they feel. To the point that when I’m reading through the comments I can feel the passion they have for maple syrup pretzels and bacon bit nuggets.

This content performed pretty great on all of the other platforms, but Facebook just blew us away.

facebook post from auntie anne' on april fools that introduces a fake concept called "uncle danne's"

RK: Are you hopeful for the future of social media?

BR: I am! I think change is inevitable and we will just roll with the punches. I haven’t run off of any platforms...yet. I think brands/companies are finally realizing how important organic social is and I think we are finally getting the recognition and resources we deserve 😊.

RK: Any final thoughts?

BR: The beauty of social is that you can test and learn. That’s how I started all of this. I just posted because why not? It unlocked an entire strategy on a platform that’s been neglected for years. Now, I scream it from the rooftops to post on your brands Facebook pages.

I’ve also seen people on Twitter saying, “well if you’re not a big brand, this won’t work.” My question to you is, why? Why not try to build a community on Facebook—isn’t that the entire point of the platform? Just because you don’t have a million fans on Facebook, that shouldn’t stop you from trying, testing, and learning.

As I always say and will always say…JUST SEND IT 🚀

facebook post from auntie anne's that says "manifesting more pretzels in 2023"

If you’re a paid Link in Bio subscriber, Bari will be answering all of your questions in the Discord today! Get in there and ask away.

Speaking of, in this week’s Logged On send for paid subscribers I talked about why organic social isn’t dead—you just need to post more shareable content. Heard from multiple people that this one was super helpful, which is feedback I always love to receive!!!

Ready to find your next role? Join the Link in Bio Talent Collective and check out the job board with awesome roles from Epitaph Records, Paperless Post, Adobe, and more!

As a reminder, the Link in Bio Talent Collective is a way for companies to find talented social pros—and for you to find your next role. If you’re open for work (or are even very casually looking for new opportunities), you can apply here. Once accepted, your profile will get put in front of companies who are looking to hire social media positions.

And if you work at a company looking to hire talented social media professionals, you can head here to get access to the Link in Bio Talent Collective.