How would you like to know the secret formula to Facebook marketing success? To ensure that all of your posts are deliberately engineered to obtain the maximum results?
A recent Search Engine Journal piece, authored by Kevan Lee, promises something along those lines. The article is all about explaining “The Anatomy of the Perfect Facebook Post”—and in truth, it’s pretty good. It’s certainly worth reading and absorbing, especially if you’re a small business owner, doing all your own social media marketing.
We’re going to summarize the key points below, highlighting what we think is most essential and offering a couple of points of caveat and clarification. In fact, we’ll begin with this note: While there may indeed be a proper structure to ensure Facebook success, there’s also something to be said for variety. If all your posts follow the exact same recipe, then your account is going to feel a bit robotic and impersonal. The following points are all intended as best practices, then—but there can and should be some exceptions.
The Anatomy of the Perfect Post
Lee suggests that the perfect Facebook post has five basic ingredients:
- A link.
- Brevity—ideally 40 characters or less.
- Publication at non-peak hours.
- A place on a regular posting schedule.
- Timeliness/newsworthiness.
Again, the Grammar Chic team is largely in agreement here, but we do have a few comments to offer. We’ll take the five ingredients one at a time:
- First, note what Lee really says about the perfect post being a link. What he says is that the perfect post actually uses Facebook’s built-in link tool; posting an image and then including link text in your photo description is not the same thing, and won’t get nearly as many clicks. And this is true enough: If you want to get maximize click-through, you need to focus on the link and on a strong call to action, without distracting attention with other elements. If social sharing and general online engagement is what you’re after, though, then images will be more helpful.
- Lee also shares that posts 40 characters or shorter tend to get liked and commented on the most. No big surprise there!
- Posting at non-peak hours, meanwhile, helps your post stand out, because the competition is a bit less heated. In particular, Lee recommends posting on weekends and after normal work hours.
- Lee says that an effective Facebook post is part of a consistent sharing strategy, encompassing a minimum of one post each day. Of course, we agree completely!
- Finally, Lee notes that compelling posts often factor in trending topics and current events, though he admits that this is optional. Certainly, it can be advantageous to leverage the popularity of a trending topic—but it’s not something you want to force.
And that’s that: The structure of the perfect Facebook post. Even with all this in mind, though, you may still be at a loss for developing actual content—and that’s where we come in. Contact Grammar Chic, Inc. today to inquire about our content development and strategy services: www.grammarchic.net, or 803-831-7444.
The Red Ink 