April 14, 2023
“The start is what stops most people.” – Don Schula
It’s a simple, powerful quote that speaks to people, no matter what situation they’re in and it happens to be the quote depicted in our most engaging Facebook post of all time. That’s no accident, by the way. There’s a formula for creating the most engaging Facebook posts. We’ll get to that in just a minute.
Here’s a look at our most engaging post, which received 1,968 reactions, comments, and shares over 2 days:
It’s every marketing and content manager’s job to analyze social media posts and the engagement they get. One important way we optimize our social media engagement at Conversational is by doing regular A/B testing. We do “experiments” with different post styles, lengths, images, quotes, hashtags, phrases, etc. and track the results so we can analyze them to pick “the winner.”
It’s revealed some valuable information about our audience and continues to each day. For example, we’ve learned that our audience doesn’t respond to funny GIFs very much, but loves watching entertaining videos and viewing cool images from around the world. They also enjoy reading motivational and inspirational quotes related to business ownership, entrepreneurship, and happiness.
Tip: Use Canva or a similar tool to create custom images with quotes, tips, etc. that you can share on social media with your brand logo, Facebook URL, or Twitter handle. We’ve had excellent responses from this on our social channels!
The best part about A/B testing is that by carefully testing out different post variables and going with the most popular, engaging results, you’re consistently improving your social media marketing efforts, tailoring your content to your audience, and boosting your social engagement.
What’s the formula for the most engaging Facebook posts?
All of us have something in our lives that we’re pushing off, procrastinating, or avoiding. When we read the words in that quote from our post – “The start is what stops most people” – we might feel a little convicted inside because we haven’t started working toward the goals we’ve informally made. Or maybe we feel pride because we have started working toward our goals, thereby making it further than most people ever make it.
In any case, the post speaks to us and feels applicable to our lives. It’s a universal truth that is relatable. Our friends might agree or need that boost of motivation, so we share it on social media to start a discussion. That’s why people engage more with some posts than others – if a post is relatively engaging but doesn’t get shared much or at all, it’s not striking the right chord with your audience.
That’s the formula for creating engaging posts on Facebook:
universal truth + remember your audience + forget your business = engaging post
- Start with a universal truth that practically everyone agrees with (i.e., ‘A cool breeze on a summer day feels so amazing’). That could be a quote, a relatable image, or a quick story.
- Now, think of your audience – in our case, business owners, many of whom work from home – and narrow that truth down just for them (i.e., ‘Working outside on this breezy day makes me feel more productive!’).
- Finally, if there’s any kind of mention of your business in your post, subtract it. The most engaging posts have nothing to do with direct business promotion. They’re about giving value to your audience and connecting with them.
What the most engaging Facebook posts DON’T do
What it doesn’t do, however, is mention Conversational, call answering services, virtual receptionists, virtual assistants, live chat, or any of our amazing service offerings. It doesn’t link to our website, a blog post we’ve written, or an affiliate partner’s website. It’s not promotional in any way, and that’s why it works. The most engaging Facebook posts aren’t about your business at all.
This post was written just for our audience – entrepreneurs, small business owners, and startup founders – with no intention of trying to sell them anything, convince them of anything, or recommend anything. Instead, it was focused on delivering an inspirational, relatable message to our followers that we genuinely believed they would enjoy (and look, they did!).
Recap
- Use A/B testing to analyze and track the success of your social media content over time
- Post more things of value for your audience, not about your business
- People only share what they can relate to. If it’s relatable, it’s shareable
- Formula: Universal truth + Remember your audience + Forget your business = Engaging post
We share great tips like these all the time. Come like us on Facebook to see more of our small business tips!
