Optimising Facebook Page Posts

Optimsing your facebook posts to get more people to view them comes down to 4 factors:  Content, Type, Frequency and Time.

Content:  Content, in my opinion is the most important factor.  Many businesses start off with a facebook page and think “How many sales can I get from this?” or “What Can I Get Out Of It?”.  This is the wrong way to think about it.  Facebook is a form of social media and you need to remember this at all times.  People aren’t liking your page to be sold to.  They are liking your page to connect with you and your business and to learn more about you.  So instead of thinking “How Can I Get My Likers to Buy From Me?”  think of “How Can I Give My Likers More Value?”  I always like to go by the 80/20 rule.  Only make 20% of our posts about you and your business.  The other 80% of posts needs to be relevant to your target audience and provide them with some sort of value.  Think about what information you can provide, something interesting or funny.  But make sure it is relevant to the people you are wanting to attract to your page – ie. your ideal client or customer.

So next you may want to know where do you find this content.  Finding good content can take time and a bit of effort.  First of all, use your own knowledge and post what you know and have learnt, but remember don’t make it a sales pitch.  Secondly, share information from other pages or blogs that will be of interest to your audience.  And always acknowledge the source of your information.  You can also set up a “google alert” with keywords that will provide results on information and content that you are after.  Set it up so that this content is delivered directly to your inbox each day and you will have a never ending supply of content.

Test your content.  Mix up the type of content you are posting and keep a spreadsheet that records engagement.  Take note over time of what gets more engagement on your page.  Post more of these to keep you engagement rates high.

Type:  Type comes down to four options – photo, text, link and video.  There has been many recent  studies carried out to show what gets the most engagement on your page.  Most studies show that the order from the best type to the worst type of post is photo, text, video and then link.  I don’t completely agree with this and this is why.  You may post a link on your page and not get any engagement on this post ie no comments or likes but have you considered how many people have clicked on that link and gone directly to the source.  I have seen this happen over and over again on blog posts.  The link is posted on facebook and it looks like no-one has seen it.  But if I go directly to the post that post has then been shared many times by those that have read it and it has in turn been shared.  You can also check your Google Analytics to see how many people have landed on a particular page on your website and where they have come from.  This will give you more of an indication.  So please don’t discard links as being a good type of post.  In my opinion, I rank photo’s as being the best, then video’s followed closely by links and then text last.  Text can be good if you are asking a quick, short question to get engagement from your likers.  But once again, mix it up and test what works best on your page and for your audience.

Frequency:  Now this is another one that you need to test and calculate what works best for your page.  You need to strike a balance with having a post active at all times while not annoying your likers by posting too much.  What I mean by a post being active is, is it still showing up on your likers timelines or is it now archived?  Watch the interaction and once you stop getting likes and/or comments, that is a pretty good indication that it is now old news and it may be time to post something new. I generally find on the pages that I manage, that 3 to 5 hours is a good time frame.  Scheduling within facebook is a great tool for doing this without having to be on facebook all the time.  Also, keep an eye on your insights and watch if too many likers are unliking your page.  This may indicate a problem and perhaps you are posting too often.    As with everything in business you need to test , test, test!!

Time:  This rolls on from frequency.  Unfortunately there is no correct answer and can vary significantly from page to page and even from day to day.  It just comes down to trying to get the best for your page and judging what works best for your audience.  Think about when your audience is most likely to be on facebook?  Is it first thing in the morning, lunch time or in the evenings?  You also need to consider if you are marketing to different time zones.  There is no set rule and to be honest, it is the hardest factor to calculate as it can always change.  My advice is to start in the morning with a post and space them out during the day and into the evening.  .   You will then get a general idea if certain times of the day or evening are better than others for high engagement.

Just remember, connect with your customers and potential clients and let them learn more about you and your business.  Always be thinking – what value can I offer to my page likers today?  The results will come over time.

The biggest advice I can offer in regards to using Facebook or any other social media site for business is to just have fun.