In its Optimizing Facebook Engagement white paper, social media analyst Track Social lists ten key ways to get noticed on Facebook.

These are:

1. Get to the point. Try to stay below 100 characters.

2. Use pictures and let them do the talking.

3. Remember that audiences are wary of video content or referred links.

4. Post at the right time, when your audience is listening. Test posting at different times.

5. Be direct and ask for action if you want it.

6. Captioning, or asking the audience to “fill in the blanks” is one way to encourage engagement.

7. Use questions wisely. They can encourage increased response via Comment, but actually reduce response via Like.

8. Find the posting frequency that is right for you. Monitor it to make sure you are not posting too little (or too often).

9. Make sure content is relevant and interesting to your audience.

10. Test constantly. Poor response will decrease visibility, which will then result in even poorer response.

Morgan J Arnold, CEO of Track Social, says Facebook engagement is critically tied to brand visibility on the site. As well as listing the top ten ways that brands can use Facebook effectively, he also points out how not to use it, describing the least effective form of post, which is the Link Post: “This is where the brand gives Facebook a link, and allows Facebook to construct the majority of the post from the content on the webpage corresponding to the link. Shockingly, the most under-performing post type, was also the most commonly used.”

Discussing why this type of post fails, Arnold adds, “It seems that the act of merely passing on information is not seen as engaging. For some companies such as news organisations, we can see how news dissemination via link can be effective; however on Facebook (unlike Twitter) users are more receptive to different types of content.”

It may also surprise some PROs that video is not always an effective engagement tool on Facebook. Morgan says the reason for this may be that video content is too demanding of the audience to generate engagement on a large scale. Although he adds, “on the other hand, it can certainly be said that once a fan interacts with a video, there is a deeper level of engagement, and this can be more valuable to the brand. Our results, however, are focused on the scale of engagement as opposed to the depth of individual engagement.”

Videos may not always engage, but pictures do. Morgan says: “A picture is worth a thousand words. In terms of both Likes and Comments, photos far exceeded other posts in engaging consumer responses. With a response rate up to four times that of some post types, photos provoke a more visceral response and allow a more immediate reaction from consumers on Facebook.”

The Track Social Top 10 Most Liked Facebook Brand Posts for January 2013:

1. Disney, 327,817 likes

2. WWE, 247,415 likes

3. Louis Vuitton, 163,091 likes

4. Entirely Pets, 161,780 likes

5. Walmart, 156,069 likes

6. Starbucks, 155,816 likes

7. Oreo, 141,044 likes

8. Tiffany & Co, 136,242 likes

9. Intel, 131,179 likes

10. BMW, 125,274 likes

Background
 

This list was compiled by US-based Track Social. To get its Optimizing Facebook Engagement white paper, go here. List is limited to one post per brand. Only brands are included with recognised products, not celebrities or organisations.