Research from Buddy Media released this month and reported by eMarketer offers insight into how to increase engagement with Facebook users. The study provides interesting statistics for brand managers based on when, what and how to publish content on the most popular social networking site in the world.
According to a small study, the highest user engagement with posts published by brands happens before and after traditional work hours rather than during work hours when most brands actually publish content on Facebook. Since a big part of social media marketing success via Facebook is getting people to read your content, posting updates when fans are more likely to be using Facebook and see your updates in their news feeds is critical.
Following are several findings from the study related to Facebook use by brands and user engagement with those brands:
- Time: Companies experience a 20% increase in engagement when they publish Facebook posts outside business hours–before 10:00 a.m. and after 4:00 p.m.
- Day: Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays than any other days. Saturday is the worst day to post with a 18% decrease in engagement reported on that day.
- Length: Shorter is better with posts of 80 characters or fewer experiencing a 27% lift in engagement rates.
- Type: Posts that end with a question see a 15% increase in engagement. Including instructions such as “like,” “post,” and “comment” also helps to boost engagement.
The trick to using Facebook for brand marketing is to consistently provide succinct, great content and conversations that your customers want and need. That doesn’t just happen on Monday through Friday during normal business hours. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to publish content continuously throughout the day, every day. Too much information quickly turns into noise and clutter. Spread your brand Facebook updates out to a few times per day and at different times during the day to reach and engage with the widest audience. This is particularly important if yours is an international brand or your customers can be found in multiple time zones.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
agree :-)