Crafting the Perfect Facebook Post

Just like everything else in marketing, crafting the perfect Facebook post is an evolving practice. While no one strategy is going to be a cookie-cutter fit for every company, these steps are guaranteed to increase brand engagement and attract more fans to your business’ Facebook page.

There are different anatomical parts to your Facebook posts that factor into its engagement levels. Edgerank is one of the most important drivers of engagement because it is used to determine who sees what on the newsfeed.  40% of Facebook users’ time is spent on the newsfeed with only 12% spent on brand pages, so it is vital that your post surfaces to the newsfeed (Facebook).  Once someone has engaged with your post via likes, comments, or shares, they will be more likely to see posts from you in the future.

By understanding the perfect Facebook post’s anatomy, you will better equipped to post engagement-driven content.

Step 1: Learn From Others’ Mistakes

Neil Patel, co-founder of Quick Sprout, recently posted examples of how he turned their un-engaging Facebook posts into successfully engaging ones! Here’s an example of what not to do:

• No content in the body of the post to relate to the audience
• Link previews are easily over-looked in newsfeeds
• It is not visually enticing because the link is used as the primary media

By trying a different posting-strategy, Neil was able to engage users through likes, comments, and shares.  Let’s take a closer look at what components drew the engagement of his audience:

• Short and personalized copy makes the post more relatable to the viewer
• A relevant image is intriguing and visually explains what the link is about.
• The link is included as a “next step” in the copy for users to click.

Step 2: Keep Copy Short & Sweet

The length of your Facebook post matters.  Posts between 100 to 250 characters get about 60% more likes, comments, and shares than posts greater than 250 characters (Facebook).  Keep your status updates short and sweet.  It will actually increase engagement-levels.  To shorten your links, you can use bit.ly.

This example has all of the important elements of a highly engaging facebook post.

The purpose of your content is to relate to your users and intrigue them to engage with your post.  Try incorporating a call-to-action to your website or blog.  Asking your users to like or comment or fill in the blank posts have great response rates. Posts that get more likes, comments and shares will show up more in the newsfeed and will be seen by more people.

Step 3:  Make Posts Visually Engaging

Posts that include pictures are 120% more engaging than posts without photos.  Facebook has made significant changes to be more visually focused, so it’ll serve you well to align with their strategy.  To make your posts more sharable, try incorporating funny or creative images that relate to your brand.  Adding humorous captions can enhance the picture’s appeal, as well.  Keep the picture as the primary media. After all, a picture says a thousand words.

Optimize your photos by using high-quality images.  Just as Google like high-quality images, Facebook does too.  Posting high-quality photos will help your post gain higher Edgerank. While the displayed image will be 403 x 403 px, the perfect image size is 600 x 600 px.

Step 4. Be Timely About Posting

Post-frequency is a key element of engaging Facebook posts.  It is important to keep your content relevant.  If there is a current event or a holiday, don’t wait until the next day to post about it.

Posting daily will help you to consistently reach your fans, since they likely won’t be coming to your page daily.  To find out what days and times your fans are online, you can access Facebook analytics from your page’s dashboard.  Post when your fans are online to get more traction on your page.

The secret recipe to a perfect Facebook post is all in your ability to engage your audience.  By following these four steps, you will significantly increase your engagement levels, and create more fans for your brand!