Boost Engagement On Your Facebook Posts [Cheat Sheet]

Facebook posts falling flat? Trust me, we’re all getting hit hard with falling analytics.

We’ve been writing a lot lately about engagement levels — especially on Facebook — and what that means for brands.

While things are definitely dire, you’re not doomed just yet.

We’ve got six cheats for your Facebook posts.

First Things First

To be able to manipulate engagement on Facebook, you must first understand Facebook. Most especially the Facebook News Feed.

Secondly, you’ll want to know your audience makeup intimately.

Here’s how you can do that with Facebook Insights:

1. Understand your current Fan demographics
2. See what times your Fans are using Facebook
3. Know which content is performing best

Check out this post on everything you need to know about Facebook Audience Insights from our friends at Sprout Social.

Once you’re comfortable with your fans and have found your ideal audience, start implementing these cheats for your Facebook posts.

6 Engagement Cheats For Your Facebook Posts

Here are our recommended cheats (or tests) for your Facebook posts …

1) Post Frequencies 

You need to test a lot when it comes to frequencies. Do your homework and understand which days do good/better/best for your industry, and A/B test weekdays versus weekends.

Overall, some studies show engagement rates on Facebook posts are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays.

2) Post Times

Test all times, especially early and late posts to see if you get more engagement.

CoSchedule reminds us that 50% of the U.S. population is in the Eastern Time Zone, and the Eastern and Central combined represent almost 80% of the U.S. population.

They also have this handy dandy graphic to show the best timing for Facebook posts:

[Source: CoSchedule]

3) Test text-only versus photo versus link posts.

And keep testing! What works one month may be different the next.

4) Think Conversation 

Our favorite. Be sure to ask questions, use polls, and invite Fans to weigh in.

5) Smile! 🙂 

Or frown. 🙁

Either way, try to make an emotional connection with your audience through emoticons.

We love using this site to copy and paste ALL THE FEELS!

6) Always use a CTA

Be sure to entice engagement on your Facebook posts by telling them EXACTLY what you want them to do with your post.

Bonus: Here’s 40 call-to-action examples for Facebook.

Second Bonus: 11 Facebook Audience Insights Hacks To Generate Sales in 60 Minutes

Use This Cheat Sheet

Pin the graphic below to Pinterest, or print it out as a reminder to your social media crew.

And remember, Facebook should be a place where you’re always testing — whether it’s for product feedback, or to figure out which content resonates the most with your Fans.

What tips would you add to our Facebook Posts Cheat Sheet? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Brooke B. Sellas

Brooke B. Sellas is the in-the-trenches Founder & CEO of @HelloBSquared, an award-winning social media, advertising, and social media customer care agency. She's also the author of Conversations That Connect -- a book all about social listening and social media customer care. Brooke's marketing mantra is “Think Conversation, Not Campaign” so be sure to give her a shout on the socials!

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