Ebook Edgerank Unveiled_Wildfire

Introduction
Did you know that no matter how many
fans you have on Facebook, your branded
messages are only reaching a fraction of
them at any given time? The amount of
users exposed to your branded content
is dependent on a Facebook-created
algorithm called EdgeRank. Your brand,
and its public posts, are graded with an ever-
changing EdgeRank score, and that score
determines how far each message goes and
how many users it reaches.
Comscore found that Facebook users
spend approximately one quarter of
their time on the network interacting with
their news feeds, so the obvious question
is: How can you maximize the amount of
fans you reach and engage with branded
newsfeed updates? Wildfire paired up
with the experts at EdgeRank Checker to
analyze over 60,000 brand pages and 1M
posts, and separated the data by industry
vertical. This report will analyze the best
performing content by vertical, and provide
tips for improving your EdgeRank score
based on the trends we uncovered.

‹ ›

News Feed on Facebook: More to the Story................................................. 3

The Study......................................................................................................................4

What Was Studied?.........................................................................................................4

Engagement By Content Type................................................................................... 5

Best/Worst Description Lengths by Content Type for all Categories......... 7

Industry Categories on Facebook.............................................................................9

Engagement Data by Category......................................................................... 10

Brand or Product............................................................................................................ 10

Local Business..................................................................................................................12

Company, Organization, or Institution................................................................... 14

Cause or Community.................................................................................................... 16

Artist, Band or Public Figure..................................................................................... 18

Entertainment................................................................................................................. 20

3rd Party Apps..........................................................................................................21

Conclusion..................................................................................................................22

‹ ›
PAGE 2 | EdgeRank Unveiled: The Three Keys to Improving Facebook Reach and Engagement

News Feed on Facebook: More to the Story
Many businesses are rushing to build their Facebook fanbases, but what’s the value of a fan if you don’t know how to
effectively get their attention?

The comScore study showed that, on average, 16% of a fan page’s fans are reached by branded content when a
brand posts five out of seven days. To increase the reach of its branded content, a brand needs to focus on making
its posts highly engaging, since this increases the likelihood that the content will appear in more users’ newsfeeds.
To understand the relationship between engagement and reach on Facebook, we need to take a deeper look at the
EdgeRank Algorithm.

EdgeRank is the algorithm Facebook uses to determine what you see in your newsfeed. The EdgeRank Algorithm, as
defined by Jason Kincaid from the live f8 developer conference, is:

Every item that shows up in your News Feed is considered an Object. If you have an Object in the News Feed
(say, a status update), whenever another user interacts with that Object they’re creating what Facebook calls an
Edge, which includes actions like tags and comments.

Facebook does not disclose the details of the algorithm that determines EdgeRank, but it’s believed that it consists of
three main factors:

1. First, there’s an affinity score between the viewing user and the item’s creator — if you send your college friend
a lot of Facebook messages and check their profile often, then you’ll have a higher affinity score for that person
than you would with the “friends” you added on Facebook but haven’t interacted with in months. Likewise, if a
fan interacts with a brand by visiting its Facebook brand page or interacting with its posts, this will boost the
affinity score between this brand and its fan.

2. Second, there’s a weight given to each type of Edge. While it has not been confirmed by Facebook, testing has
shown that content types that take more time to engage with have higher weight. For example, a “Like” has less
engagement weight than a comment, most likely because hitting the “Like” button is a much easier action for a
user to decide to do, versus writing a comment. The same analogy applies to photos likely having more weight
than just words.

3. And finally there’s the most logical factor — time. The older an Edge is, the less important it becomes.

When you understand how the scoring is done, you can see why having a high EdgeRank, or at least working to
improve it over time, is the key to increasing the exposure of your page to Facebook users, driving more traffic to it,
and continuously building out your community.

‹ ›

You are probably wondering several things: What kind of posts work? How often should I post? Where can I find all
these rules? The answer is, there are no ‘one size fits all’ approach; each brand must tailor its strategy to fit the
demographics, behaviors and interests of its fans and their friends.

The good news is that there are certain tactics that we’ve seen work again and again across many different
brand pages. In this report, we will take a look at what sort of strategies work for messaging at the industry vertical
level. We will use real life examples to illustrate messaging methods from companies that know how to engage
their fans.

The Study
What Was Studied?
The study analyzed how categories, content type, and character length work together. We looked at over 60,000
Pages with over 1,000,000 Posts, looking at the six “macro” categories Facebook defines:

» Artist, Band or Public Figure
» Brand or Product
» Cause or Community
» Company, Organization or Institution
» Entertainment
» Local Business or Place.
EdgeRank is an algorithm that ranks objects in the Facebook News Feed. Pages with high EdgeRank Scores will be
more likely to show up in the News Feed than Pages with low EdgeRank Scores.

EdgeRank is made up of 3 variables: Affinity, Weight, and Time Decay. While the variables are known, the algorithm
changes daily and is not shared with the public. EdgeRank Checker has developed their own approximation
of the EdgeRank algorithm to help Page Administrators understand how their Page interacts with the News Feed.
Within this report, you will learn about engagement on Facebook with the understanding that increasing your
engagement by employing messaging best practices will increase your EdgeRank score, which in turn will increase
the reach of your brand’s messages. This, ultimately, is every brand marketer’s goal: to maximize reach on
all networks.

‹ ›

Since EdgeRank is based on engagement activity — the more engaging
your posts, the higher your EdgeRank, and vice versa — our study hinged We define engagement
on engagement statistics for brands, separated by industry. We define
as interactions with your
engagement as interactions with your content by fans: all the “Likes,”
comments, and shares that result (or don’t result!) when your brand posts content by fans: all the
an update to the public. “Likes,” comments, and
For each of the 1MM+ posts that were analyzed, we looked at shares that result (or don’t
engagement statistics as defined by engagement activity/total reach per result!) when your brand
post. Both of those figures are available only at an admin-level to Fan posts an update to the
Page administrators, and are shared by over 60,000 pages with
EdgeRank Checker as part of its service.
public.

The remainder of this report will focus on engagement statistics by
content type: which content is most engaging to fans of different FACT
industry verticals? What are the best practices your brand should
Photos are by far the
consider to include more of the engaging content in your messaging
strategy? What types of messages will work best to be most engaging, most engaging piece
and thus increase your EdgeRank with users? What follows is our analysis of content.
of these questions.

Engagement by Content Type
When comparing all 1MM+ posts across the 60,000 pages that we
processed, we found that; photos are by far the most engaging piece of
content.

Typically Photos are:
» Eye catching
» Heavier (in terms of weight assigned within EdgeRank)
» Easier to consume than other media content
Users don’t have to press “Play” and dedicate time to watching a video
to try and ascertain whether it’s entertaining and they don’t have to click
through a link to a new website or tab to see if it’s interesting when they
get there. With a photo, users decide within a glance whether they’re
interested or not— the high engagement results reflect this simplicity and
ease of interaction.

‹ ›

Interestingly, the second most engaging content type is a status message— this result lends itself well to the same
theory, of users reacting favorably to instantaneous (or at least very quick) interactions and decision making. With a
status, since it’s just words, users know by the time they’ve finished reading the statement whether they’re going to
interact with it, or let it pass. With all other content types (aside from photos) the user needs to decide whether he
wants to invest the time to click, or watch, or investigate the URL. Asking users to spend this extra time pondering
engagement is, on average, less successful than keeping things simple with instantaneously possible engagement
decisions.

This is not to say that videos and links have no place in your messaging strategy. In this paper, we will also learn how
best to frame videos and links to most appeal to users viewing these updates.

‹ ›

Best/Worst Description Lengths by Content FACT
Type for all Categories
All 5 content types
We chose to study the effects of a written description paired with different showed the most
content types: for example, is it better to write more when you’re
describing a link you’re about to share, or less? We defined “Short”
engagement when the
descriptions as those that have <140 characters, because that’s the paired description had
character cut-off Twitter designed to keep content short, sweet, and to a minimum of 141
the point. “Medium” content descriptions are 141-280 characters, and
characters.
“Long” content is greater than 281 characters.

It’s interesting to note that; all 5 content types showed the most
engagement when the paired description had a minimum of 141
FACT
characters. In this case, Twitter-length posts are not as popular or
engaging as longer posts on Facebook. This would also seem to imply
In order to be as
that if cross posting to both Twitter and Facebook at the same time, it engaging as possible,
would decrease engagement on Facebook if you attempted to keep both your brand should post
character lengths below 140 characters.
two separate lines of
content, for Twitter and
Facebook separately, as
longer Facebook posts
won’t fit on Twitter, and
Twitter-length posts
won’t engage users as
well on Facebook.

‹ ›

One way of understanding this involves giving
users context, and a brief explanation of “why”
they should look at the attached media.
Additionally, the paired worded description is
also a perfect place to insert a call-to-action
(CTA), giving users a suggestion about what to
do next.

More specifically, posting a video without
pairing the update with a written description is
a major no-no: these updates were the worst
performers of the bunch, indicating that video
is one format that users need context around in
order to take the time to interact with it.

FACT
Posting a video without
pairing the update with a
written description is a
major no-no.

Releasing only a photo, or only a video, without taking
the time to meaningfully caption it is always worse
for engagement.

‹ ›

Industry Categories on Facebook
Facebook defines 6 industry categories under the macro-level category options:

» Artist, Band, or Public Figure
» Brand or Product
» Cause or Community
» Company, Organization, or Institution
» Local Business or Place
» Entertainment

Facebook defines six industry verticals under the macro-level Fan Page category options.

‹ ›

We analyzed the success of each type of status update and separated the data
FACT
by industry category. We wanted to see if there were differences in the types of
content most engaging to users based on industry, or if content preferences would Photos were
be more or less universal. And we did find some clear differences in what fans wildly popular for
liked to engage with based on industry vertical category. For instance, we found
engagement,
that photos were wildly popular for engagement, especially for brands/products
(a near 7.5% engagement percentage, versus less than 1% engagement for the especially for
next most engaging media, status updates). brands/products.

Engagement Data by Category
In this section, we’ll break down the engagement data per content type by the 6 brand macro-categories that
Facebook has sorted pages into at the top level. Additionally, we’ll take a look at the types of businesses that would
self-select into each category, including best practices for messaging content for these businesses.

Brand or Product
Fan Pages on Facebook that identify as Brand or
Product enjoy significantly higher than average en-
gagement when posting photos, at over 7x higher
interaction rates than the next closest engaging con-
tent type, Status. Brand/Product Fan Pages on Face-
book should consider weaving photos prominently into
a messaging plan, including to support descriptions
that would otherwise stand alone as Status updates.

Because brands and products seem to be inordinately
popular when posting photos, one good method
to integrate more photos into status updates is to
consider how the brand can create “double-whammy”
posts. A double whammy post is one that has more
than one media type contained within it— for example,
when posting an update about a new product release,
consider creating the visual foundation for the update
with a screenshot (photo) of the new release, but also
make sure to include a link a site with more information
about the news within the worded description.

‹ ›

One brand that fully understands the high impact that photo updates have is Dunkin Donuts. Whether the page posts
a question, poll, or a timely update about a calendar holiday, the majority of status updates on the DD page are
photo updates.

Whether a page posts a question, or a poll, or a timely
update about a calendar holiday, the majority of status
updates on the DD page are photo updates.

‹ ›

Local Business
Local Businesses experience great engagement with photos and videos about the business. While the first instinct
of many small business owners might be to play up their interactions to seem like a big brand, some of the most
engaging posts are the ones that reveal the business in its true element. This could include pictures of the storefront
decorated seasonally, updates including local activity (such as any well known city/town events), and pictures with
“favorite” local customers.

‹ ›

Another popular and engaging approach for local businesses is to create status updates tied to in-store specials,
such as informing fans that the first 50 people to whisper “founding father” to the cashier that day would receive a
free dark chocolate cupcake. Sprinkles Cupcakes, with over 300K fans (and many, many local shops) still does this
with their messages several times a week!

Sprinkles Cupcakes makes sure to regularly include in-store
promotions with their messaging to make the connection between
social media activity and what’s going on inside each local business
location. In this case, they’re following another best practice, posting
about timely and relevant content (the national holiday) in addition to
their promotion.

‹ ›

Company, Organization, or Institution
Brands that self identify as companies, organizations, or institutions choose to represent the company/
organization/institution as the brand. This means that updates detailing organizational achievements and
developments will be frequent, as well as behind-the-scenes information that exposes company workings, such as
employee events and company traditions. As is typical, photos were the most popular content type. Interestingly,
videos and status updates are very similar in engagement rates, indicating a wide versatility in the types of status
updates that these brands can expect to be engaging for their audiences. While links happen to be the least popular,
savvy brand managers can include links to outside articles, releases, and updates as part of other content updates,
employing the same “double-whammy” technique to increase engagement rates.

‹ ›

Successful organizations wishing to represent the essence of the company to its fan audience see a lot of success
especially when posting content that “humanizes” the brand. Showing a company’s behind-the-scenes activity, or
profiles of real employees, in photos and videos, helps to emotionally connect users to a brand. For fan pages of this
category, one best practice is never to miss an opportunity to share company-internal initiatives such as Hackathons,
corporate social responsibility initiatives, employee traditions, and internal fun stuff (like Levi’s does, below!).

Just in time for Halloween, Levi’s gives fans a glimpse of real employees in
festive costumes.

‹ ›

Cause or Community
The Cause or Community vertical is particularly successful in engagement around photos and videos. The remaining
content type statistics indicate that links might perform better if they are paired with photos (as part of the
description) than they do as their own updates.

Since Causes and Communities are typically followed by users at least marginally impassioned about the underlying
cause of the page, we can typically expect that updates relating to progress in society or specific people involved
with the cause are very popular. Supporting a cause usually goes hand in hand with helping to spread the word about
it, so crafting status updates that incentivize sharing is a successful strategy.

‹ ›

For example, some status update ideas that resonate with Cause/Community pages are:

Weekly survivor/tribute/warrior stories: pages for disease awareness organizations succeed at uniting users
around other real users (or their friends, children, and family.)

Asking users to submit photos of their friends/family involved in the cause with written descriptions of their story.

Updates about latest legislation or news-making changes involving the community serve to rally users around
important updates that apply to their interests.

The Breast Cancer Site regularly encourages engagement with multi-content
type messages, like this one which has a photo paired with a call-to-action and
a link.

‹ ›

Artist, Band or Public Figure
Brands that identify as Artists, Bands, or Public enjoy solid engagement rates with photos followed by status
updates. A close third is videos, which makes sense since all three entities typically have very visual representations.

Some ways an artist, band, or public figure can consider beefing up their messaging strategy with engaging
content is to:

Take a series of before/after photos chronicling their transformation after getting hair/makeup done and writing a
description of the process (photo)

Asking fans which song/movie/episode/scene was a favorite
– make this more timely by calling out specific albums/episodes

When posting a link that goes to another website, use a photo of a destination within that website to help serve
as teaser content (show fans what they’ll see when they click through)

‹ ›

Below is one example of a best practice for posting photos that actually serve as clever advertising for the link
within the description. President Bill Clinton employs this method on his fan page regularly: in addition to healthy
descriptions that end in a link to an outside website, Clinton always pairs the content with a relevant photo, to catch
viewers attention and attract eyeballs to the post.

Administrators for Bill Clinton’s Facebook Fan Page regularly post photo
updates with lengthy descriptions, allowing readers a contextual background
for the former President’s activity in addition to a visual stimulus.

‹ ›

Entertainment
The outlier in this industry overview turned out to be Entertainment. The most successfully engaging posts by brands
in the Entertainment vertical are status updates. One hypothesis as to why this might be true — for actors, singers,
and musicians— is that where Entertainment is the job of the brand (or person(s) represented by the brand),
fans are used to seeing photos and videos, but not as used to seeing an Entertainer’s personally written
updates. Status updates are novel and intriguing to an audience that is used to visually connecting with a performer
or entertainer.

Some entertainers appeal to their Facebook fan audience by treating them as though they’re the entertainers’ VIPs.
Ask your fans their opinions on the latest single, or album. Release a snippet of new lyrics, or an idea for a movie plot
and ask their thoughts. Soliciting opinions shows fans that not only is the fan page attended to by administrators, but
that it’s a 2-way conversation between the entertainer and fans. If the fan page is for an entertainment product, such
as a specific movie or sitcom, the same principle of treating fans like VIPs applies— share snippets of video and ask
what moment fans thought was funniest, or a photo-still of the winning shot and ask them to caption it. Bringing fans
in to the experience of creating that entertainment makes them feel like “insiders,” and spurs interaction.

‹ ›

Lady Gaga interacts with fans on a personal level, sharing her intimate
thoughts about a night at the Grammies and wishing her fans a Happy
Valentine’s Day.

3rd Party Apps
Are you wondering about posting to Facebook using an app and if that changes anything? We thought you
might be...

3rd party applications can be used to post content to Facebook without actually being on Facebook to do it. These
include free and paid applications like Hootsuite, Spredfast, and even Wildfire Messenger. One common question that
comes up around using an app to post to Facebook (instead of doing it from the network itself) is whether the app
post will get the same exposure and the same reach as the post coming from inside Facebook.

EdgeRank Checker has done extensive testing to see whether posts released to Facebook from a 3rd party app saw
any difference in reach or impressions versus posts released through Facebook. When the first studies unearthed
a difference, Facebook immediately updated posting processes fixing the imbalance. At the current time, there is no
difference between the reach and exposure of posts published through Facebook or 3rd party apps. What about
engagement rates? If the reach is the same, there should be no significant difference in engagement rates of 3rd part
app postings. The bottom line is: follow best practices regarding posting content, and the vehicle for
posting it won’t matter.

‹ ›

Conclusion
The amount of reach your brand has on Facebook is limited by a constantly-updating algorithmic score called
EdgeRank. EdgeRank is an engagement score, giving credit (and impressions) to brands that successfully engage
with fans, and lessening the reach of brands that don’t. While the algorithm itself is unknown to the public and
is constantly changing, we can approximate directional EdgeRank changes by understanding engagement as
it happens.

When Wildfire teamed up with EdgeRank Checker to understand engagement scores by industry category, we were
looking to educate brands on how best to create consistently engaging messages on Facebook. What we found was
that certain types of updates were more popular than others, and sparked more engagement activity. The three key
take-aways we want you to keep in mind when approaching your brand’s messaging strategy are:

1. sprinkle photos (the most consistently engaging content type for five out of six industries) generously into your
editorial plans.

2. always pair your media-containing updates with a written description as well— data reveals that users appreciate
and interact more with updates that include written context, or a written call-to-action, not just a photo, video,
or link.

3. craft different content for Facebook vs. Twitter. In all cases, the best performing messages contained greater than
140 characters (the maximum message length for Twitter)

Now that you know what sorts of content types perform most consistently for your industry, the next area of
exploration is the actual content. Stay in touch with Wildfire as we release more white papers about best practices
for engaging messaging.

‹ ›

Wildfire is a powerful, easy-to-use social
marketing platform to grow, engage and
monetize your audience across social networks.
Learn how we can help you today!

WATCH VIDEO SIGN UP NOW

Redwood City Chicago
info@wildfireapp.com sales.chi@wildfireapp.com
(888) 274-0929 (312) 496-7971

New York City London
sales.ny@wildfireapp.com sales.eu@wildfireapp.com
(646) 503-2166 +44 (0)20 7189 8344

Los Angeles
sales.la@wildfireapp.com
(310) 280-2098

Ebook Edgerank Unveiled_Wildfire

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Ebook Edgerank Unveiled_Wildfire

Similar to Ebook Edgerank Unveiled_Wildfire (20)

More from Dung Tri

More from Dung Tri (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Ebook Edgerank Unveiled_Wildfire