Have you ever wondered why some posts go viral while others die with just a few likes? To give you some perspective, when you post on Facebook (FB) you are up against other 1.66 billion daily active users posting 4.75 billion pieces of content daily. So, the important question to ask is, how do you make sure your content engages in the FB ecosystem? It all boils down to understanding FB’s News Feed Algorithm, and the good news is FB’s new algorithm isn’t much of a black box anymore. Understanding algorithms can be very tricky but here are some things you could do to ensure your posts perform better.
What does the algorithm do?
The algorithm is focused on serving content and messaging with the highest engagement and relevance.
What factors determine if a post is relevant?
1. The Inventory represents the stock of all content that can display on a user’s FB News Feed.
2. Signals are inputs that FB interprets – type of content, the publisher, its age, purpose, and more. You want your content to signal to FB that it is meaningful and relevant to your target audience.
3. Predictions represent the rate of interaction of a user with a piece of content. These include comments, likes, and shares from real profiles.
4. A Score is the final number assigned to a piece of content based on the likelihood the user will respond positively to it.
Some tips to improve your post’s performance
1. Be a conversation starter:
Create content that fosters positive interactions between your followers and others. Your content should be aimed to provoke a conversation. It should always strike a balance between advertising & conversation. Use words like ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘why’, ‘what if…’, ‘would’, ‘should’ to kick off a conversation.
2. Post often and consistently:
There’s a common myth that claims you should limit your FB posting to a couple of times per day, or just a few times per week. That’s false! You should limit your posting to whatever frequency works for your brand. Depending on your audience’s requirement, work out a social media calendar that is optimized for your brand. There is no limit to the number of posts, so experiment with permutations and combinations to understand what works best for you.
3. Time your posts correctly:
Determine the best time to put your content on FB. You can use your FB Insights (more on that later) to figure when your target demographics are most active.
4. Understand the content you cannot use:
You may never do this but just as a word of caution, FB has explicitly stated that your page will be down-ranked immediately if you use:
- Offensive but not prohibited content
- Fake news
- Misleading information
- Videos flagged as false by fact-checkers
- Links to a site that uses plagiarized content
Avoid using engagement bait words like ‘vote’, ‘react’, ‘share’, ‘tag’, ‘like’ and ‘comment’ in your post. Ex: Comment ‘yes’ if you are a kid from the 80’s – FB looks at these words as engagement bait, and publishers should expect their reach on these posts to decrease.
5. Post quality videos:
The future of social media will be greatly skewed to the consumption of video content. So, if you are not using videos, you may want to consider its potential. Keep the following guidelines in mind so that you are giving the algorithm exactly the kind of video it wants:
- Loyalty: videos that people search for and return to.
- Video length and view duration: videos that people watch past the 1-minute mark and that are longer than 3 minutes.
- Originality: videos that aren’t repurposed from other sources and have plenty of added value.
6. Consider creating FB Groups relevant to your audience:
FB itself is doing its part to promote the feature with a redesigned ‘Groups’ tab that shows new activity. FB is also helping people discover new communities with a ‘Suggested Groups’ sidebar. Consider starting a new group based on your brand page. A group can be the place where you promote discussions, educational content, problem-solving, entertainment on the topics that matter to your audience.
7. Be patient to see your post perform well on reach:
With countless content being posted on FB it may take several days before your friends see your posts. Create content that is always relevant to your audience, irrespective of when they see it.
I hope these insights help you draft your next post for better reach and outcome!
