By Casey Hollins, CCC, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative

When Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004 from his dorm room at Harvard, who knew the social media network would become one of the most effective communication tools for businesses around the globe. Today, Facebook has over 222 million users in the United States, and these people are spending an average of 14 hours per month on his or her Facebook newsfeed.

BuzSumo, an online content marketing analysis company, recently undertook a major study of 500 million social media posts to discover what generates the most likes, shares and comments. Based on their findings here are a few tips to enhance your Facebook social media strategy.

1. Why Facebook?
   According to Shareaholic, Facebook now drives 25% of all traffic to websites, and that number is growing. Facebook also owns 13% of time spent on mobile devices.
2. Post Later and on Sundays
   Posts published from 10 – 11 p.m. (eastern standard time) get 88% more interactions than the average Facebook post. Posts published on Sunday get 52.9% more interactions than the average Facebook post.
3. Use Images
   Image posts get 179% more interactions than the average Facebook post. An image plus 150 to 200 characters got the most engagement in the BuzSumo survey.
4. Engage Your Audience
   Posts ending with a question get 162% more interactions than the average post.
5. Post directly to Facebook
   Posting with a 3rd party tool results in 89.5% less engagement than directly posting to Facebook.
6. Videos Are Shared Most
   Videos are the most shared post type, with 89.5 average Facebook shares.
7. Message Length Matters
   Excluding images, posts with 150-200 characters performed the best, averaging 238.75 shares.

In mid-September, BuzzSumo released a brand new tool, called Sumo Rank! You can check the engagement of any Facebook page for free! Go to: www.sumorank.com and use this tool to improve your Facebook engagement.