Do you ever wonder why your posts don’t reach all of your Facebook Fans?

If you have 10,000 Fans on your Facebook Page, why is it that you will typically only reach about 1,200 instead of the entire 10k?

Facebook has an algorithm called ‘EdgeRank‘ that takes into account the number of people who view your messages, who interacts, the type of media you use, etc…  Based on this information, Facebook will determine who is most likely find value in your posts.

One of the factors that affects your reach is the amount of engagement that you receive.  There are 3 options for engagement by your users: LIKE, share, or comment.

What I’ve been finding is that the type of engagement you get from your Fans will impact your reach.

Below is a quick video case study I performed on one of the Facebook Fan Pages that I manage on behalf of a client to determine the affects of Facebook Comments on overall reach.

Facebook Comments | Video Case Study

In this video case study, I examine 2 posts, posted at the same time (6pm), yet 24 hours apart.

One post, posted on Monday, is designed to generate more ‘Likes’.

The second post, posted 24 hours later on Tuesday, is designed to generate more comments.

Each post has an uploaded picture involved and, as luck would have it, generated the same total number of combined engagements.

The first blog on Monday had a higher percentage of Like versus Comments.

The second blog on Tuesday had a higher percentage of Comments versus Likes.

The test was to see which call to action (‘Like’ or comments) would generate the most reach (the number of people who see the post on a Fan Page).
The video details the results of Facebook Comments:

Facebook Comments | How to Generate More Comments

As the video illustrates, the effect of comments has a significant impact on reach.  So how do you get more comments from your posts?

Here are a couple of suggestions:

  • Ask and ye shall receive – as is the case, if you want something, ask for it.  In your posts, ask ‘Like’ if you agree or leave a comment below if you don’t.  You’ll find you’ll get more comments this way
  • Caption This– put up a unique or funny picture and ask people to put a caption.  You don’t even have to offer a prize- people love to give their opinions for free.
  • Fill in the Blank- post a comment with a blank in it and ask people to offer their opinion.  For example, as in the video, if you’re in the real estate industry, you can offer a question like ‘The Real Estate Market in 2013 will ___________ this year.  People will fill in the blanks and then argue with others to justify their answers.  Great ways to improve your reach!
  • Quiz or contest – if you’re a brand, you can offer some sort of trivia.  I recommend using a text and listing A/B/C/D in the post rather than the Facebook questions option (more comments = more reach).  People will love answering.  

What has your experiences shown…do comments generate a superior reach to Likes and shares?  What other suggestions do you have for increasing the number of comments to your site?  Leave your comments below.

Image courtesy of [Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net