Facebook Engagement Plunges – How Marketers Can Respond

A new analysis of more than 43 million posts from 20,000 brands shows just how precipitously engagement on Facebook has plummeted – and what marketers can do gain attention on the world’s largest social media network.

The number of Facebook posts per quarter increased 24% from 6.5 million to 8.1 million posts over the past year, according to the analysis by Buffer and BuzzSumo. In the second quarter of 2018, the top 20,000 Facebook pages were publishing an average of 135 posts per month, which amounts to just over four per day. Facebook Marketers Face Overwhelming Competition

More posts mean more competition for attention in viewers’ newsfeeds, and that means less engagement across the board. Engagement dropped more than 50% over the last 18 months. Engagement fell regardless of posting frequency, type of posts and page category.

The Facts on Facebook’s Falling Engagement

Informed marketers knew about the trend of falling engagement. “As businesses, however, I don’t think we truly understood how dramatic this decline in engagement (shares, likes, reactions, and comments) has been overall – until now,” says Brian Peters at Buffer.

Besides more competition, engagement dropped because Facebook includes more ads in newsfeeds and changed its newsfeed algorithm to favor friends and family at the expense of businesses.

Other insights from the analysis include:

• Surprisingly, images, not videos, receive the most engagement, yet average engagement per image dropped along with engagement for other types of content.
• Businesses that posted less than once a day had the highest engagement per post, but also the lowest overall levels of engagement. More posting produces more engagement, but only to a point.
• Artist Pages saw the biggest decrease in engagement at 70.6% followed by movie Pages and media/news Pages.

How Brands can Win on Facebook

To gain attention of customers, Buffer recommends that marketers:

Don’t post too much. The success of each post dramatically decreases after posting five or more times per week. Focus on tactics that work such as producing more viral videos and images and spend less time on activities that don’t work such as posting links to the company’s website. Seek to connect with your audience and increase the ROI of each post, instead of simply broadcasting your message.

Think like consumers. Review your last 50 Facebook posts and examine them from a consumer perspective. Ask yourself: If I saw this in the newsfeed, would I interact with it?

Go mobile. More than 95% of Facebook users access the social network from mobile devices. Share vertical videos, as people usually hold their phones vertically. Videos should be no longer than 2 minutes. The optimal video length on Facebook is anywhere between 30-120 seconds. Also, keep captions short and sweet and follow the guideline of “show, don’t tell.”

Revise Facebook Marketing Strategies

The research means Facebook marketers need to shift their goal away from increasing reach and toward gaining engagement, says social media marketing expert Sherrilynne Starkie.  To reach a larger audience, pay for Facebook ads. Facebook is optimized to keep users on its own platform, and the once-accepted practice of posting links to draw Facebook users to a website has become outdated.

“To build an organic audience, community or a loyal following of any type, it will take a committed engagement focus,” Starkie states in Social Media Informer. “Each content piece should be created with a specific engagement objective in mind, and its performance should be closely monitored.”

Dig deep into Facebook analytics to understand your audience beyond the demographic numbers to find what they like and dislike and their motivations and behaviors, Starke recommends. Identify people who are most receptive to your message and create offers and promotions based around them.

Lessons from Publishers

At a recent conference, Facebook Journalism Project advisor Tim Griggs explained how publishers can attract and retain audiences, reports Social Media Today. Many of his recommendations also apply to businesses.

Shrewd publishers use all data tools available to them to identify trends and find stories that can make an impact. They think about how they can repurpose archival and evergreen coverage to reach new audiences.

Some publishers post serialized content to attract views. The Boston Globe transformed long-form narrative into a multi-part series. Users unlock subsequent chapters of the story by submitting their email address. Marketers can also apply a similar approach and connect with audiences via e-mail, direct messages or within a private group.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news site covering state politics in Texas, has made events part of its core engagement strategy. “At one point less than 10% of event attendees were paying members, but once people attended at least three events, they were significantly more likely to join,” Griggs said

Bottom Line: Engagement on Facebook has plunged even more drastically than marketers thought, revealing the tough challenge of getting noticed on the network. Marketers may need to re-evaluate their tactics and tap all available analytics to win customers’ attention.