What types of Facebook posts work best? What time of day should I post?Does it matter if I use a third-party tool to post on Facebook?
These are just a few of the questions I’m often asked by businesses I work with that use Facebook as a marketing channel.
In general, I’d put it like this: It’s still possible to get great engagement on Facebook without reinventing the wheel. But it has become harder than it used to be, and that’s why it’s important to think things through before posting.
A few interesting facts about Facebook
- There are about 1.4 billion Facebook users – Click for Tweet!
- 47% of all internet users have Facebook – Click for Tweet!
- 4.5 billion “likes” are given every day
- About 75% of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile
- Videos uploaded directly to Facebook now outperform YouTube!
Post at the right times
There are lots of differing opinions on when to post your content on social media. I’d also argue that it requires quite a bit of testing for your specific business and industry before you can say anything with certainty.
Back when I started using Facebook for business in 2009, posting early in the day gave the best results. Now, I experience more engagement later in the day.
How often should I post?
Again, this is a topic with many differing views. Overall, it can be said that brands are posting 31% more today than they did last year – and it’s only going to increase.
Especially if you look at media outlets like Buzzfeed, Vice.com, and similar companies that live off generating traffic to their sites.
This means the competition for the top spot in your newsfeed is fiercer than ever. In fact, several studies show that around 2,000 posts try to compete for a place in your feed – every single day.
So, does it help to post more times a day? What’s better – posting once or ten times a day?
More than 2,000 posts try to compete for space in your newsfeed every day.
Hubspot, a major media company working with social media, conducted a study on the correlation between the number of followers and the number of posts per day.
The general finding: the more fans you have, the more often you can get away with posting. On the other hand, if you don’t have many followers, you’ll see a decline in clicks if you post too often.
Conclusion: Focus on creating the best content, not on posting frequently. If you’re a new business, it’s recommended to post once a day rather than several times.
Post the right content
There are major differences in what kind of content works best on social media, depending heavily on your industry.
What factors does Facebook consider before showing your post?
Facebook uses over 100 different variables to decide what posts appear in your feed. Some of the most important include:
- Type of post (image/text/video) that receives the most engagement
- Which posts are reported as spam
- A user’s interaction with Facebook ads
- The user’s internet speed
This shows how important it is to consider what your users want to see – which doesn’t always match what you think you should post.
Images
Images are still a great idea. Before video content exploded, images drove the most interaction – and they still can be a strong source of engagement.
Data shows that photo posts get 120% more engagement than the average post, and photo albums get up to 180%. So test different images and consider posting albums if you’re launching a new product line.
High-quality visuals
One common issue businesses face is posting low-quality photos or videos. It’s far better to spend time and money setting up the right visuals so it resonates with your audience.
A great example of this is Red Bull.
Even if you don’t have their budget, you can still create compelling visuals.
Remove links from your posts
When you post links on Facebook, the link appears in the status – this can scare people off as it looks like code. Instead, remove the link from the status after it loads the preview.
Then write a personal message so it looks like you understand your audience. Here’s an example of how that could look:
It makes much more sense if your message has a personal tone, rather than if you try to sell something outright – that risks losing loyalty. Your users want content, and they want the good kind.
Test your headlines
Something many businesses forget when starting out with content is the importance of headlines. When you share posts or images, only 2 out of 10 people will click – so your headline has to be strong.
There are tons of guides for writing great headlines. Here are a few tips as a rule of thumb:
Great headline tips
- Use strong words like: incredible, free, absolute, weird. Try “10 weird ways to make money” or “10 incredible tips from Instagram stars.”
- Lists work very well: try “10 ways to drive traffic online” or “10 paths to success with your business.”
- When posting links, make sure your post includes images. Add a large image to your post if needed.
In other words, sell your content visually before people even click.
Videos kick ass!
There’s no doubt that video marketing is here to stay – especially with platforms like Snapchat and YouTube booming.
Important tip: Upload your videos directly to Facebook instead of sharing from YouTube. Facebook favors native video content. Click for Tweet
You can clearly see in the statistics that Facebook now wants its own videos to take center stage.
There are tons of video opportunities out there – and they can work really well on Facebook.
Example from SlikhaarTV:
Short version where they link to their YouTube channel.
Only your imagination sets the limits, but here are a few more tips to get the most out of Facebook:
- Fast start: Make sure users know what the video is about from the very beginning.
- Create a teaser: Write a short update with a hook that makes users want to click. Something like “Which burger is better? McDonald’s or Burger King?”
- Strong thumbnails: Create your own thumbnail images and upload them – ideally with your brand logo to maintain consistency.
- Create unique content for Facebook: Instead of reusing the same video across platforms, create something special just for Facebook. This gives users a feeling of exclusivity. You can always link to longer versions at the end.
Contests & offers
A large portion of your likes will come from engaging contests and irresistible offers. But this only works if you put effort into it. There are tons of contests and fun campaigns you can run to engage your audience.
Contests
Unwritten rules:
- The easier it is to enter, the more people will participate. Click for Tweet
- The bigger the prize, the more you can ask of participants. Click for Tweet
Say you want people to write a story about themselves and include a photo, and you’ll use it in your business. That’s a big ask – and the prize? A 500 DKK gift card. Not great for either side. You’ll probably end up with five entries, tops.
Example of a very simple contest:
Got 1,700 comments!
These “small contests” are a great way to create buzz around your page and boost your success. It won’t show up on the bottom line immediately – but over time you can build strong relationships with your fans, which is just as valuable.
Larger contests
There are many great apps that help you run larger contests and collect fans. You can read more in this post about Facebook lead ads.
You can also build your own apps where people sign up via email, giving you the chance to market to them later and use them in your custom audience on Facebook.
Example from SlikhaarTV using Woobox
Tip: My best advice for creating awesome contests is to follow the major brands in your industry on social media. Keeping an eye on trends helps you generate relevant ideas for your own audience.
Offers
If you sell products as an e-commerce business, your users want deals. One reason Facebook ads often fail is because businesses promote regular products without offering any incentive.
Create Facebook posts tailored to your specific audience.
For example, I love following brands like Oreo!
Not because they always offer discounts, but because they craft content just for me.
Test, analyze & optimize!
There are more and more tools to analyze how your content performs on social media. But good tools are still rare. I currently use two tools to manage and evaluate my social media work:
SumoRank
Start by going to SumoRank, enter your Facebook URL, and you’ll get an overview. You can also use it to spy on your competitors and gain valuable insights into your industry.
You’ll get data like what performs best, what times to post, and which days are most popular. Valuable input for your strategy.
BufferApp
BufferApp is basically a queue system for Facebook (and other platforms). Instead of logging in each time, you connect your accounts and queue posts.
Sure, many tools can do that.
But what’s great about BufferApp is its built-in analytics. After posting, you can review how your content performed.
And of course, I also use Facebook’s own analytics tool, Insights.
You’ll find Insights at the top of the pages you manage. It gives you all the data you need: where your likes come from, what times users visit, and which posts perform best.
Facebook likes
To get the most engagement, you need the right fans. If you have fans from irrelevant locations (like India, if that’s not your market), you’ll get low engagement and hurt your Facebook ranking.
Having 2,000,000 fans means nothing if only 10 engage with your content!
Remember: Quality over quantity.
When running Facebook ads, focus on people who’ve visited your site or are most similar to your current audience. Use data from Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to target your ideal users.
I’ll be writing a guide about this soon, but in the meantime, you can read more about Facebook marketing in this article.
Conclusion
Another solid post in the books – and it’s always a great feeling to wrap it up. I sincerely hope this post helps you and that you can test these tips on your own pages.
Personally, I still think Facebook is a great source of quality traffic and engagement – if used right. That said, advertising is becoming more necessary if you want to see exponential growth like in the past.
I love getting good comments and always respond, so tell me your best tips for getting the most out of Facebook?
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