23 Tips for Your Next Facebook Post

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Being able to come up with Facebook posts that are unique, engaging and interesting week after week isn’t easy. Trust us, we know how annoying writer’s block can be.

To help us with our social content creation duties, we came up with a guide to provide inspiration whenever we need to create Facebook content and we’re sharing it here with you.

How to Write Best Facebook Post

BEST PRACTICES FOR FACEBOOK POST CREATION

These are the rules that we adhere to in almost every situation because it has been proven to work. Of course, exceptions can be made.

1) Use Images for Every Post

Even for simple announcements, you should use images for every post. Facebook is a highly visual medium, and text-only updates tend to be ignored.

2) Keep Your Facebook Posts Short

Research has shown that posts below 120 characters tend to get higher engagement (link to Best Facebook Post). Keep your copy short and use compelling language.

3) Use Facebook Native Video

If you’re going to post videos, upload them natively on Facebook rather than embedding them from YouTube. Native Facebook videos get up to seven times more engagement than embedded videos.

4) Correct Sizes and Formats

Ensure that you’re uploading your images in the correct sizes so that it doesn’t get cut off. This is especially important for link posts as by default Facebook will just grab an image off your page.

 

BUILD BRAND TRUST

Trust is the cost of entry to getting your content shared (link to Psychology of Sharing). Your Facebook posts need to be able to help build that trust among your target audience.

5) Make it Personal

Humanise your brand by showing its personality. No one trusts a faceless corporation whose only interested in making money. Show your CSR projects, the causes your company supports and values it espouses.

6) Showcase Staff & Customers

Put a face to your company and showcase your staff and customers. You can even do a case study on how customers using your products for their companies.

7) Show Life Behind-the-Scenes

Not every post has to be polished and toe the corporate line. Did you just run an event? Show how it was set-up behind-the-scenes. Or if you’re a restaurant, show food being painstakingly prepared.

 

GENERATE ENGAGEMENT

8) Ask Simple Questions

Asking questions is one of the best ways to get comments from your audience. Keep it relevant and simple though. You don’t need them to answer you with a thesis.

9) Encourage & Share User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a great way to augment your regular content creation. Use an incentive to kick it off, if need be. Don’t forget to thank them and give the proper attribution.

facebook photo contest

10) Share Content from Other Pages / Fans

Sometimes you must give to receive. If another (non-competing, of course) page publishes content that is engaging and is in line with your brand, you can share it to your own audience and tag them.

11) Tap into Current Events such as Holidays & News

Create something newsworthy and current, something that has captured people’s imagination recently. Posts for holidays and cultural events are always popular. Newsjacking is also a viable strategy, but be careful.

newsjacking oreo

12) Give Helpful Advice

You want to be seen as a trusted resource, a location where your customers can visit to get their problems solved. Find a problem that affects a large group of your audience and provide some quick tips and advice.

13) Pose a Problem and Ask for Advice

Conversely, pose a problem and ask your audience for advice. It has to be genuine though. Consider asking for advice on product features or improvements.

14) Share Inspirational Images

What motivates your audience? What inspires them? What is the end-state that they want to be in? Share images that can help inspire them.

inpirational images

15) Use Quote Posts

Quote posts are popular especially if it taps into how your audience define themselves or based on something that they believe in. That makes it more likely to be shared.

16) Try Nostalgia

In the words of the immortal Don Draper, “Nostalgia – its delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” Bring up common pleasant memories.

17) Try Captions

Pick a funny or awe-inspiring photo and ask your audience to provide a caption for it. Pick a photo that will really stand out so that it will trigger them to leave a comment.

18) Try Facebook Live

Facebook Live is one of Facebook’s newest features. Except for a few hiccups along the way, it seems promising. Make sure that your internet connection is strong enough though.

19) Experiment with Cinemagraphs

Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs, forming a video clip. Done right, it is an attractive format that can make your content stand out.

 

PROMOTING YOUR POSTS

Now that you have written your post, you need to try to get it seen by as many people as possible. Here are some tips on promoting your Facebook post.

20) Target Your Post by Interest or Location

Facebook allows you to limit your posts according to interests or location. Limit who can see your posts if you think that it might not be relevant to them.

21) Boost Your Most Engaging Posts

In case you haven’t heard, Facebook is very much pay-to-play right now. Organic reach is typically between 1%-6% only so don’t be afraid to boost your more popular posts to ensure it gets the audience it deserves.

22) Use Hashtags (Sparingly)

Hashtags can help you get found but use them sparingly, especially on Facebook. It has been suggested that using too many hashtags on Facebook will reduce your reach.

23) Offer Fan-Only Coupons & Discounts

Reward your Facebook fans by providing promotions that are available only on your social media channels. Coupon or discount codes are perfect, and if you’re running a bricks-and-mortar you could simply ask them to prove that they are a fan of your page.

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Ang Lai Imm

Lai Imm is a community manager at CloudRock Sdn Bhd. She frequently writes about social media-related topics.