Facebook Business Best Practices For Posting in 2016

Facebook Posting Tips

Facebook currently has 1.65 billion monthly users, and they’re not going anywhere. There is a huge opportunity for your business to gain a loyal following and attract attention to your brand. But with all of the competition out there, how do you get your fans engaged and immerse yourself in your industry and social community? We have a few Facebook best practices for you!

Keep It Short

Facebook posts should be short and concise in order to capture your audience’s attention. According to a study by Jeff Bullas, Facebook posts under 40 characters receive 86% higher engagement than other posts.

Facebook-Best-Practices-Short-Post-Example

Since it is almost impossible to portray your business’s message in under 40 characters, we recommend sticking to the 100-120 character range when writing posts related to your business. That said, users on Facebook want to be able to scroll through their timelines quickly, engage with a post, and move on to the next one.

Ask Simple Questions

Asking a question is one of the easiest ways to engage your fans, however, you want to make sure that you’re asking a question that guides your audience towards a fast answer. Make it easy for them to engage by asking simple questions that are quickly answered.

The easier your question is to answer, the better. For example, “What is your favorite pizza topping?” will get a much better response than, “What do you like about our pizzas?” The first question guides your audience towards an answer, making it easy for them to type out a quick comment.

Sharing (Content) is Caring

Sharing content from other Facebook pages is a great way to connect with other businesses in your industry or geographic area. Many companies make the mistake of only posting their own content-but that’s not social. Example of Facebook Share

Look for organizations and thought leaders in your industry and within your geographic area with a sizeable fan base and engaging content on their Facebook page. This way you’re providing your fans with high quality content and supporting other brands in your space. Doing this not only improves the content on your page, but even more importantly, you’re engaging with and immersing in the community.

Stay Relevant

Your fans are following you because they want the latest and most relevant news from your industry. Don’t waste their time by posting funny videos of babies (unless you’re a baby clothing company of course). At the same time, you don’t have to post content directly related to your business all of the time. Create and share content from within your industry or geographic area. Know your audience and gauge what might interest them. For example, if you’re a company that sells outdoor gear; posts about camping hacks, fishing jokes, or beautiful hiking pictures will probably appeal to your audience. This is your chance to connect with your fans and create a community, so take advantage of it.

Change It Up

Variety on your Facebook page is key. Your page won’t see sustained engagement if you’re posting only links to your website or images of your coworker’s dog. Yes, the dog is cute but it’s not really related to your company or industry. Vary the content on your page by making 70-80% of your posts completely non-promotional, but still keeping them relevant. By changing up the type of posts, you will be able to hold your audience’s attention for an extended period of time.

Bonus Tip

If you’re staring at your screen wondering, “Is this ok to post?” ask yourself these questions:

Is it going to make PETA mad?
Is it going to offend your very religious neighbor?
Would you send this to your marketing buddy with the subject line “What were they thinking?!!”?

If the answer to any of these is “yes”, then don’t post it. Where there’s doubt, there’s better content to be had. Whether your social media goals are to engage an already expansive following or to get yourself noticed in your community, it all starts with an engaging Facebook post. By posting the right kind of content to Facebook, you’ll not only gain a following but you’ll keep your audience’s attention and turn them into loyal fans of your company. Ready to give your social media strategy a boost? Download our latest guide, The Social Media Image Cheat Sheet today. It's better to be proactive than reactive, ya know?