How To Create Facebook Posts People Want to Share
The information makes it difficult to truly understand what goes into a post that people actually want to share:
A. On one end you know Facebook has hundreds of millions of active users and an incredibly large install-base reaching many different Web-friend and mobile devices so there’s never a shortage of the number of individuals you can reach.
B. On the other end you come across articles stating that just 3% to 7.5% of fans see your page posts along with another piece stating just 12% of your friends will see your posts.
A bit of a shock wouldn’t you say?
It goes to show that many of your best intentions with creating content and engaging with your fans and friends are often falling flat in their tracks. The good news is that we have this sort of data which means we can learn about what works.
Marketo has an amazing ebook freely available that delves into these concepts of why people want to share (it’s well worth the read). In this post let’s break it down into something manageable you can learn, right now, and have something to use upon completing this piece.
The Core Take-Away
Let’s examine some of the core take-away from the ebook…
EdgeRank and Visibility
EdgeRank is the filter that stops many fans from seeing your content and offers. Once an individual stops paying attention it stops being shown in their feed. The main objective to everything after is to focus on one thing… get them to click.
Paid vs. Organic
Since the introduction of EdgeRank and the removal of older tactics (like fan gating) Facebook has put itself in a position where they are increasing profits because businesses need to reach their audience. Promoted content and advertising was then ramped up and now it becomes one of the primary methods to reach a great number of people if you feel your page doesn’t hold well with EdgeRank.
From the ebook the idea for this area becomes:
- Promote recent posts to non-fans (to draw in new attention)
- Promote recent posts to fans (to encourage engagement)
- Promote your most interactive posts with non-fans (to allow them to jump right in to a hot conversation)
Likeability
Skipping down through some of the topics of “what makes for a viral post” and the various psychological elements of a post we get to the real meat of the ebook which highlights the seven functions of highly shared posts – these include:
- Giving offers, discounts, or deals
- Advising others with tips and strategies
- Warning fans about dangers
- Amusing the followers with funny pictures and videos
- Inspiring them such as using inspirational quotes
- Amazing them with mind-blowing media
- Uniting them and making them feel they’re part of the brand
If you can get those down while dodging these four mistakes:
- Talking about yourself
- Being too edgy or offensive
- Being too obscure or niche
- Asking for likes
Then you are well upon your way to creating a routine (and campaign) that will do well for your business and its usage of Facebook.
Again – the book has a ton of additional examples that are worth your while to examine and learn.
What Do We Learn From All This?
Fickle comes to mind.
The Facebook community is made from those in all walks of life. Coupled with how fast the Internet grows it’s hard to say what works one day will hold up the next. In the end it’s all about giving value to your fans whether it’s a laugh or a special deal of the day. Users want brands that aren’t there to merely push products and offers down their thoughts… they want the brand experience.
Unsure where your business fits in all of this? Give us a call and we’ll provide you with a free consultation on how to make Facebook work for YOUR business.
