The Art of Encouraging User-Generated Content: Boosting Likes/Shares

On the world’s largest social networks, it’s all about the likes and shares. But it’s not easy to get them. Sure, you’ll get a few for every update, but how do you really maximize the engagement on a post? Researchers have a few ideas.

Here, we’re going to focus on data-driven tips and tricks that have proven to be successful for getting more Facebook likes and shares.

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The Best Time to Post on Facebook

The consensus has been that the best time to post on Facebook is in the late afternoon, but the hours vary depending on the source.

Buffer : Between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Hubspot : Between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
BuzzSumo : During off-peak times
CoSchedule : 7 am., 9 a.m., and 10 a.m.

As you can see, the times vary depending on who you listen to. The best course of action is to try posting at different times and take your cues from the engagement you receive.

But if you want to be more accurate, use Facebook insights to determine when to post. This willincrease engagement on your Facebook posts .

How Frequently You Should Post on Facebook?

Here’s the secret about how often you should update your Facebook status: it doesn’t really matter.

You’ll hear a lot of people say you should only post 1-2 times a day, while others recommend posting much more often so that the Facebook News Feed algorithm pushes one of your posts through to your friends and followers. But no one has hard data on how the algorithm works with reference to the frequency of posts.

Hubspot was surprisingly forthcoming when it said, in aHubspot blog post , that there is no magic formula to how often you should post.

It does depend—on your followers’ age range, interests, Facebook habits, and so on.

With this one, the best strategy would be to just use your own data and see what works for you. Use 1-2 times a day as a starting point of reference, and experiment with different frequencies. See which one has the best result for you and stick with that.

The Best Length for Your Facebook Post

There isn’t one single ideal length for a Facebook post. Instead, the best length is determined by whether you want more shares or likes. Short posts get more likes, while long posts get more shares.

BuzzSumo found that posts with 50 characters or fewer were more engaging.Resonance Content shared social media analyst Dan Zarrella’s findings that posts with no more than 50 characters and longer posts with more than 750 characters get the most likes.

Zarrella also found that posts with more than 450 characters were shared much more. Just for reference, 400 characters is the cut-off mark after which you get a “See More…” button to expand the post. Messages that were roughly 450 characters or 700 characters got the highest shares.

However, for posts viewed on mobile phone phones, aBlue Compass study found that Facebook cuts off longer posts and adds the “See more” prompt depending on the screen size of the phone used.

One important tip: If you are sharing a link, keep the text short and once you see the preview, delete the actual text of the link. As noted in aFacebook blog post :

We’ve found that people often prefer to click on links that are displayed in the link format (which appears when you paste a link while drafting a post), rather than links that are buried in photo captions. The link format shows some additional information associated with the link, such as the beginning of the article, which makes it easier for someone to decide if they want to click through. This format also makes it easier for someone to click through on mobile devices, which have a smaller screen.

The Best Images and Videos to Insert in Your Post

AHootsuite blog post revealed that Facebook posts with images have an engagement rate of 0.11%, and those with videos get 0.08% engagement. So, try and include a photo or a video in your updates. Try toupload HD photos and videos on the Facebook mobile app for the best results.

Ever since Facebook started auto-playing videos in the News feed, they have overtaken photos as the most engaging type of content.According to Hootsuite , in 2019, Facebook started prioritizing videos that kept viewers watching for longer than a minute and even three minutes.

Shorter, timely video content tends to do well in News Feed. Keep in mind that auto-play videos play silently in News Feed until someone taps to hear the sound, so videos that catch people’s attention even without sound often find success. That’s why you should add text to your videos if possible.

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The Best Topics for More Likes on Facebook

The more people like or comment on your post, the higher it will be pushed in the News Feed. It’s kind of a vicious circle, but you can also cheat your way into higher visibility by talking about some trending topic.

There are plenty of ways to find out what’s trending on Facebook at any given time. Once you have that information, tie in what you want to say to one of those topics to get a quick boost.

If you’ve ever wonderedwhether it’s a good idea to use hashtags in your Facebook posts , the answer is yes, but you need to use them strategically. Don’t abuse them or no one will pay attention to them or your posts might appear spammy.

Keep in mind thatFacebook hides some content on the News Feed for various reasons.

Posting for Success on Facebook

Research is one thing, but the biggest factor is how it fares in the real world. Have you used any of the above tips and found them to work splendidly? If not, try them out today.