Infographic: What & when to post on Facebook to boost engagement

Every brand loves a Facebook like. Here is the content you need to post to get more of them.

While there's more to Facebook marketing than likes, a brand can never have too many fans.
And the more engagement those fans give you, the better.
An infographic from KissMetrics serves up some statistics about the best ways and times to increase engagement on your brand's Facebook page. Surprisingly, less is more.
If you post to your page once or twice a day, you'll get 40 percent more engagement than if you post three or more times a day.
And if you post one to four times a week, you'll get 71 percent more engagement than if you post five or more times per week.
What content should you post?

• Photos. They get 104 percent more comments and 84 percent more click-throughs than text and link posts.
• Questions. Question posts get 100 percent more comments than non-question posts.
• Short updates. Posts with 80 characters or fewer get 66 percent more engagement than longer posts.

[RELATED: Master the can't-ignore social media tools after Mark Ragan's one day social media boot camp.]

See the full graphic for more insights:
(View a larger image.)

What 9 Internet trends mean for PR

 

Mary Meeker’s latest Internet Trends report has tons of interesting nuggets on global Internet use. There are now 2.4 billion Web users worldwide, and that number is growing fast. The report includes 117 pages of data and insights, but what does it mean for the PR industry? Here are nine takeaways and their implications for PR professionals:

1. TV and Internet top media consumption: 42 percent of America’s media diet is dedicated to television; another 26 percent goes to the Internet. Only 6 percent of that time is spent with print, indicative of the trouble the newspaper industry is having.

2. People like photos: The number of photos uploaded to the Internet per day has exploded since 2005—to more than 500 million per day. As brands share content on social networks, the need for visuals is obvious.

3. Smartphone users look at their devices—a lot: Consumers are reaching for their mobile devices 150 times a day. Make websites, content, and whatever you’re using to communicate with to consumers mobile-friendly.

4. Users flock to video: People are embracing online video like never before. Per minute, 100 hours of footage is uploaded to YouTube. That’s a 100 percent increase from six years ago. Is your brand there?

5. Vine: Here’s another nod to the boom in online video, only these are a bit more condensed. The six-second video app Vine has grown significantly since January, from two percent of iPhone users to nearly eight percent. How can brands leverage the app for storytelling? Last week, a local TV station in Richmond, Va., linked to a Vine app in an online story related to a high school prank.

6. Facebook is huge, but declining: Facebook is in the top three of the world’s most-visited websites, behind Google and Microsoft. It’s also the only social network to suffer a decline in users in the past couple of years. Decline or not, the sheer number of site visitors proves Facebook’s worth as a promotional tool for brands.

7. Transparency gets more transparent: Think about these stats—there are 1.1 billion global active Facebook users, 68 percent of whom are on mobile and have, on average, more than 200 friends. Every person has the ability to be a reporter. Companies must be truthful and transparent, or they risk that their mistakes will spread across social media.

8. Internet access habits will change quickly: Within two years, more people will access the Internet from cars, televisions, and appliances other than PCs. Also, wearable technology is coming. This will be another opportunity for brands to creatively develop ways for consumers to access on the go (and possibly, through their eyeglasses).

9. Scan me up, Scotty: Think the QR code is dead? Think again. QR code adoption in China has jumped from 2 million to 9 million in the last year. The QR code will continue to be an extension of campaigns—and a way for consumers to stay informed, increase convenience, and even pay for goods.

I’ve spent the last couple of days flipping through Mary’s slides. They’re almost like going through an antique store; you find something new every time you visit:



Of all the insights, there is one common theme: the need for PR pros to continue to make engaging, relevant content no matter what the platform.

What trends are you most excited about?

11 words to delete from press releases

Don’t worry; we have a host of alternatives for you

The advice to avoid jargon in writing is age-old and common. It's also smart.

We send press releases, blog posts, and other content aimed at particular audiences, because we want people to read and grasp the information and act on it in some way. That can’t happen if they have to struggle, even a little bit, to understand the message.

Knowing we’re supposed to banish jargon is the easy part. Doing it, though, can be excruciatingly hard—especially when a deadline looms.

So, here are 11 of the worst culprits from corporate communication. In my view, these words and phrases should never appear in a press release, email, or other tool used to convey information.

Here, too, are suggestions for replacements for each one. The substitutes are not exact synonyms in many cases, but they are simple and clear words that could work in place of the jargon, depending on the context. Next time you get stuck and can’t find a way around “mission-critical," just take out this list and try to swap that phrase with something clearer.

1. utilize ➙ use, show, fill, take, apply, push, work

2. end-user ➙ client, customer, audience, shopper, buyer

3. synergy ➙ team, powerful, effective, stronger, more, together

4. mission-critical ➙ main, big, major, central, chief, crucial

5. win/win ➙ good, smart, strong, clear, sound, skillful

6. value-added ➙ worthwhile, effective, better, helpful, ahead

7. ideate ➙ create, think, craft, whir, plan, test, solve

8. operationalize ➙ make, do, put, carry, finish, use, see, work

9. scalable ➙ grow, expand, wide, more, big, spread, include

10. deliverables ➙ results, value, outcome, change, effect

11. outside the box ➙ different, bold, striking, unique, brave, exciting

Let me know whether these work for you. Also, if jargon isn’t tripping you up as much as writer’s block is, here’s another post to help you break free and get unstuck.

[RELATED: Become a more efficient writer and editor after one day of training.]

Becky Gaylord worked as a reporter for more than 15 years in Washington, D.C., Cleveland, and Sydney, Australia, before she launched the consulting practice, Gaylord LLC. You can read Becky’s blog Framing What Works, where a version of this story first appeared. This article first ran on Ragan.com in June 2012.