The competition for content to be seen in the Facebook News Feed has never been tougher, but with a little work, planning and timely execution you can succeed. TrackMaven analyzed over 1.5 Million posts from nearly 6,000 brand Pages when they created The Marketing Maven’s Guide to Facebook. They uncovered that when strategically crafting posts you’ll be able to extend your viral reach. Check out their results below:
Now, let’s take a look at these different items…
Word Count
- Facebook posts can contain 60,000 words.
- Posts with 80-90 words get double the engagement (6.19%) that those with 70-79 words (3.42%).
- Experts use to believe that shorter posts got better performance, but John Haydon has broken this misconception and illustrates that people can use Facebook pages as if they were blogs with this example of Mari Smith (who has written very successful long posts).
- Whether it takes 10 words or 500, the point is not to be afraid of the word count and use what you need in order to get your message across in a way that will accomplish the goal for that specific post.
Visual Content
- Posts with images receive 37% more engagement or 2.35 interactions per post, while text-only posts get only 1.71 interactions.
- 88% of all Facebook posts have an image.
Publishing
- Posts published after hours (5pm – 1am EST) receive 11% more interactions than those published during working hours.
- Less than 18% of posts are published on weekends but weekend content receive the most engagement. Example: A Sunday post will get 25% more Likes, Shares and Comments than a Wednesday post.
Engagement
- Boost a post for greater reach and engagement.
- Likes receive 87% of all social engagement compared to 5% for Comments and 8% for Shares.
Punction
- Posts with #hashtags receive 60% more interactions.
- Posts with exclamation marks! receive 2.7x more interaction.
- Posts that ask questions receive 23% more engagement.
Facebook Image Cheat Sheet
Learn the Lingo
- Like – a virtual thumbs-up you can give to Facebook content.
- Status – answers the question “What’s on your mind?”- a brief update to your ‘friends’.
- Timeline – a chronoligical collection of your photos, experiences, stories, and activity.
- Friends – anyone you’re connected to on Facebook.
- Newsfeed – a stream of content that updates you on the status, “likes”, and posts of your friends and brands or causes you follow.
- Page – a Timeline for businesses, organizations, and brands to share and interact with people.
- Cover Photo – a banner photo at the top of your Timeline that shows off the look and feel of your brand.
- Apps – software designed to enhance the Facebook experience with additional features.
- Tabs – a section of boxes where your apps live, displayed to the right of your info.
- Mobile Upload – content that comes directly from your mobile phone, like a photo.
- Tagging – identifying a person or brand in a photo or post.
- onal Rescue Corps, Prisoner Abroad and environmental causes.
Need more information? Here’s the complete Facebook Glossary of Terms, each with detailed explanations.
Additional “How-To” Guides:
- Profile, Page, or Group?
- Set Up Your Profile
- Before You Choose Your Page Type
- Set Up Your Page
- Timeline for Pages
- Managing Timeline Tabs and Applications
- Facebook Page Settings and Privacy
- What Should You Say?
- Post Your First Update
- You As Your Brand Page
- How to Schedule Facebook Posts
- Add Photos To Your Page
- Add a Video
- Secure A Vanity URL
- Six Ways to Promote Your Page
- Facebook Insights
- Get Seen! How to Optimize Your News Feed
- Grow Your Email Mailing List
- 10 Facts about Consumer Behavior on Facebook
- Convert Your Facebook Profile to a Page
- Top 9 Facebook Marketing Questions Answered