Chances are your company creates Facebook posts at least four or five times a week. If you look at your data – and you should be – you may notice that some posts create more of a buzz than others. Why does this happen and what can we do about?
Creating better Facebook posts is both an art and a science. There are certain methodologies that will make your post register better with your audience and additional principles that will help it stand out against all the other stuff streaming through a user’s account.
To help your brand create better Facebook posts we have put together eight tips for getting the most out of everyone’s favorite social media network:
1. Use the 90/10 Rule
Too many brands use Facebook as a self-promotion tool and are left wondering why no one ever cares to comment or like anything they post. If your company’s Facebook page promotes more than it provides value or entertainment, you too could be guilty of this mistake. Mix up your strategy so that 90 percent of what your brand is posting is valuable or entertaining and the other 10 percent is promotional. Everything should be inline with your brand identity but being too “salesy” is sure to turn people off.
2. Post for a Reason
If you are just posting every day because you read somewhere that the best brands post every day you don’t have a very good strategy. While many brands will have great success posting every day you should not feel compelled to follow suit. If you are posting just for the sake of posting and not providing value then you could be taking away from the experience on your Facebook page.
3. Don’t Forget Your Cause
We mentioned in tip one that all of your posts should be consistent with your branding. Since the objective of your social media campaign is to bring awareness to your brand or get click-throughs to your site you need to remind people what it is you want them to do. Include call-to-actions (CTA) like “learn more,” “click here,” “like this if…,” or open-ended questions to incite behavior that nudges towards your CTA.
4. Pictures are Worth a 1,000 Views!
Research has shown that posts with pictures get far more engagement than those without. If possible, all of your posts should contain relevant pictures that directly correspond with your message. Even if Facebook automatically grabs the photo because of your included link sometimes it is better to upload the picture yourself so that it is bigger and more visible than the auto grab feature Facebook has.
5. Don’t use Shortened Links
According to a study by Buddy Media posts that don’t use a URL shortener have three times the engagement of those that use shortened URLs. The most likely reason this happens is because users want to know where the link they are clicking will lead them and a full URL provides context about what the landing page is about.
6. Consider the Small Attention Spans
Although we do not recommend shortening URLs we do recommend keeping your post length concise. In today’s world of social media everyone is on a mission to consume as much data as possible as quickly as possible. Don’t make your posts drag on; posts with 80 characters or less can generate as much as 30 percent more engagement than those that are longer.
7. Reference Important People and Things
Remember in our post on How to Get Thought Leaders to Amplify Your Content we discussed how to mention social media thought leaders in your content to get them to interact with you? The same rules apply on your Facebook posts. Mention relevant companies or people using the @ symbol and make use of hashtags (#) to keep people interested in a chain of conversations you’re having.
8. Measure, Analyze and Learn
Facebook engagement can ebb and flow across different industries and around different times of the day. This is why it is important to test your posts across different times and try to analyze why some of your posts do better than others.
Once you learn more about the best types of posts, the best times and the best way to approach your fans you will be on the way to creating better Facebook posts that generate more of a buzz than ever before. To learn more about creating an effective Facebook strategy contact Success Agency today.
