How NGOs win on Facebook
      Here comes the science
thebigwild.org/bigwater
✤   Questions
    ✤   What kind of content earns the most likes, comments and
        shares?

    ✤   Which organizations are killing it on Facebook?
What we did
Earthjustice                  Sierra Club
         Surfrider             David Suzuki Foundation
Rainforest Action Network           Unfriend Coal
          350.org                      NRDC
 National Audubon Society           Project Aware
     Greenpeace USA                Leave No Trace
National Wildlife Federation      Ducks Unlimited
     The Story of Stuff              Earth Hour
      Earth Rangers                 WWF Canada
Conservation International      Nature Conservancy
What we observed
Content Types
Days of the Week
✤   Other facts
    ✤   For every 1 comment, there are 3 shares and 11 likes.

    ✤   External links mostly went to mainstream news sources.

    ✤   Collectively, the NGOs averaged almost exactly one post a
        day.

    ✤   There was no obvious correlation between day of the week
        and post popularity.

    ✤   Hardly anybody ever uses Facebook Questions.

    ✤   18 of the 20 most popular posts were photos.
What we figured
Engagement =
Likes +
(Comments * 2.5) +
(Shares * 5)
Engagement vs. Frequency
Engagement




Organizations’ names redacted, to protect the innocent
Content Types by NGO
Photos and Video
Links
What we learned elsewhere
What we admired
Top ten posts:

http://j.mp/NGOFBposts
We got 1,000 shares, 180 comments and 342 likes.
The page was also liked by 1,000 more people this
weekend.We can’t attribute this to the image, but we
do know that with 1,000 shares, we got huge exposure
to lots of new Facebook friends.

We also got 3050 visits to the blog from Facebook (out
of 4500 total visits) and 560 people who followed up
and signed our action.

In Facebook Insights, the post is currently second (out
of 158) post for ‘engaged users’ and ‘most talked
about’ for 2012.
What we recommend
✤   Recommendations
    ✤   You’re probably not publishing enough photos and videos.

    ✤   People like simple evocative messages laid over photos.

    ✤   Link more often to sites other than your own.

    ✤   Ask people to share your content sparingly.
✤   More recommendations
    ✤   Emulate Earthjustice, Surfrider and Rainforest Action
        Network.

    ✤   Engagement in your social media channels probably reflects
        engagement across your entire organization, in all channels.

    ✤   Pair the rich media content with a caption of at least 140
        characters. Ergo, post different text for Facebook and
        Twitter.
Questions?

How NGOs win on Facebook, Net Tuesday edition

  • 1.
    How NGOs winon Facebook Here comes the science
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    Questions ✤ What kind of content earns the most likes, comments and shares? ✤ Which organizations are killing it on Facebook?
  • 7.
  • 8.
    Earthjustice Sierra Club Surfrider David Suzuki Foundation Rainforest Action Network Unfriend Coal 350.org NRDC National Audubon Society Project Aware Greenpeace USA Leave No Trace National Wildlife Federation Ducks Unlimited The Story of Stuff Earth Hour Earth Rangers WWF Canada Conservation International Nature Conservancy
  • 12.
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    Other facts ✤ For every 1 comment, there are 3 shares and 11 likes. ✤ External links mostly went to mainstream news sources. ✤ Collectively, the NGOs averaged almost exactly one post a day. ✤ There was no obvious correlation between day of the week and post popularity. ✤ Hardly anybody ever uses Facebook Questions. ✤ 18 of the 20 most popular posts were photos.
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    Engagement = Likes + (Comments* 2.5) + (Shares * 5)
  • 18.
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    What we learnedelsewhere
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    We got 1,000shares, 180 comments and 342 likes. The page was also liked by 1,000 more people this weekend.We can’t attribute this to the image, but we do know that with 1,000 shares, we got huge exposure to lots of new Facebook friends. We also got 3050 visits to the blog from Facebook (out of 4500 total visits) and 560 people who followed up and signed our action. In Facebook Insights, the post is currently second (out of 158) post for ‘engaged users’ and ‘most talked about’ for 2012.
  • 38.
  • 39.
    Recommendations ✤ You’re probably not publishing enough photos and videos. ✤ People like simple evocative messages laid over photos. ✤ Link more often to sites other than your own. ✤ Ask people to share your content sparingly.
  • 40.
    More recommendations ✤ Emulate Earthjustice, Surfrider and Rainforest Action Network. ✤ Engagement in your social media channels probably reflects engagement across your entire organization, in all channels. ✤ Pair the rich media content with a caption of at least 140 characters. Ergo, post different text for Facebook and Twitter.
  • 41.