How to Increase Facebook Content Shareability in 7 Easy Steps

Want to reach more people on Facebook?

Of course you do! 

Despite many businesses and brands moving on to other social media platforms, Facebook still rules for social media marketing because:

• It has more than 1.7 billion active users, making it the biggest social network.
• It is the most used social media platform among Americans, who spend about 40 minutes on Facebook every day.

And these are just a fraction of the stats that point to Facebook being one of the most crucial channels for marketing.

So naturally, you want to leverage your social media marketing through Facebook in order to reach and engage with a much wider audience.

In this post, I'll show you exactly how to get your content shared on Facebook - which will guarantee higher reach and engagement for your brand.

How to Increase Facebook Content Shareability in 7 Easy Steps

1. Choose The Right Type of Post

No matter how interesting your info may be, getting people to engage with it and share it with their friends is all a matter of how you present the info. 

Otherwise, your audience is just going to scroll past it and move on to a post they find more interesting. 

But how exactly can you present your info? It all depends on the type of post you share.

A study conducted by BuzzSumo found some intriguing details about what type of post performs best on Facebook.

They analyzed more than 1 billion Facebook posts and found out the following details:

#1: Question Posts

Question posts are posts in which you’re asking a question and inviting followers to share their thoughts and answers.

These posts managed to generate the highest interaction overall at 500+ interactions.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

#2: Image Posts

Next are image posts, which generated close to 500 interactions.

These interactions include comments, likes, and shares on each post.

Image posts ranking second isn’t too much of a surprise since people tend to be drawn to visual content as opposed to text content.

The study also found that combining image and question posts generated 616.7 interactions on an average. But the average interactions for text-only question posts were only 144.45.

So you can see how images have a huge impact on different types of posts.

#3: Video Posts

The study also found that videos managed to get an average of about 400 interactions on Facebook.

Videos are a great way to add an entertainment factor in your interactions with an audience...

...You can even tell a story through your video content. 

Burger King created a video promoting learning, and it was shared more than 37,000 times on Facebook.

#4: Link Posts

Videos were followed by link posts, which received about 200 interactions.

Link posts help you share your website content and blog posts with your Facebook followers.  

#5: Giveaway posts

Coming close after link posts were giveaways.

Posts promoting giveaways and contests were able to receive almost 200 interactions on Facebook.

#6: Coupon/Discount Posts

Coming close after link posts were giveaways.

Posts promoting giveaways and contests were able to receive almost 200 interactions on Facebook.

2. Share More Videos 

In the same BuzzSumo study mentioned above, they also broke down the performance of video posts based on each type of interaction, i.e. likes, shares, and comments.

Interestingly, although videos were only third in overall interactions, they performed the best in terms of shares.

They received about 83.87 average shares on Facebook, which means video posts should be your best bet at achieving the goal of increased shares.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

A second BuzzSumo study conducted in June 2016 also confirmed that videos are surpassing other types of Facebook content in terms of average total shares.

The study was conducted on 25 million Facebook posts from 10,000 top publishers.

From their analysis, it’s clear that the average Facebook shares for video content have doubled since August 2015.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

But even if you do post videos on your Facebook page, make sure you post them natively instead of sharing 3rd-party hosting links such as YouTube or Vimeo.

The first study found that there’s a huge difference between the two.

Direct embeds generate just over 200 shares and around 951.48 overall interactions.

YouTube videos, on the other hand, didn’t even manage to get 100 shares and only generated 140.75 overall interactions.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

So you can see that creating and sharing more videos on your Facebook page could help you beat out your competitors. 

You will be able to generate more engagement and interactions for videos...

...While at the same time getting more people to notice your content.

3. Create More Visual Content

In the first BuzzSumo study, you saw that visual content – videos and photos – performed far better than any other type of content in terms of shares

This means that even if your link and text posts aren’t getting enough shares, you could turn them into visual content.

This is bound to help boost your social media strategy.

Wondering how to do that? Here are a few tips:

Create Infographics

If you have an interesting article that you want to gain plenty of social traction, try creating an infographic that highlights some useful info within the article. 

You can then share this infographic content on Facebook along with a description and a link in the caption, inviting people to click on the link to read more.

Even if you don’t have an article to link to, you can follow Health Digest’s example and share some how-to tips or interesting facts with your fans.

Their infographic content about the health benefits of turmeric generated more than 2000 shares in just 21 hours. 

You can then share this infographic content on Facebook along with a description and a link in the caption.

Make sure to invite people to click on the link to read more.

Even if you don’t have an article to link to, you can follow Health Digest’s example and share some how-to tips or interesting facts with your fans. 

Their infographic content about the health benefits of turmeric generated more than 2000 shares in just 21 hours.

Create Custom Images

Whether you’re sharing a text post or a question post, grab people’s attention by creating custom images to accompany the post.

Start by brainstorming some ideas for the type of images that will gain plenty of engagement.

Rockstar Games, for instance, creates custom images to provide fans with updates about their games. 

The example below displays how they’re keeping gamers updated with info about a current offer on GTA Online. 

The post received 400+ shares.

Even if you’re not sharing updates, you can at least go for simple images with jokes and puns related to your business. 

Here’s an excellent example from Taco Bell.

Share Video Tutorials

Let's rewind a few points back and remember that video posts manage to generate the most interactions...

...And that how-to videos are among the top performing types of content. 

Consider combining the two through the creation of video tutorials.They are bound to add a great visual appeal to your useful guides.

4. Choose the Right Timing

Timing is crucial regardless of how appealing your content may be. 

If you’re sharing your content at a time when most of your audience is asleep or at work, there’s a huge chance your post might not get the amount of shares it deserves. 

Kissmetrics analyzed how the performance of different types of social media content changes according to timing.

According to their data, most Facebook shares occur on Saturday. Sundays also perform better than other days of the week, while Thursdays are the worst. 

They also found that there’s a spike in Facebook shares around noontime and a slight increase after 7PM.

Image Source: Kissmetrics

Even the findings from Buzzsumo supported the fact that weekends are the best days to post on Facebook.

But according to them, Sundays performed slightly better than Saturdays.

And there’s also some difference in their data about the best time to post, with the hours between 9PM and 11PM performing best.

The study concluded that there’s too much competition during the day, which results in a lower engagement rate for posts made during the early hours.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

My best advice when it comes to determining the right timing - study your Facebook Insights to know when you're audience is most active.

5. Keep It Short and Simple

Lengthy captions and status posts may not be the best choice for you if you’re aiming for increased shares.

Keep in mind that people are visiting Facebook to socialize; not to read.

So when you’re describing your post – be it an image, infograph, video, or link – keep it short and straight to the point.

The first Buzzsumo study also analyzed the performance of different lengths of Facebook posts. 

This analysis clearly points towards shorter descriptions receiving the most interactions.

According to the study, posts that have anywhere between 0 and 50 characters as descriptions/captions generated 411.16 interactions.

As you can see in the following chart, there’s a downward trend in number of interactions as the number of characters increases.

Image Source: BuzzSumo

6. Start Using Emoticons

You may find this hard to believe but using emoticons in your posts may play a significant role in your Facebook share rate. 

In fact, using emoticons can improve your share rate by 33%. 

The same is true for comments. Your post like rate can get a 57% boost with the help of emoticons. 

Emojis make you appear friendly and add a personal touch in your interactions. However, make sure not to overdo it. Too many emojis can turn people off.

If you have no time to prepare custom images and infographics, you could add some visuals to your caption in the form of emoticons. 

Check out how Wendy’s complemented their post with a little heart emoji. 

Although the number of shares for this post mirrors the support for the cause behind the post, the heart still adds a more heartfelt touch to the post.

7. Encourage Shares Through Contests And Offers

If you’re a marketer, you’ll be familiar with social media contests and offers. Hopefully, by now you would have realized that these are a great way to engage your audience and bring more visibility for your brand. 

Showcasing your contest or offer through visual content can help you generate more shares...

... All because people want to share the awesome news with their friends.

To further boost your share rate on Facebook, you can customize the rules of your contest in a way that compels your fans to share your content. 

Here are a few ways to improve shares through contests and offers:

Set The Rules

First, come up with the rules of the contest based on your goal. Since your goal is to encourage people to share your content, you’ll need to create rules involving shares. 

But make sure the rules you come up with are in tune with Facebook contest rules.

For instance, you can’t require fans to share the post to enter...

...But you could offer additional chances to win if they share.

Decide On a Prize

To ensure that your Facebook contest really gains traction, you need to give your fans the right motivation. 

In this case, the motivation is the prize. Make sure it's one they would be ready to do something for. Even something as simple as getting featured on your page could compel fans to share your post.

Display The Details

After you’ve come up with the terms and conditions of the contest or offer, you just have to create an eye-catching image listing the details.

If the rules are a bit lengthier, you could write an entire section about it on your site and then share the link with the image. 

Here’s an example of how you can display some of the important details of the offer or contest in a photo.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a clear idea what to do and what type of content to create if you’re looking to get more Facebook shares. 

The more shares you generate, the higher your visibility will be. Believe me!

So get started with these examples, tips, and ideas to optimize your Facebook marketing strategy. 

Got any more ideas to share or any questions about these tips? 

Feel free to leave your comments below.