Facebook right now
After the craze of the #Chewbacka video on Facebook, I tuned into a webinar last week on the best way to use Facebook to achieve ‘reach’ through engagement. Facebook is a ever changing beast and just when we think we have it right – something changes. There are around 100K weights in the Facebook algorithms so it’s understandable why we get tired of trying to keep up with how it all works.
One thing that doesn’t change is that the best engagement, and therefore the best organic reach, comes from being authentic as well as being smart. Putting your audience at the centre of what you are doing, giving them great content and a reason for them to share what you have offered.
For the webinar I tuned in to – the research was undertaken by #Buzz Sumo and the presentation was delivered by #Mari Smith.
In a nutshell – the stats:
- 1.65 billion active users of Facebook
- 51.7% only ever access Facebook on their mobiles!! So keep it speedy and short!
- 1 in 3 sales start with shoppers researching on mobile before buying in a shop front or on-line.
- Daily time on platforms Facebook + Instagram + Messenger = 50 minutes per day
- Youtube = 17 minutes
- Linked In = 2 minutes
- Twitter = 1 minute
So despite the rise of Gen Z, Facebook still packs a powerful punch and these are the top 7 tips for Facebook to get engagement from your followers (please note the same rules do not apply for other social media!):
- Questions together with images create the highest engagement
- Don’t use hash tags (save them for twitter and Instagram)
- Your post length should be less than 50 CHARACTERS (less than twitter) but your linked content should be more than 1000 words to get the best engagement. (Please not I have failed in this regard – I was pushing it to get to 300 so I could get the post up!)
- Embedded video works better than links to Youtube – Publish on Youtube but also embed your
- People love pictures – and you get more engagement if it comes via Instagram (without the hash tags!)
- Timing– the time between 10pm to 11pm have more engagement than any other time. Even though most people are on social media during the day – you have less competition during the evening (or early morning!)
- Engagement is highest on Sunday second on Saturday.
For more specific information – particularly on how to use video – you can listen to the webinar.
Some goals for me personally:
- I need to get active on video – and try Facebook LIVE (ugh!)
- Use the weekends for inspiration and engagement and mix up the times
- Increase my blog posts to 1000 words!
- Ask questions 😉
What will you do as a result of this?