Types of Facebook posts
Now that you’ve got a Facebook Business Page to call your own… it’s time to create some content.
On Facebook, you can create different types of posts. Each have their benefits and can spark engagement in different ways. Your brand’s social media strategy and goals will likely impact what style of posts you’ll be making.
Here, we’re breaking down all of the different options you have for Facebook Page posts, including examples to spark a little inspiration.
- Facebook text post (a.k.a. status post)
This is the O.G. Facebook post: just straight up text. They’re direct and to the point, but if your goal is to drive traffic to your website or directly convert a lead to a sale, text posts aren’t a great option. The social network’s algorithm also isn’t too fond of these bare-bones posts, and they usually don’t get much reach in the news feed. Text posts can also be useful for sharing important information your audience might be seeking out on your page, like ticket availability or opening hours.
Generally speaking, photo posts see much higher engagement than text posts. An eye-catching photo is a great way to catch the attention of a potential customer scrolling through their news feed. Particularly for product-focused businesses, photos that show the goods in action can be really effective.
Video posts see even higher engagement rates than photo posts do. Whether it’s for a short-and-sweet video announcement or a longer, artfully shot vid with a narrative, video can be incredibly compelling. On Facebook, video plays automatically in the news feed, so you’re all but guaranteed to catch users’ attention. It’s the perfect trap!
If pre-recorded videos aren’t your thing, try dabbling with Live. Facebook Live video is a live-streamed broadcast, right on your Facebook Page. This medium is very, very popular — in spring 2020, Facebook Live viewership increased by 50%. Live video is an intimate, authentic way to connect with followers. These broadcasts can be used for Q&As, behind-the-scenes tours, product demos and much more.
- Linked content post (aka link posts)
A link post is a post that shares a URL with your followers. Just paste a link into the composition box, and a preview of the website will automatically preview. You could share a link to your website, but you could also share content from other sources — like an interesting think piece about your industry. Whatever the content, make sure to add a few words of your own to the post before you click Publish, to give your readers some context or a takeaway. And one more thing to keep in mind: link posts get more engagement than plain text posts, but considerably less than photos or videos.
Just like Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories are photo or short video posts in vertical format that disappear after 24 hours. Photos appear for five seconds, and videos can be up to 20 seconds long. Facebook Stories live at the top of the News Feed — which means they’re immune to the Facebook algorithm. This might be why more than half a billion people view Facebook Stories every day.
A pinned post is any regular Facebook post that stays put at the top of your Page. This ensures it’s the first thing people see when they visit your Page. Once you’ve created the post itself — whether it’s a text post, poll or video post — just click on the three dots on the right-hand corner. You’ll have the option to “pin post.” You can tell when a post is pinned because it’ll say “Pinned post” right above it.
Watch Parties are a way to screen a public video on Facebook in real time, so you and your Fans and Followers can experience it together. This is a great way to build buzz for a new product launch, or a world premiere of a music video, by making a standard video into an event.
You can also use Facebook Pages to post job listings and special offers if you’re looking to recruit or build buzz about a sale. There’s also the option to raise money for a charitable cause with a Facebook post. Or you could just stare at your post options, overwhelmed, for hours on end, paralyzed by the choice. It’s totally up to you.
