Last week, Facebook made an announcement that it would be changing its News Feed algorithm to reduce the amount of purely text updates users see from brand Pages. Although users appreciate and interact with such updates from friends, they do not behave the same way with respect to Pages. The change is consistent with Facebook’s ongoing goal to provide its users with relevant content that they are most likely to engage with, as they also mentioned that Page admins “may see some increases in engagement and distribution for other story types.”
One specific piece of advice Facebook gave to brands was to ensure that any links you wish to share don’t get buried in text status updates (see example below on the left). Instead, they recommend using a link-share (below on the right), as they’ve found that these posts draw more likes, comments, shares, and clicks in addition to providing “a more visual and compelling experience for people seeing them in their feeds.”
Given this update as well as Facebook’s pointer, we wanted to share our own best practices for eliciting engagement that can be applied to both organic Page Posts as well as Ads. An objective of engagement essentially means using brand content to increase interactions such as clicks, shares, likes, comments, etc. Below we outline our top 5 tips for maximizing those actions.
1) Choose a strong image
High-quality images are key. Whether it be an actual photo post, the thumbnail for a link, or the screenshot you choose for a video post, keep your images clean, simple, and bright. (We’re using football as a theme here to reflect our excitement about the Superbowl this Sunday!)
2) Encourage action
Lead your fans to act by suggesting that they click, like, or comment to interact with your content.
3) Be relevant
If you choose to use paid media to extend reach beyond your fanbase, we recommend you target people who have likes or interests on their timeline that are related to your business. For instance, if the Broncos wanted to promote the above post, they could target people who not only like football, but also other sports like baseball or basketball, as well as interests that tend to go hand-in-hand with football like TV, beer, pizza, or buffalo wings.
4) Learn what works for your audience
Try different types of posts or ads to better understand what works for your audience. Track your performance and tailor future content accordingly.
5) Be consistent
We recommend posting organic content to your Page once a day to maintain engagement. For ads, however, we suggest boosting 1-2 posts per week, as well as refreshing content and image every few days to ensure your ads don’t become stale.
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Overall, we’ve found that the most effective types of posts and ads include some type of rich media beyond text. Photos, videos, and links all serve to better engage users than standard status updates and promoted posts. If you have any more questions about how to increase user engagement on Facebook, feel free to reach out!