2 Nov
The Simple Science of Facebook Engagement
More and more small businesses are adding Facebook as a tool to engage their target audiences. That’s because the vast majority of industry professionals have acquired a client using Facebook (a wopping 92 percent!).
Do you want to know the key to maximizing customer engagement on Facebook? If Facebook engagement were a science, this infographic houses the formula to follow.
Include images with posts. This increases the likelihood that fans will engage with your fan page (39 percent higher than average). It’s not a coincidence that the new-ish Facebook fan pages look a Pinterest-esque. Pinterest has figured this out how to harness our love for images, and you can capitalize on this knowledge.
Keep posts short. Posts that are shorter than 80 characters are, generally speaking, more alluring and accessible and have higher interaction rates (23 percent higher).
Use emoticons. Emoticons are symbols that convey emotions, such as 
or more enthusiastically 
. Using emoticons will increase the “share” rate or “comment” rate (by 33 percent) and “Like” rate (57 percent).
Use photo captions. You are 5.5 times more likely to elicit a comment from an image you post, if it has a caption.
Post at optimal times. What are optimal times? Of course, these are generalizations and will vary depending on audience, that said, Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST is the posting sweet spot, as are weekdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The worst time to post is after 8 p.m. and before 8 a.m, and weekends after 4 p.m.
Choose your words carefully. The best words at eliciting a response include win, winner, giveaway and new. Avoid using the terms $ off, % off and clearance.
Run contests. Looking at the keywords that increase levels of engagement, it’s evident that Facebook fans, in general, love contests. Some contest ideas involve holding a photo contest, asking fans to share ideas and encouraging fans to share quotes.
What are you doing on Facebook to engage your fans?
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Posted by Jim Zboran on 02.11.12 at 12:03 am
Great infographic Laura-Lee… that statistic that 92% of industry professionals acquired a customer through Facebook is astounding! I’d better start using some of the ideas presented to get my own page moving!
Jim Zboran recently posted: Google Authorship Achieved Easily in Minutes