Around 12-months ago I ran an exercise by looking at a number of Facebook pages to see what content worked best.
Seeing as the algorithms are ever changing I thought I’d refresh the exercise as part of an update on training slides.
I thought I’d share that here too.
What’s engagement?
That’s the likes, comments, shares and replies on a post. Facebook says engagement is important as it increases organic reach. If people are engaging they are likely to stay longer on the app. So they want to promote things that will keep people.
Here’s the league table.
What's changed?
Of course, a snapshot of 250 public sector Facebook posts from 10 pages can only tell you so much, but I think its indicative.
We're starting to see AI content being posted by corporate pages. Worryingly, neither of the two examples were marked as AI which not only goes against Facebook's terms and conditions but UK Government guidelines.
What the numbers mean
I've looked at the page's follower numbers and then measured the amount of engagement per post. Easy.
1st - The carousel of pictures is king as content
A spread of pictures gets the most engagement.
In many ways there's no surprise to this. Visually, its interesting. As I've said many times before it plugs into the old school journalism thing of getting more people to read the paper to recognise people they know. Only, this time those people have Facebook accounts to like and comment.
In the research, carousel images had 0.36 per cent engagement.
2nd - Reels are second
There's no surprise with this, but posting as a Reel performs strongly. With this you may be reaching people outside of your network.
This absolutely chimes with the intention of Facebook to make all video vertical. Why? Because that's how we hold a mobile phone in our hand.
3rd - A single picture that's not a library image, stock image or got text or design on it
Next up is the single image.
This is an image that is from the area. It could be a landscape shot of woodland, staff at work, a senior person doing something.
This content from Mersey and West Lancashire NHS does this beautifully as it tells the story of a dedicated member of staff.
4th - Video uploaded to the page
This is uploaded directly to the page as opposed to as a Reel. It's aimed at the people who like your page.
This example from Merseyside Police isn't intended to try and snag passing traffic who are looking to kill time. There are no gimicks here or sharp edits that would work on other content. It's a statement on an important matter.
Here's an edit but the full clip is here.
5th - Artwork
Our old friend artwork. This can be an image which has gone through Canva or past a designer. This is the same as last yea. It reinforces the message that this content doesn't connect as well as other content.
There's no criticism of designers. It's just that their fine work is most effective in other areas.
These findings absolutely chime with social media reviews I carry out.
The greatest danger with communications is that the myth that it's happened. It may be useful at a meeting to say that's been posted but is it connecting? No.
Here's an example from another part of the world.
6th - stock images
We've all been there. We need a shot of an older person looking concerned being helped by someone. We don't have one of our own. So, we'll go for a stock image.
They are often insincere and don't really connect.
7th - Text
Straight forward text came at this point in the league table. Facebook used to be all about text in 2007 but technology has moved on.
8th - AI images
As I've mentioned, the two images encountered which are AI were both not marked as AI. This is a bad look for reasons which we've looked at. Don't. If you do use AI mark it as such.
9th - Toolkit
I have to say, this year I saw far less toolkit content. Toolkit is the centrally issued set of images with maybe national branding which is distributed to people across a region or country. The thinking behind it is sound. You're busy, so we've made something for you. But the numbers don't lie. People don't connect.
Here's an example from Australia.
10th - GIFs
This is perhaps surprising. A GIF is a brief animation. This can be an existing GIF or something that the organisation has made which can be pulled off the shelf. The fire and rescue service I looked at had several for incidents, for example.
It's bottom of the league.
So what?
Well, take these figures as indicative. Have a look at your own content and come up with numbers for yourself. This way, you'll be able to bat back content that won't work supported by data.
Give a Gallic shrug while you're at it and say the word 'algorithms.'
I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER, ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS and ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED.